How to Clear Collections & Charge Offs with Poor Credit

Bad credit can hurt your ability to get a good interest rate, obtain a business loan, rent an apartment, and can even wreck your chances for getting a good job. If you have charge-offs and collections on your report, it is in your best interest to try to get them removed. The most effective, and most ethical, ways of doing this are disputing inaccurate information on your credit report and negotiating with creditors to get them to voluntarily remove negative, but accurate, information.

Instructions

Dispute Negative Items

1

Order your credit report from all three credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can order paper copies of your reports, or you can view them online. You can get one free copy of your credit report each year from each credit bureau.

2

Review your reports for inaccurate information. Look carefully at each and every item on your report: If an item is incorrect, you can ask to have it removed.

3

Dispute inaccurate items on your reports. If you ordered paper copies of your credit reports, the credit bureaus will include information on filing a dispute. It is also possible to file disputes online.

Pay for Deletion

4

Contact your creditors by mail and offer to pay the balance you owe them if they will remove all negative information from your credit file.

5

Wait to receive their promise, in writing, that they will take all negative information off your credit report.

6

Send your payment, along with a copy of their written agreement to remove the information, to the creditor.

7

Check your credit reports, all three of them, 6 to 8 weeks after you have made your payment. If your reports have not been updated, dispute the item with the credit bureau and send them a copy of the written agreement sent to you by the creditor.