In the prior post, I began responding to the questions asked by one of our readers at FinanceTheDream.com. The questions Candace asked were:

1.    What happens to the credit score when debt validation letters and the pay for delete process is used?
2.    When derogatory items are removed, does your credit score go up or down?
3.    When derogatory items are removed, does it show that I have a shorter time length of credit history?
4.    Can I get paid collection accounts removed?
5.    How Do I get the account numbers from the collection agency without admitting the debt?
6.    How long will it take for my score to improve?

The first two questions were answered in the prior post on how to clean up your credit report. In this post, we will continue to address, in detail, her additional questions so you too can understand how to clean up your credit report.

Debt Resolution

Q:   When derogatory items are removed, does it show that I have a shorter time length of credit history?

A:   There are three answers to this question and they are yes, no and it depends. Great answers, huh? Everything clear as mud? Let’s clear things up. Ok, when derogatory items are removed, it may show that you have a shorter time length of credit history IF, and IF being the operative word here, IF the items removed are the oldest and longest reporting accounts on your credit report AND there are no other accounts of the same age. If the accounts that got removed through debt resolution practices were not the oldest accounts, then the answer is no, it will not show that you have a shorter time length of credit history.

Even if the accounts are the oldest on the credit history, if they are showing as charge-offs or collections, you still want to get them removed because they certainly are not helping your credit report, credit score or overall credit profile from an underwriting perspective.

When you have to worry about accounts being removed that are the oldest is when the account that is removed or disappears is the oldest and is a positively reporting account. This is why you absolutely have to have Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring when working on credit restoration. Believe it or not, you can actually have positively reporting accounts drop off and not report. This is devastating to your score and can really impede your ability to qualify for a loan, get a job, etc. Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring allows you to see what is and is NOT being reported in real time. This is an essential element in credit restoration because it lets you know what to attack. When used in conjunction with
Equifax Score Watch you have live metrics so you can see what is being reported, be immediately alerted to changes in your credit report, your credit score and run simulations that will tell you what will happen if you get a derogatory item removed, pay it off, etc. You can also run simulations that will show your credit score over a period of time so you can see the impact of simply continuing to pay your bills on time or paying them off early. If you are serious about credit restoration, you absolutely have to have Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring and Equifax Score Watch. It is what the pros use and you should too!

Q: Can I get paid collection accounts removed?

A: The answer? Yes, of course. Anything, whether positive or negative, that is on your credit report can be removed. Some are infinitely more challenging than others, like public records (bankruptcy, foreclosure, judgments, tax liens) but a paid collection account can be removed. The approaches to this are through the dispute and debt validation processes since this isn’t really a debt resolution issue since technically, there is no debt to resolve any longer. If you have watched our video on how to develop a comprehensive plan to credit repair, you already know that you have to begin with the end in mind and there is a certain chronology in way you prioritize each aspect of credit restoration, debt resolution, etc. So, before I would personally waste time on getting a paid collection deleted, I would run it through Equifax Score Watch and determine how much it would impact the score. Likewise, if there are other things that need to be addressed, I would run those through Equifax Score Watch as well. Once that is complete, you know the credit score impact of each item and can prioritize your efforts. Typically, debt resolution through dispute, debt validation and pay for delete of unpaid charge-offs and collections will yield a higher credit score faster than eliminating an old paid collection account. Having said this, Equifax is constantly tweaking the credit scoring matrix and unless you run it through Equifax Score Watch you will not know the actual impact based on your individual credit report.

To see the answers to:

• How Do I get the account numbers from the collection agency without admitting the debt?
• How long will it take for my score to improve?

please view our next post:

How Do I Clean Up My Credit-Part 3

Additionally, if you have any questions or comments, please use the comment box below.

Tagged as: clean credit report up, Clean up credit report, clean up my credit report, debt resolution, how to clean up your credit report

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