Paying off 'Adverse' items within credit reports.

[bm051]

Good morning,

aside from one 'adverse' thing in my credit reports, i feel my report is generally pretty good.

it's a 56$ medical bill from over 4 years ago.

if i pay it now, will it have any impact? i have heard that even paying something that is a blemish off can extend it being on record for 7 more years

(for exampe i'd rather have a debt on there for three more years then removed, than something sayin that i just payed the debt 4 years late for 7 more years)

sorry if that doesn't make sense.

thanks.

[MarineVietVet]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

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@bm051 wrote:

Good morning,

aside from one 'adverse' thing in my credit reports, i feel my report is generally pretty good.

it's a 56$ medical bill from over 4 years ago.

if i pay it now, will it have any impact? If there has been no activity on this account in awhile paying it will update the account which makes it look more recent and could result in a score derease. I know that seems crazy but that's the way it is.  have heard that even paying something that is a blemish off can extend it being on record for 7 more years. That's not true. Nothing can change the CRTP (Credit reporting Time Period). A negative item can only show on your reports for a certain amount of time no matter what happens.

(for exampe i'd rather have a debt on there for three more years then removed, than something sayin that i just payed the debt 4 years late for 7 more years)

sorry if that doesn't make sense.

thanks.

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[sjt]

Why dont try to do a PFD (Pay For Delete.)

[AndySoCal]

If you know the original creditor call them not the collection agency. Ask them if they own the debt or sold it  to the collection agency.  If they still own the debt and you have the $$ offer to pay in full if they will pull the account back from the collection agency. The pulling of the account form the collection agency will cause the collection agency to delete the account form your cedit report.  Another thing you can consider is the HIPAA process  which is for medical collection accounts. The process works from all that I have read.

[RobertEG]

The pulling of the account from the collection agency will cause the collection agency to delete the account form your cedit report. 

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. Huh?  How?

Action by an OC cannot compel the deletion of prior, accurate reporting of another party.

[AndySoCal]

Robert,

 Here is an example of it working ..

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Which-Do-I-pay-first/td-p/736772

This works because of two things first the relationship between the OC and the CA. When the debt is assigned by the OC to a CA  can report as along as it is assigned to them.  The key point is the OC is in control of the debt. The OC can recall an assigned account for any reason.  Once the account has been recalled the CA cannot continue to report the debt because it is not their account.

[RobertEG]

If the CA chooses, due to factors such as their relationship with the OC, to delete, then they of course can.

However, many take this a a regulation or as disputable right.  It is not.

When you pay the OC, they must, of course terminate the collection authority granted to the CA since there is no longer a debt.

My point is that this does not compel deletion of any prior, accurate reporting done by the CA.  It only compels the CA to update the debt status to $0, and of course to cease further collection activiies.

That does not compel any CR deletion of the CA account.

[AndySoCal]

When the original creditor pulls the account back from a CA , Tthe CA  longer owns the a debt that assigned to them the original creditor does. Correct?  Here is my question for you is can collection agency report an account AKA a debt that does not belong to them to the bureaus. I am talking about in cases where the debt was assigned only.

[RobertEG]

The fact that a debt collector reports a collection to the CRA does not necessarily mean the debt collector owns the debt.  It can mean only that the OC entered into an agrrement with the debt collector to conduct collection activiites on their behalf.  The OC then reports the debt, and the CA reports the amount of the debt they are collecting.  Paying the OC does not negaite the accurate posting by the CA of their prior credit reporting activities.

Take the other alternative....when the OC does sell the debt to the CA.  Then the OC updates the amount of debt owed to them to $0.  But the OC does not delete their prior reporting just because they longer own the debt.

[AndySoCal]

Robert,

Where the debt is sold to the CA  I would agree.  In general when a CA is collecting on behalf of the OC can the CA reort an account that is not assigned to them?