Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Remove Charge Off

By Matt Douglas

You can remove a charge off by disputing it. This has to be done directly with the credit bureaus.

A dispute is your way of saying this mark is not accurate or not valid. There are two ways to file a dispute.

1. Compose a dispute letter

You can do this yourself. In the letter you must give a reason as to why the charge off is inaccurate such as; not my account, item is out of date, account is closed.

Once your dispute letter is deemed valid the bureaus will conduct an investigation. They will contact the creator of the charge off (often a credit card company) and verify the amounts and that the account does exist.

2. Hire a professional credit repair firm

This method you simply identify what marks you want to dispute and then the company will do the rest. I suggest this method if you have multiple negative marks on your credit report.

Most firms have credit attorneys on their payroll. This can make all the difference when it comes to a negative mark being removed from your credit.

These attorneys have an expert understanding of the ever evolving credit laws. They will often be able to use case precedents to help remove a negative listing.

In addition attorneys can use advanced dispute tactics. These include; escalated dispute information requests, creditor direct intervention and debt validation. Also should your case require it they can represent you in a court of law.

A charge off that is not disputed will remain on your credit report for 7 years. It is often a result of an unsecured credit card that goes unpaid for 6 months.

The creditor will charge off your account at the end of 6 months. This enables them to write off your debt for tax purposes. They will sell your account to another collection agency. This agency will be able to create a negative mark on your report if they are unable to recover payment.

If this agency can not collect payment they will create a negative mark on your credit file and then sell your account to another debt collector. This process will continue to repeat itself until there is no money for the debt collectors to make off your account. The number of times it is sold directly depends upon the size of the debt.

In sum you should take immediate action when you get a charge off. Otherwise one account can become multiple negative marks on your credit report. You can remove this item from your credit report, without waiting seven years.

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