I paid off all my past bills on my credit, but my creditors have not reported them, how long do they have?
476362
You can write to all three of the credit report places yourself.  They have to look into all matters that you report.
236225
hi briezee1\nThe answer to this is going to be it depends.....First, Are they 100% accuratly reporting on your credit report? Second, Are the creditors the original creditor or collection agency?\n\nThere are a couple of ways of approaching this. If the debt is yours and is reporting 100% accurate I will concur with RICK that you have a moral obligation to repay the debt. With that said, I find it highly unlikely they are reporting 100% accurate.\n\nIf the creditor is an original creditor you may want to consider offering them a settlement. If it's a collection agency you may want to consider sending them a debt validation letter first. You want to know that you have a legal and contractual obligation to pay them and not the original creditor. \n\nIt is also important to know the date of last activity on the account. Even though negative credit may stay on your report for 7 years, most statute of limitations is much shorter. You will want to check your state statute regarding the debt.It is possible the SOL (statute of limitation) is up and the debt is no longer collectable.
246222
I think right away.  I just had a dispute with one of the items on my credit report and they got the ball rolling right away and within 30 days it was resolved.  If you have further questions either ask your local finacial adviser or go to annualcreditreport.com.
79751
ACTUALLY THERE IS A STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON CREDIT CARD DEBT! \n\nIt depends on the state you live in.  You would have to look it up some how.  I know that some states it is 4 years some 5 and others may be a little longer.  \n\nIf you have not recently been contacted by the creditor in relation to the 12 year debt and then PROMISED to pay it - then no.  If you HAVE been contacted and then you said you would pay it.... you just may have screwed yourself.  \n\nThe main thing with old debt - if it is near the statute of limitations, the creditors will start to call you about it.  If you promise to pay it in any way or say you have the ability to do so it opens your statute up again for another "how many" years.  (what ever the statute of limitations is in your state)  \n\nExample on your 12 year debt. If you lived in a state that had a 4 year time period...and  If you hadn't paid anything on that debt, then right around the 4 year mark you would start getting phone calls about the debt - If then you promised in some way  you would pay it... it would extend your statute for another 4 years... then once those 4 years passed & you never paid, you would be nearing your new 4 year statute of limitations they would start calling you again.  If you then promised yet again that you would pay - You just extended that statute Yet AGAIN.  So if you have 12 year old debt and they are calling you on it... this may be what is happening to you.  If you have promised to pay this debt off in the past, you have extended your statute of limitations each time.  \n\nIf you don't intend on paying it cause you just CAN NOT and have no money to do so - DON'T promise that you can.  Tell them "NO - I CAN NOT PAY it".  They will write off your debt.  Once the statute of limitations is past it will be illegal for them to pursue you for that money.  \n\nGood luck.
33852
Make the request IN WRITING to the credit issuer to report the "paid-off" status to the credit reporting agency.  I believe they then have 45 days to comply.  Then, ask the credit issuer for proof IN WRITING of compliance.  It is then up to the credit reporting agency to update your file...  then you can start in on them...  an even bigger chore!
190511
Yes, just becauseit's charged off does not relieve you of the debt.  It just means they have quit trying to collect (for now).\n\nThey can either sell the debt to a collection agency or use their own in-house agency.  \n\nEither way, the debt will be reported to the credit agencies and it will be on your reports for several years.\n\nIf you wish to repay it....VERY IMPORTANT!\n\nSend them a letter telling them that in exchange for paying the debt, they must remove all negative reports from your credit history.  Otherwise, you will still have bad credit, even after it's paid.\n\nUse the sample letter below as a guide.
274155
When I payed out mine, what I did was I asked for sample letters and using the samples as model, wrote the letters to all but one of my creditors. The debt with the remaining one was such, that I was able to pay it off completely, months later. Since payingit off, the offers starting coming to me in the mail. By email, too. It some times takes more than 12 months to pay off credit card debt, but it can be done.
644911
The advice to call the FTC, or your Representative or Senator....please don't waste your time.  What a crappy bit of advice!\n\nNot sure what the insurance company is doing, start by calling them and get info.\n\nBut you did say you have proof the bill was paid, so lets go along that angle.  Paul M is correct, you simply need to read the Fair Debt Collections Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.\n\nFollow my instructions....I've played this game before and it will work for you.\n\nSend a "demand to validate" letter to the collection agency.  Use the sample letter below.  By law, they have 30 days to send you proof that you owe this debt.  That includes contracts, bills, receipts, and everything used to calculate what they claim you owe.  Also include a cease and desist notation in the letter so they stop calling you and bothering you.\n\nSend a letter detailing your dispute to the credit reporting agencies that are listing this debt.  By law, they must investigate this.\n\nIf the collection agent does not validate this debt, send a copy of the VOD to the credit agency, along with another demand to remove the listing.  \n\nIf they still do not remove this listing, you have an excellent small claims suit against both of them for listing unvalidated debts on your credit report.  You can sue them for $1000 each, and you WILL win.  I've done it, it works!\n\nContact me if you need any help or advice.
192357
Once a bad debt (charge off) is reported to the credit reporting agency, it stays there for 7 years.  It will stay there unless the creditor tells them to remove it.\n\nTherefore, if you pay off the debt, the creditor >>>CAN<<< remove the negative report.  However, many of them will not do it unless forced to do so.\n\nOnce you have paid them off, you no longer have any leverage to force them to do anything.  Remember, collection agents don't give a darn about you, they just want their money.  \n\nThat is why it's so important to GET IN WRITING before you pay them anything that they will remove the report from your record once the debt is paid.\n\nWhy in the world would you pay them and still have a bad credit rating?  \n\nUse the sample letter below as a guide, and negotiate a settlement with them.
182613
Depending on the type of account(installment or revolving) it can take anywhere from 30-90 days. Their is no legal requirement that they report at all to the credit bureaus. The creditors do it so they can monitor their customers credit and have that power so you will be persuaded to pay on time.\n\nThis is called credit reporting lag. Also be aware that some credit card companies are now only reporting high credit(the highest amount you have charged in a month) and not balances and credit limits like they should.\n\nGood Luck
352273
Yahoo just had something on the homepage about devious "junk buyers" buying old debt for pennies on the dollar and then trying to make you pay even after the statute of limitations had passed-I know there is limits but as to what they are I can not 100% tell you.  \n\nAnd actually it is never 'removed' from your credit report, but companies only 'pull' a 7-10 year history, so it does not show, the debt is always listed on the report, so it never really disappears, just hanging out in old debt land, and if you go for a Senate Hearing or something they will pull it up.\n\nThe report said something about the basement buyers buying the debt and then reporting it as a 'new' debt to get it back active on your Credit Report, which is against the law.  The report also said they target those that paid some debt, because they were more worried about the ramifications of the credit report.  I will research and see if I can find the article-it was an informative read.
275664
Medical bills will not typically show on your credit reports unless you have been sent to collection.\n\nAs the previous poster said go to www.annualcreditreport.com and get all 3 of your credit reports for free.\n\nReview them for accuracy and dispute any item you believe is incorrect. Each investigation will take about 30 days.\n\nGood Luck
181500
Hey Ryan~ You asked quite a few questions so I'm going to break my answers up so here it goes:\n\n"After I have paid off a collection and my credit report states that it is closed and paid in full"\n \nAre you SURE you owed the collectors? You may not have had a contractual or legal obligation to pay them. Did you ask for validation of the debt before paying? If not, even though you have paid them it is not too late to ask for the validation. If they cannot validate the debt, even though paid, you may be entitled to a refund of said monies as well as they cannot validate or verify the information with the credit reporting agencies.\n\n"do granters look past this." \n\nFor scoring it will not help your credit score. HOWEVER, if a creditor does a manual review of your credit then yes they may look past it as it has been paid especially for a mortgage. \n\n"On my current credit score I have 6 negative marks, 4 of the 6 are paid in full and closed."\n\nRemember what I said above about the paid accounts. For the 2 that are not paid; send them a debt validation letter by certified mail return receipt requested. You want them to prove to you that you have a contractual and legal obligation to pay them and not the original creditor. \n\n"From what I have read on here it seems to be a lengthly process of trying to get that mark removed before the seven years are up"\n\nIf they do not respond to your validation request send a copy of the certified letter along with a copy of the "green card" you get back from the post office for the certified mail to the credit bureaus along with a dispute of the tradeline in question. You have proof the debt cannot be validated therefore it must be removed according to the FCRA.\n\n"Is there any I can do to improve my credit score to get me great interest rates?"\n\nI don't know what your current scores are but yes there are several things you can do like continue paying your bills on time, lowering utelization on any accounts currently open. Do not seek further credit. Each inquiry can hurt you. With as many derogatories you currently have it may be difficult to get new credit. If you have a good history with your current creditors then you may want to consider calling them and asking them to lower your current interest or wave annual fees.\n\n"Also I have presented offers to the original creditors to pay the accounts in full if they will pull them back and none have taken any of the offers."\n\nThat is not uncommon. Try to work out a doable payment plan with the original creditor (OC) to pay off overdue balances. Do whatever you can to keep the OC from sending your account to a collection agency if at all possible. If you insist on continuing to make "offers" to the OC then make sure you're sending them in writing.\n\n"Correct me if i'm wrong but from my understanding once an account is sent to collections the original creditor is paid the unpaid balance in full from the collection agency and the agency comes after you and tacks on an agency fee?"\n\nOk I'm correcting you. In my opinion you're wrong. Some collection agencies may actually be "in house collectors" which means the collector is a paid employee of the original collector. Outside collectors are known as third party collectors or JDB's (junk debt buyers). In many contracts and states a collection agency may not be permitted to tack on additional fees which is why it's important to ask for validation so you will know what the fees are for if they are in excess of the OC. Many JDB's purchase debt for pennies on the dollar.
245025
A warning first.  If you plan to pay off your debt, GET IT IN WRITING that they will either remove the report from the credit report, or they will change the entry to "paid in full, never late".  \n\nDo not believe them (especially a collection agent) that they will do it without such an agreement.  For $400 they will lie to their mother.\n\nNow, if they follow through with their promise, it doesn't matter what the timeframe is, it will show up as a good report once it's been paid.\n\nFor future reference, the "clock" for reporting debts on your credit report is 7 years from the time the debt occured.  I have also heard several people say that it restarts after a recent activity, but nobody has shown me where in the law it states this.\n\nBelow is the actual law from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  Now I'm no lawyer but it does appear to state pretty clearly when the "clock" starts.\n\n§ 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. § 1681c]\n\n(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information:\n   (4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.\n      (1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6)(2) of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection (internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action.
1016146
They should be removed from your credit report after 7 years.  sometimes you have to write each credit company (experian, trans union, equifax) and tell them so they remove it.
481860
It sounds like they are bumping your reporting dates.  The law says the reports can only be on your history for 7 years, beginning the date of default.\n\nIf you have anything to show this, send the credit reporting agency a letter to protest it and have the listing corrected or removed.\n\nAlso send a letter to the creditor demanding that the "Validate" the debt.  That means that they must supply you with contracts, bills, recepts, and everything that was used to calculate what they claim you owe.  If they can't produce this information, the listing must come off.  Otherwise you can sue them for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.\n\nRead the link below, along with a sample letter.\n\nAs for your student loan, it's not likely you can fight it, especially if it's a government backed loan.  It will drop off after 7 years.
181310
You should take action right now to start to clean up your credit.\n\nTake your discharge letter and the list of creditors notified and send that to the 3 credit bureaus asking them to change the reporting of those accounts as "Included in Bankruptcy". This will take about 30 days. \n\nYou will possibly see some of the accounts deleted do tho the fact that some creditors "write off" the discharged debts due to your bankruptcy. Other creditors will change their reporting to be included in bankruptcy. Still others will report the late payments they showed before your bankruptcy and won't change it because they legally aren't required to.\n\nCheck out Stephen Snyder's website www.lifeafterbankruptcy.com He does free seminars nationwide to show you how to clean up your credit and re-establish good credit as fast as possible.\n\nGood Luck