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I have just settled a debt with a collector and received a settlement letter. They told me they don’t report to creditors.

How do I get this information to agencies to erase bad credit details on the three reporting agencies?

(I used https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ a few months back and to get a fresh copy I have to pay. I don’t mind but will it look bad for me to get copies every 3-4 months?)

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  • Note that this is still a bad debt. As you settled the debt rather than paying it off in full, even once you get the settlement on your credit report, it will remain a black mark on your record, albeit a smaller black mark. – ChrisInEdmonton Nov 4 '13 at 21:11
  • and if i pay it in completely? – kacalapy Nov 4 '13 at 21:18
  • kinda after the fact now but still... – kacalapy Nov 4 '13 at 21:42
  • If you pay it off completely, it'll show up as an overdue bill but not as a settlement. It'll still hurt your credit rating, but less so than a settlement (and a LOT less than an outstanding bad debt). – ChrisInEdmonton Nov 5 '13 at 1:48
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The only information you can legally request removed from your credit report is information that is incorrect.

If your credit report correctly reports that you had a debt and that it was behind and sent to collections then you can't legally challenge or change anything. They report the truth and this is a case where they are right and doing their job correctly.

If they continue to report that you owe them money (Balance is reported as $10,000 in January 2014) but you've paid them off in November 2013 or they report that you only paid off half or some other change that is incorrect, you could dispute the account because it is now in error. This is done by filing a form with the credit reporting company that has the error and they have 30 days to remove the information or confirm that it is correct and provide you a way to appeal. You'll have to do this with each credit reporting company that has an error.

Anecdotes exist that show the credit bureau will remove the entire account when correcting an error and anecdotes exist that the credit bureau will fix the error, leaving the account. If this is your scenario, I don't know which solution you'll end up with.

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  • Contact the company that reported it and (at their discretion) they might remove it. – Joshua Olson Dec 26 '13 at 7:59

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