Question by vrc: Know of any resources for fixing credit?
I have no active accounts in my credit. I have not had anything in my name in over 2 years. Everything on my credit is old stuff that are in collections. I am going to start paying them off, but I want to do it right. Are there any tricks to know when fixing credit when you have nothing active? I went to Suzy Ormans site and she only talks about paying off things that are active…any suggestions?
Fast Credit Repair
Best answer:
Answer by CatDad
If any of the debts are old charged off credit card debts, then it’s best to sit tight…paying off old charge offs will not help you credit rating and doing so will probably stir up more trouble than it’s worth. You could ending up triggering aggressive collection activity against yourself by renewing contact with collection agencies over old charge-offs. This risk is not worth a tiny increase in your credit score.
You may be able to negotiate the complete removal of non credit card debts like defaulted cell, medical, utility bills etc. from your credit report with a Pay for Delete agreement. This is a written agreement where you get a signed agreement from the debt collector (PRIOR to making any payment) where they offer to remove the negative items from your credit files after an agreed-to amount is paid. They will NOT want to do this….all they want is your money and their commission and they could not care less about your credit rating….Still, you have something they want (money) and that puts you in a position to negotiate on this issue. Example letter:
I am willing to resolve this issue if your firm sends me a written agreement that you will remove all negative notations from my credit report after the agreed-to amount is paid to you. Upon receipt of this letter I will mail you a USPS money order for this amount.
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Again, they are not going to want to do this…if they simply refuse to remove it, then you want to negotiate that they will update your credit report to “Paid in Full.”
Get all terms of any settlement deals IN WRITING FIRST, then you pay. Never accept verbal promises over the phone…they’ll promise you anything over the phone to get your money then they’ll deny that any agreement was ever made once they have your money. Pay only via USPS money order. Photocopy and keep in your permanent records. Never, ever give them your checking account numbers for payment.
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