I just found out that one can have some negative items removed from credit reports. Just today, I discovered this great site with so much useful info. Here is my situation - I left the US for one year in 1997 and when I came back in 1998, my credit was messed up because I simply forgot about some credits. Basically I have four negative items on my reports that I would like to begin tackling: 1) Unpaid utility bill $321 - sent to collection in 1998. Reported to Credit Bureaus by Collection Agency. 2) Unpaid dental bill $89 - sent to collection in 1997. Reported to CB by collection. 3) Charge Off - R9: Reported as Settled Account Less than Full Payment - Capital One Credit card ($2200). Paid through a collection agency in 2001 (actually paid about $1900). 4) Paid Collection - Chevron Credit Card Collection by Creditor -1996. This had only one 60 + delinquency. Closed Account -1996 5) I also have about 8-10 inquiries in the last two years. It is the first two items that I would like to begin tackling because they are the most difficult since they remained unpaid. I have not had any corresponce from my creditors since I left my original address except for Capital One. About a year ago I contacted the collcetion agency to try and settle the utility bill of $321. The guy on the other side told me the file was sent back to the original creditor. Instead he asked me to pay about $9 to "close the account". I wrote a check and NEVER sent it! I begining to think that this is a forgotten account since I have not heard from utility co. or the collection agency. I also contacted my dentist about a year ago. They were not keen on collecting their balance of $89 and simply said "your account was sent to a collection agency". No follow-up. I am ready to begin to remove these items. How should I proceed? Any suggestions? Thanks
BBauer, Thanks! but someone advised me to despute with the 3 CRA right away. Just a few minutes ago I sent one to EQ denying I owe anything. Will that backfire?
I doubt that it will backfire in any significant way, it is only a question of how much good it will do you. Only time will tell that. What will possibly happen is that about 40 to 50 percent of the items you dispute may be removed, although some will only be temporarily and may well return to haunt you again after a few months time. That's what often happens when one disputes the debts with the CRAs. The above bit of conjecture (and that's exactly what it is) is based on a combination of nationally distributed statistics and personal experience in dealing with a pretty large number of examples. In otherwords, while some good results may come of your disputes with the CRAs, the overall results are not likely to be all that effective. I believe (and personal experience again backs me up) that it is far better to deal directly with the collectors or collection agents and eradicate the debt once and for all and then go after the credit bureaus for deletion. After all, if no debt exists, how can they possibly keep it on your records?
