Removing Charge Offs From Your Credit Report

Before you can begin to remove a charge off from your credit report, you must first be clear as to what it is and how it got there. A charge off is a term that is used by creditors to remove unpaid debt from the company balance sheet. Simply put, if there has been no payment on the account for more than 180 days a creditor will charge off the debt by sending it to a collection agency. It will remain with the collection agency until it has been taken care of or settled.

A charge off on your credit report is harmful. Your credit score could plummet if charge offs remain on your credit report. Because good credit is detrimental to a good quality of life it is important to have charge offs removed from your credit. Because so many American consumers are unaware that charge offs can be removed, they remain on many credit reports. Of course you could wait the entire seven years until it falls off of your credit naturally, or you could be proactive and have the charge off removed yourself. The most convenient way to remove a charge off is to send a letter of dispute to the credit bureaus. They will then have to conduct an investigation. If they cannot verify the charge off it has to be removed from your credit. If it can, you can then negotiate with the original creditor.

Do not be intimidated by this process. There are many laws to help protect the consumer and make it easier for them to repair their credit. By reading the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws enforced by the FTC, you can learn exactly how to negotiate with both the credit bureaus and original creditor to have a charge off removed from your credit report.

If you have issues with the credit bureaus or collection agency, there is still help available to you. You have the right to contact a credit repair law firm or even your state's attorney general. It is important that with any route you choose to go you know that the laws are in your favor.

Removing a charge off from your credit report is possible and can be accomplished. By doing so, you are on your way to repairing your credit.