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I thought I'd give repairing my credit a try. I pulled my credit report to find accounts that I do not recognize. They are not mine and I have never heard of these companies, and they are not specific about why i owe them. How do i find out exactly who I owe and for what? Do i have to call each one to find out?
Also, my credit report lists accounts that are both charged off and in collection. is there a difference? What is worse and are there any quick fixes?
Repairing my credit
Hi Brandon,
As for the items which you can't recognize, send validation letters to the collection agencies under which these debts are listed. Through debt validation you will come to know whether or not this debt has been incurred by you.
You will get a sample debt validation letter with this community, and you can use that to write one of your own. Send the letter through certified mail, requesting a return receipt.
There is a difference between charge-off and collections. When the creditor or lender gives the power of collecting a debt to a collection agency, the debt is reported as under collection. However, charge-off is when the creditor or lender realizes that he won't be able to get back the money and writes it off as a loss. This does not mean that you are now free of this debt. Charge-of occurs usually after 180 days of delinquency, or making less than minimum payments.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Aaron
1. dispute and remove any old or bad addresses from your report. this is an important step because some of those bad accounts are attached to these addresses.
2. dispute the bad tradelines on your report. start with the unknowns and only dispute 2 at a time in a letter
3. if the accounts are not removed then write to the tradeline furnisher and dispute those accounts directly. You can send a debt validation letter but it will have limited value as the 30 days will have expired. try a 623 dispute or DV as applicable.
come back with more detail after you have tried a couple steps