how to clean up your credit report

How Do I Clean Up My Credit?
An Actual Case Study For A Real Client- Part 2

by Vincent Polisi on February 25, 2010

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.

By the way, if you are looking for affordable credit repair, consider enrolling in Credit Repair College. We will take you everything you need to know to take control of your credit and more! Join us if your ultimate goal is clean credit!

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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How Do I Clean Up My Credit?
An Actual Case Study For A Real Client

by Vincent Polisi on February 24, 2010

One of the things I love about our websites is the ability to interact with our clients, readers, subscribers and visitors and positively enrich their lives. The thing I hate is constantly seeing just how much misunderstanding there is of the very systems that so greatly impact people’s lives. It is very rewarding to see people learn how to fix credit on their own! If you read one of my prior posts on our retail rent to own website, FinanceTheDream.com about, “How Do I Clean Up My Credit?”, you got a big idea and several real live examples from people just like you of exactly what I am talking about. One of our readers named Candace hit me with a bunch of questions, machine gun style and what I decided to do is answer ALL of her questions in a series of posts because obviously, if she has the questions, so must many of you. So, read on to learn more about how to get clean credit!

Here’s what she asked:

“Hi,
I have a question, I was gonna use my tax return to clean up my credit, but the right way by sending validation letters and intent to delete letters, but my question is, once its deleted off of my credit report does the score stay the same, does it go up or down even further? Also, once the negative remarks are removed does it show that I have a shorter time length of credit history? And, I bought my house a couple of years ago and when I was in the approval phase of the whole home ownership process, I had to pay up a couple of things, and come to find out I didn’t do it the right way by sending the letter thing and the items I paid up says paid but still is reporting negatively, can I get those removed also? Oh, and how do I get the account numbers from the collection agency without admitting to the debt, because on my credit report it shows x’s instead of account. Last thing I promise, how long will it take for my score to improve? I am in the middle of selling my house to buy another one WITH my husband. Hopefully in a year…..”

To sum it up, essentially here’s what she wants to know and the posts/headings where the answers can be found:

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

These questions have very simple and easy to understand answers. The sad part is that the information is very simple and easy to understand but many people don’t know the answers and unknowingly do things that will actually hurt their credit score and slow down their credit repair process. As an example, we had an overwhelming response to the two posts I did on:

Don’t Use Your Tax Refund To Pay Off Items On Your Credit Report!!! and,

Don’t Use Your Tax Refund To Pay Off Positively Reporting Loans!

Many people were unknowingly going to use their tax refund to pay off bad credit items reporting on their credit reports as well as good credit items that were positively reporting. In fact, I had a client yesterday who was going to liquidate funds from a 401k to pay off good and bad credit. Thankfully, we got him the information he needed before he unknowingly shot himself in the foot.

Ok, so let’s get to the answers.

Credit Score Range

Q: What happens to the credit score when debt validation letters and the pay for delete process is used?

A: If the account has been charged off as a bad debt and either the debt validation process or pay for delete process is successful in getting the derogatory account removed from your credit report, your score has no choice but to go up, all things being equal. (In fact, this is one of the best strategies around for fast credit repair.)What I mean by that is if everything else remains the same and you don’t do anything else that would negatively impact the credit score, the score will go up. Things that you can do that will negatively impact the score are: charge up your credit cards so the utilization ratio is high, have numerous credit inquiries from credit card providers or other creditors other than mortgage lenders or car dealerships, have a payment show 30 days or more late, have another account charge off, etc. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine exactly what the potential increase in the credit score range is without using a service like Equifax Score Watch. With Equifax Score Watch, you can simulate what the impact to your credit score range will be if the items is removed, paid off, paid down, or paid timely for X number of months.

Q: When derogatory items are removed, does your credit score go up or down?

A: When derogatory items are removed, your credit score will go up. Again, it is impossible to say how much due to the age of the derogatory account, what type of account it is (revolving, mortgage, installment loan) which is why when working on credit restoration, I always use the Equifax Score Watch service.

To see the answers to the following questions, click How Do I Clean Up My Credit?:

When derogatory items are removed, does it show that I have a shorter time length of credit history? Debt Resolution
Can I get paid collection accounts removed? Bad credit score
How Do I get the account numbers from the collection agency without admitting the debt? Debt Problem
How long will it take for my score to improve? Fast credit repair

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment box below. To learn more about credit repair, please enroll in Credit Repair College! We will help you fix credit report issues so that you can achieve your dreams!

By the way, if you are considering getting a bad credit auto loan, check out our program!

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

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