How do I remove a blemish on my credit report?

I have some old debt that I've tried to pay and get removed, but no one seems to be able to help me...There is no contact information for the collectors online either. How can I get this removed to improve my credit? its driving me nuts!How do I remove a blemish on my credit report?
You have fallen into the trap that I have been trying to warn people about!





NEVER pay off an overdue debt unless the creditor, IN WRITING, agrees to either remove any negative report from your history, or changes to ';paid in full, never late';.





The credit reporting agencies only report information given to it by creditors. Creditors can put whatever they want on it (if it's true), and certainly can change/remove it.





Why in the world would you pay off a debt and not have your credit history reflect that? Now you still have bad credit, plus you are broke!





The short set of instructions...





-Get your credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com (it's free, do it now!)





-Evamine the reports and note down any negative or inaccurate information.





-Send a letter to each credit reporting agency disputing the charge, and request that they ';verify'; the information. Note this is differant then ';validate';, I'll explain later.





-The credit reporting agency will contact the creditor to see if the report is correct, If they do not get a response, the report is removed from your records. If the creditor responds back that it's accurate, the report stays, but will have a notation that you are disputing it.





-Send a ';validation'; letter to the creditor. Demand a copy of all contracts, bills, receipts, logs, or anything that was used to calculate your debt be sent to you. They must respond within 30 days.





If you do not get a response, send a copy of the ';validation request'; letter plus a complaint to the credit reporting agency.





If they do send you this information, and it's accurate, there is not much you will be able to do to fix your record. If you paid off the bill, you can request that they modify the statis of the account, but it's not likely they will. Since you have paid off the debt there is no incentive for them to even work with you or do you any favors.





My battle cry! You are about to go to war! Your only weapon is knowledge of the law. Don't fight these guys unarmed! Read the links I've supplied below. They will give you all the information you need to fix your credit. There are sample letters you can send.





From this point on, keep a log of who you talk to, copies of letters you send/receive, and any records you have regarding your debts.





Contact me if I can be of any help or encouragement. I'm not a lawyer or credit counsoler, just someone who has been down this road and have helped others.How do I remove a blemish on my credit report?
Contact the credit bureaus and see what information they have for that creditor. Your debt may have been sold to another organization or law firm.
Do yourself a favor and invest in the book “Good Credit is Sexy” it will tell you any and everything you ever wanted to know about credit. It will also give you an easy step by step on how to clean up your little problem.
First off you need to pull your report. If you call the reporting agency they will tell you how to contact the creditors. If you cannot locate the creditors or they have gone out of business and sold the debt, or you cannot get in touch. you can file a dispute with the reporting agency and this will force the creditors to get in touch with you. As defined by the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) credit reporting is a debt collection activity, if you dispute it they must validate it (with statements ect...) and contact you with the validation within 30 days fo the dispute or it must taken off your credit.-remeber this!!





However: Just because you pay an account it doesn't come off you credit report. It will continue to be reported for a total of 7 years. It will simply be marksed as pif (Paid in Full. It will also include how long it took for you to pay it.





-hoep that helps


p.s. if i didn't care i wouldn't have told you... :)
There are dispute forms online at each of the credit bureau's websites, fill those out, they legally have to do something. They can not ignore it. If they find out you owe the money or the debt is viable, it must stay on your record for a time set by the government. Up to 7 years I think....
The difference between a paid acct and unpaid acct is the difference between getting hit by a car or a truck. Both hurt like hell. Even if you get in contact with whomever necessary to make a payment, do you think they'll be able to remove an item they have been reporting as fact? It's that theory of law where the cop's absence wins your case. Dispute it, they'll have 30 days to respond. Day after thanksgiving should be given the title, National Negative Tradeline Dispute Day.