Negotiating your credit rating You should always ask for a Good Pay Rating

Negotiating your credit rating

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You should always ask for a Good Pay Rating. Your goal is to get the creditor to list your credit rating after the settlement as "Paid as Agreed" or "Account Closed - Paid as Agreed". Some creditors will not change the status to "Paid as Agreed", You may counter-offer that the creditor list the account as "Paid" This is an accurate indication of the status of the account and many creditors will concede and agree to this wording. You should insist that the account show "Paid" only and that all other negative notations (such as "Charge-off," "Repossession," late notations, or "Collection") are deleted at the same time. A simple "Paid" notation on a regular trade line is neutral and should not hurt your credit.

If it pays them to restore your rating to Good, they will do this. Talk to them in terms of money, For instance, "I know you would like to receive the $1500 balance on the account, but it will not help my credit report if you can't change my rating to 'Paid as Agreed'. This is all I have and I will pay it to other creditors who will agree to change my credit rating in writing."

Collection agencies will agree more readily to delete the negative listing than banks or credit cards. Why? They can change their rating but you are still stuck with the original creditor reporting you late. It is better to negotiate with the original creditor because it is the ratings on your "applied for" accounts that determine your creditworthiness.

Upon settlement of the account verify that your credit report (all three) have been updated. If you send a copy of the letter you received showing the account has a zero balance to the CRA, you can have the collection account removed, The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that you cannot have more than one listing per delinquent account (you can have the original creditor report you late but you cannot have a collection listed for this same account)..

The Credit Industry

The Inaccuracies in Credit Reports

The Fair Credit Reporting Act * FCRA

The steps required to restoring your good credit

Getting a copy of your credit report

Review Your Credit Report for Inaccuracies

Correcting Inaccuracies

Collection Agencies and your credit file

How to settle a debt and negotiate a settlement

Negotiating your credit rating

Building New Credit

Dealing With Debt