To GW or not?

[AmethystWM]

Greetings!

I would like to know whether or not to send a GW letter asking to have a paid collection account removed from my credit reports.

I am getting ready to apply for a mortgage in a few months. In order to prepare, I got a copy of a free credit report and I also went to talk to a mortgage lender to get basic information. The lender said he didn’t see anything that would prevent me from being able to qualify for a conventional mortgage in five months. At that time, I will have one year of on-time payments for everything. I don’t have a lot of debt anymore—my main difficulties are extremely late payments. I’ve got a handle on that now.

My credit report shows two medical debts that went to collection agencies. One debt is past the SOL and will age off my report next month. The status on the other debt is “paid; closed.” It’s a small amount (less than $100) and was paid in May 2010. There is no notation indicating when this account will age off the report. I am thinking of asking the CA to remove the paid collection entirely from my credit report.

If I write a letter about the paid account, could the CA bring up the still-unpaid one that is about age off the report and ask me to pay it?

The mortgage officer said his underwriters wouldn’t care about the collections because they are old, so is it worth it for me to pursue this?

My current scores, all pulled by the lender on 6/12/2013: Equifax 606, Experian 614, TransUnion 639.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Shogun]

It's a YMMV type of thing.  If they haven't updated in awhile, and suddenly do update, you could see a drop in your score.

[Crossdivided]

+1. But if you do, also make abundantly clear THIS IS NOT A DISPUTE. Last thing you want is a dispute popping up in the middle of the mortgage process.

[AmethystWM]

Thanks for the advice!

My instinct, honestly, is to forget about it--at least until I know the unpaid one has aged off all the credit reports. But there is a part of me that's completely urked to see a paid medical collection stuck on there and potentially weighing down the score. Still, I'll probably just let it sit.

Thanks again!