record. Contact the collection agencies regarding any of your accounts that have small outstanding balances. Inform the collection agencies that you want to “pay for delete.” This means that in exchange for you paying off what you owe on that account, they’ll eliminate the account from your credit report. Tell the collection agency to send you a pay for delete letter — a written acknowledgment that the collection agency has agreed to delete the account from your credit history in exchange for you paying it off. Be sure to write down a note of the person who spoke to you and their phone extension number. If the collection agency declines to accept your pay for delete request, you will have no compelling reason to pay that particular debt at this time. Move on to another small debt and make it your payoff priority. Be aware that the collection agency might try to evade your request with a clever use of words. It will not benefit you to have them place a note in your account that says “paid as agreed” or to merely show a zero balance. The collection agency must agree to remove the account from your record as though it were never there . You have a right to dispute negative account information on your credit report or even to dispute outside credit inquiries, which can also be harmful on your credit report. The credit bureau has 30 days from the date they receive your dispute notice to complete an investigation. In the case of a late payment, you may have better luck asking the original creditor to remove the entry than you will requesting the credit bureau to eliminate it.
Following is a list of good credit practices you can follow.
• Consider a secured credit card: If you need a credit card to begin building your credit record, consider a secured card. Many banks and credit unions will issue you a card if you first pay a deposit equal to your line of credit. For
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