Report Paid Debt on Credit Report

Submitted by abu31july on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 17:25
Forums

What do I ask for when a debt is paid off completely. A letter from the company, or to make sure that this reflects on my credit report??

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law, requires consumer credit reporting companies to report accurate information. Under the FCRA, the information provider (i.e., the person, company, or organization that provides information about you to a consumer reporting agency) is responsible for reporting accurate information to the credit bureaus, and for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in a consumer's credit report.

Therefore, you should be able to do nothing and once your delinquent debt is paid this should appear on your credit report automatically.

There is common misinformation or misunderstanding how paid debts can appear on a credit report. Federal law (US Code Title 15, §1681c) controls the behavior of credit reporting agencies. This law is known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under FCRA §605 (a) and (b), an account in collection will appear on a consumer's credit report for 7frac12; years. The clock starts approximately 180 days after the date of first delinquency on the account. To learn when an account will be removed by the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian and others), add 7frac12; years to the date of first delinquency. Subsequent activity, such as resolving the debt, is irrelevant to the seven-year rule. However, if the debt is a tax lien, that can appear for seven years from the date of payment. A bankruptcy will appear for ten years from the date of the final order. Delinquent federal student loans can be reported indefinitely, i.e., for as long as they are delinquent.

Resolving the outstanding balance appearing on your credit report should have a positive impact on your credit rating. The past delinquency will not be removed from your credit report, but it should change the listing to reflect a $0 balance on this debt. While the past delinquency will continue to negatively impact your credit, the impact should be less and it will reduce your "debt to available credit ratio," which should also have a positive impact on your credit rating.

What you may be referring to is called a "pay for delete."

Fri, 09/10/2010 - 18:31 Permalink

Pay for delete letter
Some savvy consumers pay delinquent debt with a condition -- deleting the derogatory entry from their credit report. A "pay for delete" letter, which is also known as a PFD, is an agreement to pay a debt that is listed on a credit report in exchange for the creditor promising to delete the entry from the consumer's credit reports.

Some collections agents will honor these agreements -- others consider them a breach of contract they have with the credit reporting agencies and will not consider them. Some use "PFDs violate federal law" as an excuse for not accepting them, which is either a misunderstanding of the Federal Debt Collections Practices Act, FCRA, or is a misstatement of the law. PFDs do not violate any federal law.

If you are about to to settle a debt you have nothing to lose in asking for a PFD. Do not be surprised if the creditor refuses to consider a PFD offer -- they are under no obligation to accept them. However, it does not hurt to ask.

Fri, 09/10/2010 - 18:31 Permalink

ask for a letter from the company and send a copy to the CRAs

Fri, 09/10/2010 - 18:53 Permalink

Hi abu,

You can first request the creditor to ask the credit bureaus to update your account status. If this does not work, you can send a dispute letter to the credit bureaus along with the payment receipt as proof.

As for the "Pay for delete" (PFD), you should have done it before paying off the debt and only if there are any negative listings against this account.

Thanks,

Aaron

Sat, 09/11/2010 - 09:43 Permalink
Magali (not verified)

No it wont show up. If you have credit cards and you fail to make patmynes, the card issuer will file a report with the credit reference agency. If that has not happened, your husband wont find out. So you dont have to worry. Why dont you sign up for a credit card and get one for your husband as a gift. My wife got me a Manchester United credit card and I was chuffed. Check out

Fri, 08/30/2013 - 17:30 Permalink
evangeline (not verified)

creditors told me to go online to show proof of payment to get rapid update

Tue, 05/21/2019 - 19:57 Permalink
Theo David (not verified)

Contact: confidentialcredit2424@gmail.com / text +1 (289) 277-0463, for permanent credit repair.
Guys, for the past 6 – 7 months, I have been battling with my credit score, because it was very low until i met this company through a friend, they helped increase my credit score from 421 to 790. Am very pleased that they fixed all negative items in my score within 2 weeks, even though I doubted them at first, because they asked me to pay before service. They got my report and in 2 weeks my credit score increased. I recommend CONFIDENTIAL CREDIT SOLUTIONS they are trust worthy and reliable.

Fri, 06/28/2019 - 10:51 Permalink