Credit score question?
Answer:
Hi,
I wrote the book on credit. Hopefully you paid with a personal check and can prove you paid them. Now that you have paid the debt, the collection company should no longer continuously report it. Check your credit to make sure the "date of last activity" is the month you paid them.
If not, they are violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and you can take them to small claims court for a few thousand bucks
or
Call them and tell them that is your plan and see what they say. You'll probably have to talk with a supervisor. Maybe they will remove it rather than be dragged to court--but people give them empty threats every day. Don't let yours be empty.
If they stopped updating the "date of last activity" you can write to each credit bureau and ask them to remove it because it is inaccurate. They will respond in 3-5 weeks. (Also, as it gets older on your credit, it will affect your scores less and less.)
You can do this as many times as you want til you get it removed or you give up.
You might like: www.LearnAboutCredit.com
You can try calling Equifax, but more than likely you will be stuck with it on your credit report for the next 7 years.
pay the bill and forget about it
Unfortunately since you signed it, it is your responsibility, even if your friend scammed you over. Paying the debt was the best thing you could have done. Time heals all wounds.eventually as you start paying bills on time your score will increase.
You can try disputing the bad mark on your report to all three credit reporting agencies, because sometimes, the company that reported it in the first place won't respond to the dispute, and (in some states) it automatically falls off your report. But since it was a legally valid debt, it will most likely stick with you for a time.
You might try getting a small loan from your bank or a credit agency, be very careful to pay on time, and pay the debt off and close the account in about six months or so. This will increase your score.
Good luck!
Get a free credit report online. You did the right thing by immediately paying the phone debt off and reconciled with the cell phone company before it went to a debt collection agency.
-Call the cell phone company and ask someone in the collections department what their procedure is in reporting outstanding payments and ask, in particular, about whether you were reported to the three major credit bureaus and if so, was it reported as a 1 month, 2 month or 3 month late payment.
You can get a free credit report online or at your local bank.
-Cell phone companies aren't normally as severe as credit card companies in reporting to credit bureaus late payments.
-Everytime I request a credit report (yearly) I don't even see my cell phone lines on the credit report.
make sure that the debt was noted as "paid in full" on your credit by the company
When your name is on the contract, it is your responsibility. If your friend wanted to take the contract, you should have gotten with the company and worked that out at the time. You may have had to cancel it because your "friend" probably had crappy credit himself. What you did was allow him to use your credit.
The fact that you paid the debit helped a lot. The fact that the account is now current should be reflected on your report, you might want to check that because there is a big difference between slow and no pay as far as the bottom line. If it isn't you can protest the item based on the fact that it is not accurate. They will have to fix it at least to where the account is showing as current. You might get lucky and the company not respond at all which would remove it. Just don't lie here because that would be fraud. You also can submit an explanation that shows on the report--that won't help your beacon score but it might make you look better if someone is looking at it by hand because you are borderline.
Outside of that it stays for seven years from the first missed payment. You probably want to check that date out too, because it is often set several months late reflecting when the item was added, not when the payment was missed. In three or four years a slow pay won't have that big an effect.
nah i think its on their for 5-7 years, unless you know what. you should have never paid the debt and filed fraud against your friend for the bill. Think about it, he probably hurt you for the next 7 years (assuming you will purchase something and borrow money) , now your interest rates in the future will be higher costing you lots of money. Find him, check out zabasearch and clear this up - make him at least give you the $ back
"it was not my fault". Yes it was.you signed the contract. Rebuild your credit score and learn from this experience.
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