Wednesday 30 November 2011

Repairing Your Credit: When You Should Get Rid of Older Delinquent Accounts

Lots of people when viewing their credit reports will be disappointed to see a record of your old account, opened several years ago, showing late payments or delinquent status and even a charge-off. Their first response is to get it off their report as fast as possible. It is really an understandable response but, if it's possible to have it removed, more attention and care should be exercised when considering this kind of action. The length of credit history is an important factor in determining your credit rating; longer history usually translates to better score. Definitely the negative status of your account does affect the score negatively. Now add to the equation that the older a charged-off account becomes, the less negative influence it has on your score and the problem becomes even more perplexing. Faced with this dilemma, do you go ahead and remove the account or let it stand to demonstrate a longer credit history?

The primary line of defense would be to ensure that the information is accurate; if they are not move ahead and challenge it so that it remains on your report, though the negative content is corrected. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), missed payments can remain on a credit report for up to seven years. If your delinquent payments are older than that, they must be corrected. But don't forget, if you missed payments and your account remained open, subsequent payments can cause the debt to be re-aged this means the seven year period given by the FCRA will probably have begun to run again extending the time that's needed to pass before it will appear in your report. Disputing the account on those grounds will fail because it is being reported accurately.

If you're within your rights to have the account taken from your report, then consider your current payment history. If you currently are paying as agreed and on time, then this is more influential in calculating your credit score than having an older charged-off account on your report. "On time payments" always are superior to "age of accounts". Another reason supporting removing of the older charged-off account is that it will often be viewed by lenders, employers, insurance underwriters and landlords as a red flag causing them to look past your credit score and could influence their decision to deny you credit, employment, insurance, etc.

All things considered, the general consensus is that removing an older account is a clever choice when you're able to demonstrate a solid history of more current on time payments.

Get credit repair organization has helped thousands of consumers across the nation repair their credit reports. For more information about their programs, call 1-800-665-9981. They can also be found on the web at credit repair company.


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