Posted by Christine Baker on September 25, 1997 at 13:59:19:
In Reply to: Re: a bad debt :(a bad debt should not be in your credit report for more than seven years no matter what unless it is a bankrupcy that stays in your credit for ten years posted by jose felix on September 25, 1997 at 00:01:10:
: a bad debt should not be in your credit report for more than seven years no matter what
REALITY CHECK: Since most creditors don't report a DATE with a charge-off, it will stay on forever. Sometimes a creditor will just stop reporting the account, then the bad debt will disappear from the report 7 years after the last time it was reported.
Pay the bad debt? That could be BIG mistake! Many times creditors who had stopped reporting will then report the 0 balance, and the bad debt will then stay on for 7 years from payment, NOT charge-off. When paying a charge-off, be sure you negotiate, sometimes you can pay up for as little as 10 cents on the dollar and/or have the account removed from the report. Be sure you get everything in writing!
Robert needs to check his three credit reports. If there is a date with the charge-off (unlikely,) no problem.
If not, he needs to check when the account was last reported. If it was reported after the charge-off occurred, he should dispute the account and INSIST that a date be added to the charge-off or the account be deleted from the report.
I'm hoping to have an actual report with examples on the web by the end of next week, will post here then.
Good luck, Christine