Getting Stuff Off Your Credit Report When it Is Paid Off

Your credit report is becoming increasingly important for things such as car loans, health insurance rates and landing a job. If you are trying to pay off credit card debt and delinquent collections, it will not always come off your credit report. To try and get items completely removed, you will need to go through a number of key steps.

Checking Credit Reports

Get a free copy of your credit report from Experian, Transunion and Equifax through Annual Credit Report.com. Consider also paying to enroll in one of the monthly credit-tracking services that provide you with a new report each month from all three agencies. Services include True Credit, Identity Guard and TrustedID. Check your reports; if you find errors, dispute them. Also check to see what your reports say about your different accounts, including any you have paid off or are considering paying off.

Paying Off Credit Cards

Some items can be removed and some cannot. If you have a current credit card or one in default that has not yet been charged off and sold to a collections agency, you will have a difficult time having an item removed. When you pay the balance in full, the credit card company will update your report with a "paid" or "paid collection." Your report will also update showing the history of your payments to the company. Even if you close the account, it will continue to show on your credit report for up to seven years.

Removing Collection Items

It is possible to get items relating to collection agency debt removed from your report. To do so, contact the agency and request a "pay for deletion" letter stating that the item will be removed from all three reporting agencies upon payment in full. After you make the payment, the item should be removed from your report within 30 to 45 days. If it is still there after that time, start a dispute with the credit reporting agency and send proof of payment as well as a copy of the deletion letter.

Removing Charged-Off Items

Credit companies and banks will typically charge off an item when they have not received payment from you for many months. This debt is then sold to another company which will try to collect on it. It is typically difficult to get a charge-off removed as you technically don't owe anything to your original credit card company after it has sold your account. You will first need to pay off the debt through the collection agency and get the item deleted. You can contact the original debt holder to request removal of this item and offer proof of payment, but the company has little motivation to remove an item for which it has already been paid by a third-party collection agency. Be careful, as well, in choosing to contact the original debt holder as doing so will update the date of the item on your report and could potentially lower your credit score.