Look, I am new to all this so if I am asking silly questins, I am sorry. I lost my job about three years agoa and it seems like I will never get out of this mountain of debt. Anyway, I would like someone to ansswer several questions I have... 1. What is a charge-off and do I have to pay the people back? Would it even help my credit to do so? 2.Could you actually sue these creditors for all these inaccuracies? 3. How long do I have to wait for an account to be verified? It has been 90+ days and they still have not given me a payment history. 4. Is there anyone here that has actually fought this system and won? I mean, I want to own a house some day!
Several Answers (1) You still owe the creditor for a chargeoff. That term has to do with reporting, not the legal status of the debt. It just means they don't think you're going to repay them soon, so they can't include your account as an asset on their financial statements. Then they warn everyone else by reporting it. (2) Paying a chargeoff will NOT help your credit, unless you make a deal with the creditor to quit reporting the account in exchange for your payment. Never pay voluntarily unless you negotiate such a deal FIRST. (3) Lots of people here are fighting the system and winning, although very few have perfect credit yet. Sometimes it just takes time, that is, waiting 7 years for chargeoffs to drop off as required by law. But in the meantime, you can try to get rid of some of the reported chargeoffs, either by disputing with the credit bureaus or by paying the creditor in exchange for deletion. (4) Your life can be a lot more comfortable if you succeed in removing all chargeoffs from one of your 3 credit bureau reports. Then you apply for credit from creditors who use that particular credit bureau. People here post a lot of useful information about which companies use which credit bureaus. (5) Once your chargeoffs get to be about 3 years old, you can get a lot of credit, although not on favorable terms. It also helps to have accounts on which you continue to pay. I hope you either have or will soon get a couple of accounts that will show a positive history a couple of years from now. Then you can start getting a lot more credit.
