How to Remove a Charge Off From Your Credit
To remove a charge off from your credit history, you must dispute the negative mark with the credit bureaus.
This is done by mailing a dispute letter. The dispute letter must be mailed to each credit bureau that is reporting the charged off account on your credit report.
Sending a dispute letter is your method of challenging that a listing is accurate or valid. There are many reasons to dispute a listing including; I have never paid late, not my account and reporting the wrong account balance.
You need to realize that credit bureaus rarely conduct an investigation because of one dispute letter. Frequently they will respond requesting more information about the listing.
This is a result of it only costing credit bureaus money that would otherwise be profit when they conduct an investigation. This is why they are very resistant to the dispute process.
As a result it is common for people to hire a credit repair company. This is because these companies can often get the credit bureaus to follow through on the dispute process.
Some have suggested that credit bureaus are more responsive to professionals because the professionals know and understand the credit laws unlike the average consumer. What ever the reason I suggest you hire a firm in you have multiple negative listings on your credit history.
What is a Charge Off and What Does It Mean
A charge off happens when an account becomes past due and no payment is made for 6 months. A charge off allows a creditor to charge off the account from their books.
Then the lender gets a tax break for the charged off account. It is common for lenders to then sell the account to a collection agency and the lender will create a negative mark on your credit history.
Then you will start being harassed by bill collectors. If they can not collect the debt they will sell it to another bill collector. The number of people that try and collect payment on this debt is dependent upon the size of the debt.
Every agency that attempts to collect on this debt will be able to create a negative mark on your credit report if unable to secure payment. Often one charged off account will become multiple marks on an individual’s credit report.
If your charged off account has traveled through a few different collection agencies then you should consider a credit repair firm. If you only have one charge off account then you can do it yourself, just be patient.