While you can search the web for information on how to resolve negative marks on your own, a credit repair attorney in Miami can give you the individualized support you need. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority reported that only 57% of Americans are financially literate, so don’t be frustrated if you are having a hard time figuring out how to resolve a credit report issue–such as payday loans going to collections–or how to stop an account from going to collections.
How to Get Negative Items Off Your Credit Report
The truth is, any outstanding debt or bills owed can go to collections and negatively impact your credit report and score. Here are some tactics for resolving this type of problem:
Submit a Dispute for Inaccurate or Outdated Items
First, get a free copy of your credit report. You can access this through AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only free credit report website endorsed and authorized by the U.S. federal government. Get reports from the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian), and check all of these reports in case they contain different information from lenders or creditors.
Check for any inaccuracies, such as falsely labeled late payments, closed accounts listed as open, items from more than ten years ago, and other false data. You have the legal right to dispute any inaccurate information and submit a request to the credit bureau for it to be corrected.
After you receive confirmation that they received your dispute claim, they have thirty days to make a decision. If they find your dispute is supported by the evidence you’ve provided, they are obligated to remove the disputed items.
Send a Request for a Goodwill Deletion
This is one of two options you can take when the item you want to be removed is correctly reported on your credit report. You can make a “goodwill deletion” request directly to the creditor if you are in good standing with them. This can be a bit tricky, but it’s not impossible. If you have been paying your bills on time and have a history of paying off your debt, you may petition the creditor to forgive certain negative items.
This is usually more successful for small one-off items, such as a single missed payment. This strategy probably won’t work if you have a history of late payments or having accounts sent to collections agencies.
A request for a goodwill deletion is a letter that details your history of on-time payments before the incident, an explanation of why you were not able to pay the account on time, and that you are taking responsibility for what happened.
Negotiate With Creditors Via Pay-for-Delete
Like a goodwill deletion, a pay-for-delete request can be made when all the items you want to be removed are correctly reported on the credit report. Of course, you will need to submit a letter to the collection agency or creditor. However, in this letter, you will notify them that you are prepared to pay off the account (either in full or in part), as long as the information is retracted from your credit report.
Keep in mind that this approach is a negotiation–creditors and collections agencies are not obligated to agree to your proposal or even respond. Because collection agencies want to collect as much of the debt back as possible, they may be incentivized to remove a negative entry. They may also opt not to delete the entry but instead mark it as paid (after you have paid it) on your report.
In Summary
You might feel ashamed or frustrated if you have a negative item on your credit report, but you are not alone. There could be many reasons why it is showing on your credit history, but there are also many ways to rectify the situation. Reach out to The Phenix Group if you want help getting negative information removed from your credit report–we’re ready to help!