Please help

If you see "charge off" on the account that debt was likely sold to a collection agency for .10 on the dollar. The original creditor took the bad debt as a loss when they filed their income tax and got a credit benefit from the IRS. So paying that old debt won't really help your credit, and once that old debt is sold your no longer dealing with the original creditor anymore. Now the decision to settle that old debt can hurt you depending how old the debt is let me explain. A charge off stays on your credit for 7 years, and accounts are calculated based on the date of last activity which is a little secret they don't tell you. Now this means if the debt is 5 yrs old that means you have 2 yrs left before its removed off your credit, but if you decide to call the collection agency to settle this debt now that account is going to stay on your credit report another 7 yrs on top of the 5 yrs its already been on there. The only difference its going to say paid charge off on your report which isn't really going to help your credit much. When you pay that debt it becomes the date of last activity and the years start over again. If you decide to wait it out and not pay in two yrs it will be off. So it depends how old it is, if its going to be awhile before the statute of limitations expires then it might be best to settle that debt and most companies will settle for .50 on the dollar, but always make it seem you have no money and you can only afford .20 on the dollar then hopefully both sides will come to a middle ground of about .40 on the dollar to settle the debt remember they bought this debt for only .10 on the dollar so there making a profit no matter what. Once you pay the debt, find a reputable credit repair agency to remove the paid charge off, off your credit. I've had mine done, not going to promote any particular one since I'm not getting paid to promote credit repair agencies but do your research and find a legit one to remove it.

 

Not necessarily so. Charge-off is simply an accounting treatment. The original creditor may sell the debt after charging it off, or they may keep it and only assign for collection. Or they may do nothing.

When someone charges off an account, they write if off against a bad debt account. However, if the money is later collected, that transaction is reversed and the account is "written on" the books. Then the payment is applied. But whether or not an account is charge off has nothing to do with the fact that you still owe the money.

And you don't know how much a collection agency pays for a debt. It may be 10 cents, it may be five cents, it may be 25 cents. It depends how it's sold, how it's bundled, and how much documentation accompanies it.

The date that the tradeline falls off your credit report depends on the date the account went delinquent and was never again brought current. Whether or not you pay a collection agency doesn't change the date it falls off. It may, however, update the date of last activiity and date reported, which may make it seem newer. But the date it should be removed from the report is based on the date that the account went delinquent and was never again brought current.

 

That is true you don't know how much the collection company bought the debt for I was just using .10 on the dollar has an example of what they could of bought it for. The point I was trying to make is that collection agencies buy these old debts for pennies on the dollar, and that he should be able to settle the debt for a fraction from what he originally owed.

 

Nothing wrong with that but as Hedwig pointed out, you gave the original poster incorrect information. Hedwig gave the right information. On the other hand, what you said very often turns out to be what really happens opposed to what should have happened. The reason it does happen on occasion is that the credit bureause may not be paying attention due to inactivity on the consumer's part. The consumer never pulls their credit reports or never disputes anything so the incorrect information might stay there long past the time it was supposed to.

If the consumer disputes such a listing that is out of date and the credit bureau refuses to remove it then the consumer may have a cause of action against the credit bureaus and whoever wrongfully reports it after the date it was supposed to have fallen off.