Debt Collection Process

Credit Report Bad debt/collection?

I've been working on paying off collection agencies and debts and cleaning up my credit report for about 3 years now. I finally have all but one debt settled (in the process of validation on that one) and now I'm trying to tie up loose ends on the credit report. I have anywhere from 11 to 14 accounts listed on my report depending on the report. Most show "Pays account as agreed" as the status and show a balance of $0. However, a few of the settled accounts show the $0 balance correctly but a status of "Bad debt/collection". Shouldn't they show "Closed" or something since they are settled and paid in full? Or do they keep that status indefinitely? If these should be corrected, do I contact the credit bureau, the collection agency paid, or the original lender? Here are examples: Descriptions: Paid charge off / Student Loan Balance: $0 Current Status: Bad debt/collection Descriptions: Settlement accepted on this account / Paid account / zero balance Balance: $0 Current Status: Bad debt/collection

Public Comments

1. If you didn't request before you paid, and in writing, that they delete upon payment, they will probably not work with you now in deleting it if you write them and ask. They are correctly reporting the debt as paid with a zero balance. These debts can be reported for the entire reporting time period. You can try to dispute the accounts through the credit bureaus, it is possible that the collection agencies will not take the time to verify the debts since they are paid off, and they could be removed.
2. You should have asked in writing to have your derogatory accounts removed from your credit reports before you paid your collection accounts. Now they will remain on your credit report for next 7.5 years from Date of Last Activity and will hurt your credit score. You can try sending Goodwill Letters to have the paid collection accounts removed from your credit reports.
3. Try http://affiliate.yourcreditattorney.com/478739.html They pretty much took away all collections in my credit report... my credit report went from 6 pages to 2.