How To Repair Your Credit Report History

When it comes to repairing your credit history it may seem that simply getting your payments back on track or paying off some of your debts altogether might be answer but, unfortunately, life is not quite as simple as that as even when you do clear a debt the creditor will still annotate your credit report to show this clearance and the wording which he uses to do so can in itself effect your credit score.

Just before we look at this however there is one other point we should make about your credit history. Items which appear on your credit report are time limited and will be removed from your report 7 years after the last entry is made for a particular item. If you have an outstanding debt which has been on your record for 5 years therefore since it was last amended it will disappear in 2 years time. However, if you pay off this debt then you will start the clock running again and the entry will remain for a further 7 years. This needs to be taken into account when you are considering whether or not to clear a particular debt.

One other thing which you need to know about your credit report is that any creditor who is permitted to add information to your report is also permitted to change that information and indeed to delete it.

Against this background let us look at a very important but much overlooked aspect of repairing your credit score - the matter of repairing your credit report history.

Let us assume that you have a debt which has been passed to a debt collection agency for recovery and you are in the process of negotiation clearance of this debt with the debt collector. We cover exactly how to go about this in our article entitled "How To Deal With Debt Collection Letters" so we will not cover that again here but will consider one aspect of the settlement of this debt which many people should, but do not, negotiate.

The debt collector's principle aim is to recover your debt and he is not terribly interested in your credit record. He is however conscious of the negative effect that clearing your debt can have on your record and so will often to open to removing a negative entry from your record as part of the settlement.

If at all possible you should therefore include this requirement in your negotiation and get him to agree to removing the entire negative debt listing from your file before making any settlement payoff. Now there are both advantages and disadvantages to doing this of course. On the one hand it will certainly be in your interest to have the entry removed but the mere fact that you are asking for it to be removed, and thus indicating that your credit record is important to you, may also lead to the debt collector requiring a higher settlement figure.

One way around this is not to make this a condition until after a settlement figure has been agreed. At this point you can then make your payment to the debt collector but enclose what is known as a "conditional endorsement" statement with your settlement check. This statement should normally be drafted by an attorney and simply informs the debt collector that you require him to delete your negative entry as a condition of acceptance of your settlement check. This will often work because, having received your check, the debt collector is happy with the outcome of your case and so will remove the entry without a second thought. The danger however is that he could also simply reject your terms and return your check. He could also simply deposit your check and not alter your listing, leaving you to try and fight on to get him to remove the listing.

As a general rule most creditors can be persuaded to delete a negative entry but it can be a matter of finding the right person to speak to and this can take a very long time. Where you cannot get a creditor to delete an entry however all is not lost and there are still a number of alternatives.

While getting an entry deleted is your best option, the next best alternative is to have your entry simply marked as "Paid". Your account will often be marked to show not merely that an account has been paid but also to indicate the circumstances under which it was paid and this can add to the negativity of your record. It could for example be marked as "Paid charge-off" or as "Paid late negotiations". If the creditor will not agree to delete the entry entirely then try to get him to simply mark it as "Paid" and to remove any other negative notations.

If this does not work then the next line of attack is to have your account listed as "Settled". Although this is not the best listing in the world and is negative in nature, it is certainly better than something like "Paid charge-off".

If all else fails you may have to accept a listing of "Paid charge-off", "Paid collection" or "Paid late" which is not ideal but is still better than having your listing marked as "Unpaid".

One final note, if you do dispute the listing then you will often find that, once an account has been paid, the mere fact that you are disputing the listing will result in it being deleted since this is an easy way to resolve the matter and the creditor, having got his money, now has no real reason not to delete the listing.

Recommended books from

The Road to 850: Proven Strategies for Increasing Your Credit Score
by Al Bingham
Amazon Price:
Customer Review: I believe this is a good book for individuals who know nothing about credit. It really didn't tell me much that I didn't already know.

It is well-written and the writer is trustworthy and knows his stuff. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to and needs to learn about credit and how to increase scores.

Quite frankl...
 

BestCredit: How to Win the Credit Game, 2nd Edition
by Dana Neal
Amazon Price: $19.80
Customer Review: With the help of this book I was able to raise my credit score from the mid 400's to the mid 600's in less than a year and become a new homeowner. I felt that the least I could do was write a review to share with you how empowering this book is if you have the drive and determination it takes to apply the principles. Buy it today!! Good luck!!!
 

Credit Repair Kit For Dummies
by Steve Bucci
Amazon Price: $16.49
Customer Review: Unfortunatly I never received this book. Never received a confirmation number to track it. Overall very disappointed.
 

Credit Repair
by Robin Leonard J.D., John Lamb Attorney
Amazon Price: $16.49
Customer Review: Much of this information is common knowledge, but it is good to have in book form. This clarifies how and what to do very nicely.

My biggest problem is that I felt it could have been explained much simpler. This book is approximately twice as long as I think it needed to be. The information is correct and useful for the most part, j...
 

Government Credit Repair Help ? Need Assistance Fixing Your Credit Report? - ...
7 Feb 2010 at 6:19pm

Government Credit Repair Help ? Need Assistance Fixing Your Credit Report?
Subprime Blogger (blog)
If you currently in need of assistance fixing your credit report you may want to use government credit repair help. It is important to note that the ....
 
DIY Credit Repair Keeps You Safe From Scam Artists - Credit Loan (blog)
4 Feb 2010 at 2:58pm

DIY Credit Repair Keeps You Safe From Scam Artists
Credit Loan (blog)
The truth is, the most effective way to repair your credit is to do it yourself. There is nothing a credit repair company can do to boost your credit score ...
What is a Credit Bur...
 
Debt Settlement - Why Pay Your Credit Cards When a Debt Settlement Company Ca...
6 Feb 2010 at 9:40pm

BigNews.biz (press release)
Debt Settlement - Why Pay Your Credit Cards When a Debt Settlement Company Can ...
BigNews.biz (press release)
This article will explain why this is such a unique time and where to find a legitimate debt repair company. Ma...
 
Saints fever can pinch your budget - NOLA.com
7 Feb 2010 at 4:47am

Saints fever can pinch your budget
NOLA.com
Even under the CARD Act your credit card interest rate can be increased if your payment is more than 60 days late. So don't get so distracted by the Saints, ...

and more »