Trying to remove PAID collection accounts from my CR

[Anonymous]

I thought for years the Credit Fairy was gonna come through for me anyday now, but alas my wait has been in vain...

I decided a couple of years ago that I was gonna start getting my credit-act together, so acting on my own with no clue that there were sites like this available, here is what I did:

1. I went online and obtained a copy of all three of my Credit Reports

2. I strarted going down the list and calling all the creditors on my CR's, arranging settlements (most accepted 50%) and mailing checks.

3. I started paying my bills ontime...

So here we are 2 years later and here is where my delima/questions/concerns are:

I have 6 remaining collection accounts on my Equifax report that are no longer being reported by the other 2 agencies. The Equifax entries still show the full balances listed as if no payments have been made at all. Should I just write a letter to Equifax disputing the account's legitimacy or is there some better option?

[RobertEG]

The very first thing to do with any collection appearing in your CR is to determine the DOFD on the OC account that led up to the collection.

That tells you the date (7 years plus 180-days from the DOFD) at which the collection must be deleted from your CR without the need for any action on your part.

If that date is close, you may choose to do nothing, and let it die of its own old-age.

As for the remaining collections, you say that they are paid.  If the ones reporting a balance are paid, then send a direct dispute to the debt collector, disputing the reporting of a balance owed when it should report $0.  I would NOT disptue through a CRA.  Dispute directly with the debt collector.  However, getting the balance updated to $0 wont result in any removal of the CA from your CR.  If the debt was not legitmate, you could file a direct dispute over its accuracy.. If the debt was legitimate, then final recourse is to send them a request for GW deltion.