I have 3 chargeoff accounts listed on my cr's. The unpaid balance is approx. $3000. If I pay these off and do not get a "paid in full", "paid as agreed" or other favorable outcome and end up with "paid charge off", "paid collection" or "settled" should my score still ncrease a bit when the payment is reported? If I do pay them off, will I have a paid collection reported for 7 years, or just until the date the collection is scheduled to fall off? I hope someone finds this interesting: My Experian scorecard lists negative factor #1 as "Presence of derogatory information...collection, charge-off..." and the second and last factor as "two or more applications made for credit in the last two years". I only have 2 hards! (my guess is that if I add any inquiries my score might go down signicantly) My score is 635. My theory is that since I have the collections and charge-offs, the formula is designed to penalize losers such as me! Anyone please feel free to comment.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news...if these accounts don't say "paid/paying as agreed" you won't see a boost at all. A charge off is deragatory whether paid or not, you will gain some as they get older and get a real boost when they disappear. Also, if you have entries from collection agencies, you get a small boost while they are listed "in dispute" but other than that they have to come off completely. Again, less severe the older they are.
The last payment would have been made at least 4-5 years ago on any of these accounts, so they are very old, yet one of my negative factors says "...late payment(s) as recent as one month ago. Doesn't having a charge off or collection and not making payments report as being late each and every month until it is paid off (or being paid on monthly)or falls off @ 7 yrs? One debt has 3 entries. The first is the OC, then 2 CA's. All have different dates. If this continues, it will never fall off. If I pay off any of these now, will it restart the reporting clock? It seems I have read conflicting answers previously.
Paying on a previously charged off acct. will NOT restart the 7 year reporting period. But, it will not do your score any good. If you are going to pay, then negotiate with the oc/ca for deletion for payment. And get it in writing before paying.
