Is it possible to remove charge-off from your credit report?

Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 446 10880 Magic Points

As a debtor you will have to check whether the SOL for the debt which has been charged off, has expired or not. If the SOL has expired, then you need not pay off the debt else you should pay it off as soon as possible by coming to a repayment agreement with the creditor who has charged off the debt. This is because, charge off does not mean that you are not required to pay off the debt. If the SOL has not expired, the creditor can sue you even for the charged off account and bring judgment against you and if there is a judgment in your credit report, your credit score may fall by over 100 points and may also lead to garnishment of your wages.

As for the charge-off removal, creditors generally agree to pay for deletion because they expect to get a portion of the debt or the entire amount outstanding from you. But since you have paid them off, they will have no incentive to get those negatives removed from your credit report. Pay for deletion agreements generally made before start paying off the debt and that too in writing because if the creditor somehow refuses to remove the negative from your report, you can send a copy of the PFD agreement to the bureaus and the bureaus would remove them from the report.

Joined: 26 Jan 2009 Posts: 2 152 Magic Points

Last night I tried contacting 2 of the companies, the first laughed at me when I mentioned deleting it from the credit report. She said it's against the law for a record to be deleted. She had also said the account was charged off, settled, and there was $0 balance so I didn't need to worry about it and it would fall off after the 7 year period.

The second company I talked to said they don't delete anything, but if I wanted to make payments on charged off amount, once that was paid they'd mark it charged off paid in full and that should help a few points.

The SOL here is 6 years, so roughly 4 more to go.

Finally, the third company I spoke with was trying to collect on a cc debt which had been charged off, but they put a collections mark on my credit report dated last month. I asked them if I paid would they delete this matter from my credit report. They said yes, and e-mailed me an agreement. Here is the contents:

RE: OriginalCreditor: WAMU
Original Account #: XXXXXXXXX
Current Balance: $XXXX

<MY>:
Confirming our recent conversation, our client has agreed to settle the above-captioned account for
the amount of $XXXX.
Your downpayment of $XXXX will be due in this office on or before 1/29/2009. Additional
payments, if any, are shown below:
$XXXX <Total Settlement Amount
This payment will be accepted as full satisfaction of your debt on this account. In return, we agree
to provide you with a release and satisfaction showing this matter as concluded. In addition, our
client will update your credit reports accordingly.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call.

Sincerely,
<HIS>
Collector

The words 'Delete' do not show. Should I take one of the draft letters and change it to reflect the amount they provided and make sure it states the matter will be deleted from the credit bureaus?

Please advise.

Thanks,
Jason

Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 686 17404 Magic Points

I have gone through this letter. What I found is that the collection agency has not agreed to pay for deletion. They have only agreed to update the credit report as "settled" or "satisfied". However, you can request them again over phone to make remove the charge off from your report once you pay off the debt. Even if they do not agree, you should pay off the debt as the debt has already been charged off. However, you can request the creditor to change the nature of the listing to "paid as agreed" instead of "settled for less"

Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 446 10880 Magic Points

Actually the charged off listing cannot be removed from the credit report by the collection agency. It can be removed only if the debt is still with the OC and the OC agrees to pay for deletion agreement. Moreover, even if your account is charged off, you are still responsible for the debt and the creditor can bring judgment against you to recover the debt. If there is a judgment in your credit report, you score will fall further. So, if the creditor agrees to change the nature of the charge off to "paid charge off" you can pay them off after getting the agreement in writing.
As per your Washington Mutual loan, you should take out a hard copy of the agreement they have send you and keep it in safe custody as a proof.

GullatG · Guest 0 Magic Points

I have four charge offs in my credit and owe less than $2000 and my score is very low how can get this charge off removed.

Jeremy · Guest 0 Magic Points

My answer to you is to bluff. Here is a sample letter for you to help. They don't care about your credit report. Most collection company will not report paid account, because if gone unchecked by you the customer. They will sell the remain balance to another company or recharge you for this debt. This is know as "zombie debt". Next time before paying anything off, get it in writing.

CREDIT OR
COLLECTION
ADDRESS

Re: WHO WAS THE ORIGINAL COMPANY
Partial Account #: 368....
Amount: Paid, 0.00

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to inform you that this debt was disputed. Finding indicated that account was closed and paid in full. I am not sure of the account number, the account number I have is the one listed on my Experian credit report – which may not be correct.

In the spirit of compromise, I pay this account IN FULL and you agreed to immediate deletion of this account from any and all information referring to this account from the all credit reporting agencies, including but not limited to Experian, Equifax and Transunion.

There shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies. I am give you TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following your receipt of this letter. Payment was as specified and if contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, [i]COLLECTION COMPANY[/i] will not acknowledge, accepted, or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.

Please prepare a letter on your company letterhead and have it signed by an authorized representative of [b]COLLECTION COMPANY[/b]. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under the laws of my state. Stating that the collection was removed as agreed and/or a letter confirming that you notified the credit reporting agencies requesting a deletion. Please also attach a copy of the Universal Data Form (UDF) you transmit to the credit reporting agencies showing the deletion request, if possible. Please postmarked no later than 15 days from your receipt of this letter.

Please address all correspondence regarding this account to:

YOUR NAME
ADDRESS

Joined: 27 Jun 2006 Posts: 1307 29565 Magic Points

Hi Gullat G

If these are your debts and you are sure then try and negotiate with your creditor and seek for a pay for delete request. Since your debts are low, there is a good chance that your creditor (s) might agree to this PFD. But, remember, whatever you do, get all agreements in writing to avoid future hassles.

Joined: 03 Nov 2007 Posts: 3927 56 Magic Points

It is really hard to get them to do anything but to agree to a charge off and paid, they will rarely ever delete it, so your best chance is to file a dispute if the amount is not correct or if you can find anything else wrong with the account.

I paid off 4 negative accounts about two years ago that were in collection status and I can tell you that it did not help my score a bit, nor did it help me when it came to future creditors, they still question them even after I tell them that they were all paid off.

nepps · Guest 0 Magic Points

creditors should not report paid charge offs for seven years. They should shorten the time by half and only report paid charge offs for three and a half years. Then more people might pay.

Joined: 24 Jun 2010 Posts: 61 996 Magic Points

Does anyone have info on SOL in the state of NM? I'm unsure about the SOL laws in the state of NM...

tiffanyj · Guest 0 Magic Points

if the original creditor aggrees to the letter of deletion; what do i do about the account with the third party creditor?

charlotte · Guest 0 Magic Points

WHAT WOULD U SUG. THAT I DO THE BILL IS OVER SEVEN YEARS OLD NOW SHOULD I CONTACT D T E OR TRY WRITING THE CREDIT COM. EX .TE. AND EQ

terrystevens · Guest 0 Magic Points

i don't see this on my credit report but to day i got a letter about it

Guest · 0 Magic Points

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