I want to apply for a mortgage this fall so I'm working on my credit reports with that goal in mind. I have some bad debts that were charged off back in '96 and '97. Some say zero balance, some say I still owe a balance. I was able to get the collection accounts removed from my reports but my original creditors are coming back as verified. My questions are: 1) If a creditor reports a zero balance on a charged off account will the lender require me to track down and pay the collection agency? 2) If an acct shows charged off and sold but still reflects a balance (can they do that?) will the lender require that I pay the balance even though they no longer own the account? In other words; Do lenders require that a charged off account show "paid" when the account is reporting a zero balance?
Most lenders require all outstanding debt/collections be paid prior to getting a loan. What exactly is on your reports?? If any accounts have balances due, it doesn't matter who is reporting them, these most likely will have to be paid. If you have some time you may try disputing them and see if anything disappears.
Examples: a) Discover Financial: charged off, account sold, $0 balance (was never paid) and the CA was disputed and deleted. b) ACSI/RCSB: profit and loss writeoff, $0 balance (was never paid) and don't even know who or if someone is still trying to collect on this. c) BNBUSA/BJS: Purchased by another lender, $1,000 balance and CA is not reporting it. Examples (a) and (b) show a zero balance so wouldn't that be good enough for the lender even if it doesn't specifically say "paid"? Example (c) was sold so how could I possibly owe them a balance? Whoever they sold it to isn't listed. Would they make me pay people that aren't showing up on my credit reports?
