Help me, I'm losing my mind!!!

[Jason Porter]

OK fellow Pelicans, here's the deal...

I need to get something removed from my credit report. The story goes like this:

I had a collection account with a government agency, and now it's paid off. Before it was paid off, I got my case worker to give me a signed letter saying that once it was paid in full, "the collection will be deleted from your credit report."

Then, about a month ago, I got a letter from the same case worker saying that the account was fully paid.

Now, after disputing with the credit reporting agencies, Experian and Equifax, and getting nowhere I feel as if I'm at an impasse.

The government agency in NC (where I was raised) now says that their policy is not to remove these items, and this employee shouldn't have sent me this letter. However, it's still here, in my possession, and on government letterhead and signed.

Doesn't that make this a binding agreement. Can I sue for this and have a good chance at winning, and more importantly, can I get this handled without having to resort to all that unwanted hassle?

One of you guys has got to have some insight into this. The account in question is at this point causing unnecessary damage to my credit score, and severely impacting the ability for me to get a debt-consolidation loan with a decent interest rate.

I've been fixing and working on my credit since I got sober 4 1/2 years ago, and this is the last item, and I just need this to go away in the worst way.

Please somebody help me

[stomachmonkey]

Aboout the only way that I know to really get rid of it is.

First you need to dispute it with the credit reporting agencies.

They have 30 days to verify it.

If they can not do that within 30 days then they need to remove it from their systems.

Since it's a "valid" issue you'd think this approach should not work.

You may need to be aggressive and go thru the exercise several times.

Eventually you will get lucky and hit a time where the workload prevents them from getting it done in 30 days and they have no choice but to remove it.

It's the approach that those "Fix your credit" agencies use.

They just keep disputing it.

Good Luck,
Scott

[asphaltgambler]

The ONLY way to resolve any issue is with the actual Credit reporting agency as they have the (almighty) power over any lending institution.

I had a recent similar issue with Snap-on tools credt dept. I had settled a past debt but they were unwilling to contact the agency to report my account now in good standing.

Turns out that the big three credit agencys now have a new rule (since '04) to any and all lenders that use their service and report to them both good as well as bad credit. If not they will suspend any account info to that lender.

I then contacted Experian (in this case) and it was resolved in 30 days, no fuss - no muss.

Bottom line is most places were only previous reporting all the bad credit and not reporting accounts in good standing. The inside poop was that Snap-On tools came very close to having their access denied.

[TerryH]

They had a credit expert on the local news-radio station last week. He too said to be persistent and don't give up with the credit reporting agencies.

He was also emphatic about never paying someone to fix your credit score.

[Christien]

Not an expert, but I do work in credit and deal with Equifax on a regular basis, both receiving reports and reporting customers. AG's right in that lenders can no longer report just bad or just good, they have to report everything (though I think that change goes back to 2001, at least it did with Equifax Canada).

The problem with your situation is everything stays on your credit report for 6 years (7 for bankruptcies). Whoever told you that once your account was paid it would be "deleted" from your credit report is a moron. Lenders have no control over clearing things from a credit report - only credit bureaus do. I couldn't clear any record of our company from a customer's file even if I wanted to. The only thing a creditor can do is update the report showing a zero balance. Problem is, all the older reports will still show up, until they're wiped after 6 years. So I'm afraid you're stuck with it. You could try to contact the credit bureaus and fax them the letter you've got, but I can pretty much guarantee they'll say there's nothing they can do, the case worker was mistaken.