I want to fix my credit so I am going to use my tax return to pay off my way outstanding, delinquent debts on my credit report. The problem is that several entries on my credit report say "charged off- $0 balance" How to I get rid of these negative reports?
StephenWeinstein
Favorite Answer
You don't do anything to get rid of it. You do nothing to get rid of it.
It is much too late to get rid of it by doing something.
If you nothing, then it will be deleted automatically, when it is 7 or 7 1/2 years old.
If you do anything, then it has to stay for as long as it would have stayed if you did nothing, and it might stay longer, because you did something.
If you do something, then it has to stay on your credit until whenever it would have gone away if you had done nothing.
Doing nothing is the fastest way to get rid of it. If you do anything, it stays as long, or longer.
Lily
That will not raise your credit score. In fact it will reset the statue of limitations a debt can be listed on your credit report. That means by paying the negative information stays on your report longer. You can not get rid of those on your report unless you write a letter to the credit bureau challenging them on the legitimacy of the debt. Don't do anything until you educate yourself on this. You can actually make your credit worse. I highly recommend you read Suze Orman's book Young, Fabulous, and Broke. It will give you a good overview of how to handle your credit.
Anonymous
You wait seven years.
Things don't disappear from your credit report simply because the balance is zero. Your credit report is not a snapshot of today. It is a study of how your have used credit over a long period of time.
Anonymous
You don't get rid of them or any other items unless you can prove they're untrue. Paying a defaulted debt doesn't get it "deleted" from your credit history - just updated to paid status. "Charge-offs" are the original debt from the original creditor - which are now owned by a collection agency.