Credit Questions

[rcarrillo]

As renriq said... you basically are admitting fault plus you are moving up the "effective reporting date".

Say you had a collection from 3 years ago with no activity. It is a negative but it was 3 years ago... if you have been clean since then, it might not be affecting you much now.

If you go and pay it off, the creditor will report the new status ($0 balance) which is nice... but it will now show today's date. This will make it seem as if the collection is 3 years newer than it really is and possibly cause your credit score to DROP in the short term.

Over the long term its a benefit becuase of the $0 balance... but you might have been better off just waiting 1-2 years until it had virtually no impact. There is no "rule" as to how old is old. I usually go with if its >1 year old, then just dispute it (if there is reason) or forget about it. Use the money you would have paid to the creditor (who often lies or makes mistakes and do not remove it anyways) to pay down current debts, build savings or do other things that will help you.

[mccray916]

Originally Posted by NChomesomeday

Would you kindly explain this in a bit more detail? Is it only old collection accounts? How "old" is old? What if an account got sold from one collection agency to another? Or from the creditor to a collection agency?

Thanks.

Around 2005 I received a notice from a collection company that they had purchased my account from Orchard. They negotiated a settlement with me where I paid 70% of balance and the account was to be marked paid in full. I thought paying the collection company would remove the negative report from my file. I just got a response from Equifax today regarding my dispute of this account. The said the Orchard report will be on my report for 7 years but they now list the account as zero balance Transfer/Sold/Paid.

I did see another negative on the credit report Equifax sent me that I disputed 2 years ago--a medical bill that was sent to NCO collections for $92. I called NCO some time in 2006 and gave them the account number that was on my credit report for the $92 and they told me they didn't see anything for me on that account but they had other accounts for me. I knew they had to be looking back 10 or more years so I told them that I was only interested in that one medical account. I was again told they didn't have that one but they had others, so I hung up. What do i do if a creditor insists he doesn't have an account that's showing up on my credit report but insists that he has others [that are not showing up on my credit report]. I just want to be able to send in a payment without talking with this creditor about anything 10 years old for fear I may make myself liable for paying somethiing that's been removed from my credit report. thank you so much!

[mccray916]

Originally Posted by rcarrillo

As renriq said... you basically are admitting fault plus you are moving up the "effective reporting date".

Say you had a collection from 3 years ago with no activity. It is a negative but it was 3 years ago... if you have been clean since then, it might not be affecting you much now.

If you go and pay it off, the creditor will report the new status ($0 balance) which is nice... but it will now show today's date. This will make it seem as if the collection is 3 years newer than it really is and possibly cause your credit score to DROP in the short term.

Over the long term its a benefit becuase of the $0 balance... but you might have been better off just waiting 1-2 years until it had virtually no impact. There is no "rule" as to how old is old. I usually go with if its >1 year old, then just dispute it (if there is reason) or forget about it. Use the money you would have paid to the creditor (who often lies or makes mistakes and do not remove it anyways) to pay down current debts, build savings or do other things that will help you.

Thank you so very much. Would you suggest that I continue to pursue a collection agency who according to the credit bureau has a $92 medical bill in my name. [This charge falls off my account in February 2009]. when I called the collection agency with the information provided by the credit bureau, I was told that they didn't have any information on this medical bill charge - but they said they have other charges to discuss with me? I hung up after hearing that I don't want to get stuck paying some charge that's 15 or 20 yrs years old due to deception and trickery.

[renriq02]

dispute with the credit bureaus DIRECTLY.

most credit repair companies waste your time by sending letters to the creditors.

remember that equifax, transunion, and experian is showing your information to potential creditors.

dispute with them directly!

[in_newengland]

I recently got a letter that said I owe $300 for an ER visit back in 2003. I ignored it because I've had other problems to deal with.

Last week they called me and apparently it's because I didn't call my health insurance at the time of the ER visit so it never got paid.

How can they come after you after all this time? It's so long that I don't even know what the ER visit was for. I've moved since then -- but FIVE YEARS? That's how long it took them to find me a few towns away? How come I never heard about this in the first place. What if I don't pay it?

I think I did admit that I probably went to the ER to them over the phone so I guess I've admitted "guilt." I can't afford to pay it now so they're going to call me again next month. Is there some way that I could have gotten out of paying this? Is there any way I can get out of it now?

Also, how is this going to affect my credit?

[findingmesomeday]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I was getting calls about a small balance outstanding from about 5 years ago.