Credit History Deletion

[Latora81]

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and need advice. I have old credit history on my report from years ago that have been paid off in a settlements. Is there a way I can get those removed from my credit report. I am trying to purchase a home and so many things regarding my credit is a barrier. I even have old addresses and telephone numbers on my report and have no way of getting them removed. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. 

[Horseshoez]

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@Latora81 wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and need advice. I have old credit history on my report from years ago that have been paid off in a settlements. Is there a way I can get those removed from my credit report. I am trying to purchase a home and so many things regarding my credit is a barrier. I even have old addresses and telephone numbers on my report and have no way of getting them removed. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. 

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How old are they?  If more than 7 years, just dispute them.  If less than 7 years you won't have much success in getting them removed, however, since they are paid off they should have limited impact on your ability too get a mortgage

[AndrewF]

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@Horseshoez wrote:

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@Latora81 wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and need advice. I have old credit history on my report from years ago that have been paid off in a settlements. Is there a way I can get those removed from my credit report. I am trying to purchase a home and so many things regarding my credit is a barrier. I even have old addresses and telephone numbers on my report and have no way of getting them removed. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. 

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How old are they?  If more than 7 years, just dispute them.  If less than 7 years you won't have much success in getting them removed, however, since they are paid off they should have limited impact on your ability too get a mortgage

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In my experiance, Equifax tends to be pretty bad about bad accounts older than 7 years being reported. I've had a few happen and they removed them when I disputed them, but I've never had that happen with another bureau.

They also list good accounts for longer than 10 years. I suppose I could dispute them but I don't know what effect that would have on my credit file. Most lenders don't check Equifax, but every mortgage lender will, I've also seen Capital One do it.

I saw an apartment complex check Equifax once, but it was in 2003, and I've never seen that happen again. For renting an apartment, you really want to keep an eye on TransUnion. More landlords seem to be using SmartMove or something that asks TransUnion for a credit report than anything else.

[FlaDude]

I think everybody who has ever moved has old addresses and possibly phone numbers on file. They have no bearing on your score so no reason to worry about them.

As far as the baddies, how old is old?

[AndrewF]

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@FlaDude wrote:

I think everybody who has ever moved has old addresses and possibly phone numbers on file. They have no bearing on your score so no reason to worry about them.

As far as the baddies, how old is old?

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The only reason I can name to delete an old address is that sometimes tenant screening uses them as a clue on which counties to search for court records in. If you have an old misdemeanor from another state or county, you might dispute the address to prevent it from causing trouble. I noticed that Screening Reports does this. 

Years ago when I had a Class C Misdemeanor on my record, an apartment complex used it to discriminate against me in housing, which is illegal since it had been dismissed (and now, expunged). When I got an expungement later, I emailed Screening Reports and told them that they should delete that from their records because if they ever reported it again, I would sue them.

They immediately got back to me saying they would suppress it from showing up in any future tenant reports.