One thing to keep in mind about your credit scores is that they are not static numbers but they change on a regular basis.
While many people know when something negative has been added to their report, this does not necessarily translate into you knowing when your credit score has gone up or down.
Just to further complicate matters, it also has to be kept in mind that all of the "Big Three" credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion - receive their information from different sources and do not generally share data.
This means that an item reported to one bureau may not be reflected on the report of another.
Despite these discrepancies, your credit scores should reflect your actual creditworthiness, therefore, the more you pay-off past due accounts, you can keep your credit score improving.
Remember that according to information released by FICO - the company that has developed the credit scoring system that dominates the market in the United States - late payments and past due accounts account for around thirty-five percent of your total credit score.
So payment history matters and should be tackled immediately to keep your credit score improving.
Once a late payment is made, this item goes into your credit report and stays there for seven years, regardless of its current status.
Nevertheless, the ideal is to have all such items on your credit report tagged as "current" or "paid".
To do this, obviously you have to catch up your payments and/or pay off the debt.
This is absolutely vital to any credit repair effort and though the item will remain on your report, having it listed as "current" or "paid" does help to keep your credit score improving.
In general, to keep your credit score improving, you will have to pay off the amount owed and catch up with your payment schedule.
Be careful of paying off older accounts that do not have recent activity.
Doing so will lower your credit score and there may be better course of action.
If you have already been effectively using your legal rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and similar legislation to keep the collection agencies at a distance, you may be able to convince them to negotiate for a partial payment.
Since most collection agencies purchase the debt at a significant discount, even a partial payment can still be profitable for them if it seems unlikely that they will be able to collect otherwise.
In this case, you may be able to negotiate with the collection agency to pay a percentage of the debt - usually in one immediate lump sum payment - and have the remainder written off.
The item is then designated as "paid" on your credit report.
Make sure that the collection agency agrees to report the account as paid in full rather than settled.
(Get this in writing before you make a payment).
This can be one way to get your credit scoring improving, even if only by a little bit.
While many people know when something negative has been added to their report, this does not necessarily translate into you knowing when your credit score has gone up or down.
Just to further complicate matters, it also has to be kept in mind that all of the "Big Three" credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion - receive their information from different sources and do not generally share data.
This means that an item reported to one bureau may not be reflected on the report of another.
Despite these discrepancies, your credit scores should reflect your actual creditworthiness, therefore, the more you pay-off past due accounts, you can keep your credit score improving.
Remember that according to information released by FICO - the company that has developed the credit scoring system that dominates the market in the United States - late payments and past due accounts account for around thirty-five percent of your total credit score.
So payment history matters and should be tackled immediately to keep your credit score improving.
Once a late payment is made, this item goes into your credit report and stays there for seven years, regardless of its current status.
Nevertheless, the ideal is to have all such items on your credit report tagged as "current" or "paid".
To do this, obviously you have to catch up your payments and/or pay off the debt.
This is absolutely vital to any credit repair effort and though the item will remain on your report, having it listed as "current" or "paid" does help to keep your credit score improving.
In general, to keep your credit score improving, you will have to pay off the amount owed and catch up with your payment schedule.
Be careful of paying off older accounts that do not have recent activity.
Doing so will lower your credit score and there may be better course of action.
If you have already been effectively using your legal rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and similar legislation to keep the collection agencies at a distance, you may be able to convince them to negotiate for a partial payment.
Since most collection agencies purchase the debt at a significant discount, even a partial payment can still be profitable for them if it seems unlikely that they will be able to collect otherwise.
In this case, you may be able to negotiate with the collection agency to pay a percentage of the debt - usually in one immediate lump sum payment - and have the remainder written off.
The item is then designated as "paid" on your credit report.
Make sure that the collection agency agrees to report the account as paid in full rather than settled.
(Get this in writing before you make a payment).
This can be one way to get your credit scoring improving, even if only by a little bit.