How can I get this OFF my credit report????

**FutureEsq** · June 12th, 2010, 01:23 PM

I have an account that was with a collection agency from AT&T, I paid it off two years ago and I just recently pulled my 3 reports (because I have a new goal to be at 750 by the time I'm 25...I'm 21 going on 22 now) and it's still there!!!! What do I do? Do I write the collection company, or do I write the credit bureaus? Furthermore, I have some charge-offs on my report and I was wondering if after I pay the collection agency, can I have those chargeoff's removed? If so, how would I go about doing that? I am one month away from paying one of them off, so I really want to know if that's even possible. Thank you.

**uzipolo** · July 8th, 2010, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by FutureEsq

I have an account that was with a collection agency from AT&T, I paid it off two years ago and I just recently pulled my 3 reports (because I have a new goal to be at 750 by the time I'm 25...I'm 21 going on 22 now) and it's still there!!!! What do I do? Do I write the collection company, or do I write the credit bureaus? Furthermore, I have some charge-offs on my report and I was wondering if after I pay the collection agency, can I have those chargeoff's removed? If so, how would I go about doing that? I am one month away from paying one of them off, so I really want to know if that's even possible. Thank you.

Begin your negotiations to have the charge-offs removed from your credit report with the collection agencies and follow the tips below:

All negotiations should be in writing. You will likely need to begin on the phone to ascertain the correct person with whom you should be negotiating. However, once you know who that person is, send everything in writing and request they do likewise.
Request that the creditor list your account as "Paid as Agreed" or "Account closed -- Paid as Agreed." Any other listing will be a negative mark on your credit report.
Creditors list negative information on your credit report as a business practice. It is not personal. Keep this in mind when negotiating and use reasoning that makes business sense to the creditor, not moral arguments.
Negotiate with the collection agency to remove their listing entirely from your report. A collection account is a negative, whether it is "paid as agreed" or not. Make sure you get this agreement in writing as well.
Request that the collection agencies have your original creditors change your account listings to "paid as agreed." Do not pay anything to the collection agency until you have an agreement in writing from your original creditor. Once you pay, your power to negotiate ends.
Large creditors may be less willing to delete a negative listing from your credit report. If you must settle for less than "paid as agreed," try to negotiate for "paid" or "settled."
Finally, there is one more thing to consider. Once you start down this road, you are announcing that you have the money to pay your past obligations. If the negotiations break down, they may take you to court and force a judgment, which may include interest, court costs and legal fees.

Good luck with the negotiations.

**Jacob3d** · January 13th, 2011, 11:35 AM

Yeah it's a tricky process to get things removed from your credit report. There's a good article on http://www.creditreport.org that talks about how to go about improving your score and report... which of course includes getting rid of the negative stuff on there. Might help you a bit, but good luck with everything!

**Wanderer** · January 14th, 2011, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by Jacob3d

Yeah it's a tricky process to get things removed from your credit report. There's a good article on http://www.creditreport.org that talks about how to go about improving your score and report... which of course includes getting rid of the negative stuff on there. Might help you a bit, but good luck with everything!

Found for myself in working with each credit bureau I was a tenacious pit bull. They would blow me off about updating or removing old or incorrect info. Just kept resubmitting the same thing and writing them professional letters. Finally, I got all the baddies off that I could and the rest corrected and verified. My scores went up a little. Mostly it took time to build average account length and total years for an account plus few inquiries and a good solid two years of on time usage and payment history. All that together put my scores into the low to mid 700's (it took four years in my case). Every person's credit record is different. Keep pushing on the credit bureaus as they can be slow, ridgid, uncooperative and most of all STUPID!!!

**Meya** · January 15th, 2011, 09:44 AM

Patience my dear

. It will come off, you just make sure that you stay on top of the 7 year limitation. One thing about AT&T, they are pretty punctual when it comes down to affecting your credit ratings. I'm glad I came back to this thread because I recently had a negative rating on my credit report from them which I "know" was paid off. I had allowed my now 14yr old to establish phone service in his name since he has obtained permanent yard work for three local neighbors. His first bill was $175 (again) due to installation work so I played a good samaritan for him and made the 3 month payment arrangements.

When we initially started the plan, I put him on toll restrictions but apparently, it failed. His bill was extremely high for a teenager, and I noticed that he was making more calls from his cell (which was in the perfect timing range after 9pm and weekends). One other thing that I noticed, his phone never rang unless it was me calling from my room and he barely answered it then so I turned the phone off. I made the last payment of $90 and went on about my merry business, until I realized I received a collection letter from them stating that it was not paid. Low and behold it was on my credit report, and I was shocked to see it. I immediately searched my banking records (because I know for a fact that I paid i)t and then I called the collections department. This call took every bit of 20+ minutes because they were just as confused as I was about it being on my credit report and in their collection department. Finally, we both saw the error and the negative item was removed within 1 1/2 week. I was offered their deepest apology, which was accepted without anger

.

Whew, the moral of this story is to enlighten you on patience with negative ratings. We both are aware that it was a negative rating established voluntarily and involuntarily, the only difference is that mines was removed because it was paid in full prior to reaching collections, yours was paid after reaching collections. Once it reaches collections and affect your credit report, you are on the 7 yr band wagon. You are still young my dear, so until then, keep up the good work by not letting any more negative ratings attach to your life history....THE CREDIT REPORTING DEMONS

! They are watching us!

**LucyLucy83** · February 11th, 2011, 11:09 PM

AT&T is actually a fairly easy company to work with. I work for a mortgage company and I deal with bad credit all the time and fixing bad credit so good people can get home loans.

I got a baddie off from AT&T just last week that was on their credit report and had gone into collections.

This is what worked. Number 1. Pay it Number 2. Right after you pay it dispute it being owed with all 3 of the major credit reporting agencies.

Within 3 days this collection from AT&T was off my clients report.

Simple as this.

Others would tell you to write to the AT&T for a Pay for delete and get everything in writing. It's up to you. I'm sure either was would work.

But the main thing is that you CAN get this OFF your report fairly easy.

the worse thing you can do is do nothing and wait 7 years. That's crazy because it's only hurting your credit.

good luck

**Nuovocapitolo** · July 28th, 2011, 09:09 AM

I disputed my old accounts. 2 of the 3 dropped off immediately....the 3rd one dropped after a few weeks later. No more bad accts anymore.

**elvilimon197** · February 27th, 2012, 09:39 PM

hi

am new to this web site which I find very help full. my question is .Does any one out there know if a tax lien that has been release can be dispute or remove before the 7 years? or can I talk to the tax office to see if they agree to remove it? is there any way to remove it?

**JELOPEZ88** · June 3rd, 2012, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by elvilimon197

hi

am new to this web site which I find very help full. my question is .Does any one out there know if a tax lien that has been release can be dispute or remove before the 7 years? or can I talk to the tax office to see if they agree to remove it? is there any way to remove it?

Hi elvilimon197:

I did'nt see you had any reply to your questions regarding tax liens. My experiences do not apply to any problems with taxes. However, I found some information on the Internet regarding liens. Of course, this is not all-inclusive, but hopefully, it will give you some place to start. From what I have read regarding back taxes with either the IRS or state taxes, it would be in your best interest to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible. They could impose a levy and you could lose everything you have worked hard for. Good luck!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_lien