Dealing with a Charge Off

Removing a Charge Off from Your Credit Report

I recently checked my credit report and one of the credit items says "account charged off/past due 150 days. $2,544 written off. $2,544 past due as of Jul 2005."

If I paid this amount in full, then what would my credit report state?

Creditor is not willing to negotiate.

Please help!

Lyssa

Once you pay the bill, your credit report will probably contain an entry something like "Paid Charge Off."

Charge offs are bad and remain on your credit report for at least seven years. The creditor will certainly be sending this out to a bill collection agency which will contact you any day now.

I can't believe the creditor would not be willing to change your credit report to something like "Paid as agreed", which is much better from your standpoint, in exchange for payment of the bill.

Try to talk to a manager at your creditor's organization. If you still can't make any headway, try using a local credit counseling agency. They generally have contacts with lenders and should be able to work something out for a relatively small fee.

Good Luck.