Now that I am able, I would like to pay the debts I have accrued over the past few years. When confronted with debt collectors, what is the best way to deal with them so that this positively impacts my credit report? [more inside]
posted by Loto on Oct 15, 2009 - 12 answers

Should I dispute the adverse item on my credit report or just pay it off? Also, will a balance transfer help or hurt me? [more inside]
posted by desjardins on Aug 25, 2008 - 13 answers

Succumbing to Extortion Filter: How should I pay back a debt I don't really owe, to a collection agency that's been hounding me for years, to make sure it doesn't appear on my record? More inside. [more inside]
posted by prophetsearcher on Oct 1, 2007 - 9 answers

Repaying Stafford college loans that disappeared from my credit report (due to age), but still collect all tax refunds - what kind of hit might I expect on my credit, reactivating the account by a full-payoff? More importantly, what kind of deal can I propose to avoid all the interest? Anyone have experience with this? [more inside]
posted by ValveAnnex on May 17, 2007 - 4 answers

Can a collection agency reopen a nine year-old unpaid debt? [more inside]
posted by letitrain on Oct 12, 2005 - 13 answers

I'm in college in the U.S., and have a few state student loans. They were under a forebearance that I once requested, which ended four months ago. I didn't realize this, and ignored the mail that was sent about it because I thought it was the usual mail they send me about how I have a loan and ads for consolidation. I just recently got this fixed and the forebearance backdated so it will have another year from when it ended. But I now have two 60-day late marks on my otherwise good credit report. Anything I can do to get rid of them?
posted by anonymous on Jan 8, 2005 - 5 answers

CreditFilter: Two years ago, not really understanding the importance of good credit behavior, I let a department store card slide for 180 days, twice (I KNOW!). This impacted my credit history greatly. I had previously had 4 years of good payment on two credit cards. Over the past year, to help recover and instill good habits, I pay my credit cards in full every month (read: no personal debt) and added a paid off car loan to my reports (15K). My CC limits have slowly increased but my score has remained somewhat the same (10 pt increase).

What can I do to get out of this rut? Some collegues I know have a sizable CC debt (around 15-20K) with less income than me but have great scores and could buy a house tommorrow with no problems. What am I missing and no, credit-fixing agencies are NOT an option.
posted by anonymous on Dec 12, 2004 - 11 answers