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Many people in credit repair programs face some level of collection activity. Between phone calls, dunning letters, and the often cryptic list of debts that appear on credit reports, it can be problematic to identify legitimate debts and determine the best course of action.

A Unique Breed of Collector

There is a unique breed of collector that specializes in buying and dunning ancient collection accounts; debts over seven years old. These accounts are unattractive to first level collectors as they are beyond the statute of limitation for enforcing through the courts. They are also beyond the credit bureau reporting period limit.

Profiting From Ignorance

Of interest to anyone in a credit repair program, the age of the debt means that legal action can be neutralized by the statute of limitation defense, and any threat of reporting to the credit bureaus is not valid. The lack of legal leverage does not stop these collectors from vigorously practicing their craft. In fact, these last-chance collectors represent the most profitable part of the collection industry!

Credit Repair Education Pays

What is their secret? They prey on consumers who do not know their rights. If you are contacted by a collector about an ancient debt, just examine the statute of limitation, check out the reporting period limit, and send the collector a cease communication letter. They will go away forever. There are many great credit repair resources online. A little education goes a long way!

Another Common Quirk

While a bit of credit repair education can arm you with the knowledge you need to vanquish these collectors of ancient debt, there is another type of collection account that can be eliminated quickly with a dispute letter, if you know what to look for…

Compliance Failures

A significant percentage of all collections on credit reports fall into a very special category. These accounts are everywhere. Left alone they can linger for years, in some cases decades. They have the power to depress the credit scores of their unfortunate victims, often dramatically. And they should not be reporting.

Failure to Vacate

Collectors buy and sell debt. Over the last decade this practice has become commonplace, and much more frequent. Many collectors will sell an account in as little as six months if it does not pay. When an account is sold the collector is supposed to vacate all credit bureau reporting. Sadly, this often does not happen. And yet a little credit repair could eliminate the offending account completely.

The Credit Repair Solution

If you have collections on your credit report, it is fairly certain that you are a victim of this type of defunct account. Credit repair is the answer. The first and most obvious indication is the presence of more than one collection account for the same debt. If you examine your credit report and find several collections for the same debt, all but one is erroneous. And the last one may be too!

The Value of Vigilance

Given the speed at which collectors churn their portfolio these days. It is quite feasible that even the most recent collection on your report is in error. Once you remove all of the duplicates, examine the last, most recent, account. It may be legitimate, but if the reporting date is over six months, or if you have been contacted by a different collector since the reporting date, it may be a candidate for credit repair as well. Good luck!

Copyright © 2010 Sky Blue Credit Repair. All Content. All Rights Reserved.

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In the perfect world, the credit bureaus would never err. The billions of pieces of data they each process, related to more than two hundred million Americans, would all click right into place. When you examined your credit report there would never be a mistake. And there would be no use for credit repair.

The Facts of Life

In real life credit repair is the only way to insure an error-free credit report. The credit bureaus do an admirable job. It is no small task to coordinate the massive amount of information provided by millions of creditors and collectors, not to mention the public records gathered through courthouse sources. But the system is far from perfect. Errors are constant, and they are costly.

An Example

The real problem with reporting errors is the awful impact they can have on their victim. Here is an example of a common and expensive error, now resolved by credit repair. A woman examined her credit report and found five collectors all reporting the same debt. She defaulted on the debt a number of years ago, so initially felt that the derogatory accounts were her fate. Not so.

A Collector Pile Up

The woman ignored the mess on her report for a long while, but upon investigation discovered that only one collector may report a debt at a time. Collectors are expected to withdraw accounts from credit reports when they sell a debt. And as debt sales are a normal part of the collection business, and as collectors are typically remiss in their reporting compliance, collection accounts often pile up.

The Credit Repair Solution

A single round of credit repair dispute letters to the credit bureaus resolved the problem. All of the prior collectors simply withdrew their accounts when challenged; all gone. A quick check of her FICO scores showed that her scores rose close to 100 points as a result. It was a happy moment, but the magnitude of her score rebound brought a horrific fact home to roost.

The Real Cost

She had ignored the presence of these invalid collections for nearly three years. During that period of time she had lived with the belief that she was a sub-prime borrower. She had purchased a home and a car in that period and passively accepted the higher interest rates offered by her lenders. And to make it even worse, two of her credit cards companies raised her rates raised and lowered her limits. The cost of the errors was considerable.

The Good News

The good news is that the error was caught, and the purpose of credit repair was fulfilled. The truth was dour, but it is better to resolve a problem that to let it linger. The woman quickly refinanced both her home and automobile and was soon paying five-hundred dollars less each month. The credit card companies would not budge, so the story continues, but every day is much brighter.

The Moral of the Story

Do not take anything for granted. Credit reporting errors are as common as dirt and can be costly. Like the woman above, too many people make the mistake of thinking that bad credit is their karmic burden. You may have to live with the consequences of your past mistakes, but you should not have to pay for the errors of others. Do you have errors? Shine the light of credit repair on your reports today.

Copyright © 2010 Sky Blue Credit Repair. All Content. All Rights Reserved.

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