 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
Charge Off
A charge off is a company's accounts receivable that will likely remain uncollectible. Charge offs appear as an expense on the company's income sheet. In general Charge offs are used by companies to adjust earnings in the current time period with the expectation that the debt will eventually be written off as bad debt.
A charge off is still collectable debt. True and valid debts typically are good for up to 20 years. As long as the debt remains unpaid a creditor, or its agent, can continue to attempt to collect the debt.
A charge off can remain on your credit report, in most cases, for more than 7 years from the date of first delinquency. Depending on the circumstance of the charged off account, and the impact of the charge off to your credit score, you might want to consider talking with the creditor before the creditor engages a debt collector which could further damage your credit report and credit score.
When talking with the creditor it is best to communicate in writing. Prepare a letter asking for clarification, including complete information detailing the specifics of the negative entry. Use clear language for your inquiry. Be clear, simple and straight forward, in your written communication. The creditor has an obligation to have reasonably procedure and policy in place to provide you with accurate details surrounding the nature of the charge off.
Keep accurate records of the letters sent to the creditor. There is a chance the creditor will mishandle or not deal with your inquiry in a timely manner. Therefore, it is important to keep records so that you can escalate from a simple inquiry to a request for the creditor to remove the account from your credit report.
Once a charge off is removed from your credit report it does not mean you no longer owe the debt. But if the creditor has shown they can't comply with the rules to keep the charge off on your credit report or worse has violated your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act then it might be an opportune time to negotiate to resolve the debt once and for all. If you do come to an agreement make sure you get the agreement in writing and that you check your credit report to see that the report reflects the agreement.
Give your credit repair specialist a call to discuss a charge off on your credit report: 877-879-1177.