If I’ve settled with the original creditor in Alabama, what should I do with my credit reports?


what should I do after i've settled with an original creditor?Great news —  you’ve settled your debt collection lawsuit with an original creditor.

You may wonder, “What should I be do with my credit reports now?”

Generally, consumers think that since they’ve settle with the original creditor, the company will remove the debt from your credit report.

Unfortunately, this is not correct.

But often creditors don’t accurately report on our credit reports.  For example, since we now owe the creditor nothing or $0.00, then our credit report should state that.

How do we make sure that happens?

Check your credit reports and make sure they’re accurate.

You may wonder, “Why should I check them? The original creditor said they’d fix it, so I can trust their word and know that they will follow through.”  Or “Since I don’t owe anything, I’m sure Capital One or Bank of America or whoever will update my credit report.”

Unfortunately more often than not, the creditor will NOT fix your credit report.

Original creditors are infamous for keeping false information on your credit reports after you settle.

Let’s say that we owe them $7,000.

We sit down with the original creditor, and we settle on $4,000 instead of the full amount.

Now we owe $0.00 as the case is settled (if there was a lawsuit) or the debt is settled if there was no lawsuit.

You need to send a letter to the credit reporting agencies to get this fixed.

It may be that the original creditor got confused about how much you owe — they don’t get confused but I’m trying to be generous to these scoundrels who intentionally hurt consumers with false credit reporting.

Maybe they’re too busy to fix your report.

We’ve actually had cases where their defense for not correcting our client’s credit reports was, “We file so many cases in Alabama. Do you really expect us to be accurate every time?”

Our response is usually, “Are you really going to make that excuse in front of a Federal judge? That’ll be a sight to behold.”

Since this may be the case, we send them a letter to the credit reporting agencies (and often to the creditor) explaining the situation to them, and ask them to update our credit reports.  Include sufficient proof that the debt (or case) is settled and that you owe nothing to the creditor.

In addition to that, ask them to explain without using a form letter.

They’re so arrogant that they think we aren’t worth giving a personal response to.

Ironically, the creditors get annoyed with us if we send them a form letter.

Usually, the credit reporting agency will do the opposite of what you want them to do.

If we’ve sent them a letter and they fix our credit reports, then that’s great.

If they haven’t fixed our reports, then they’re in trouble.

When they ignore our request, then it’s appropriate to strongly consider suing them for violating the FCRA, or Fair Credit Reporting Act.

We asked the original creditor to remove the false information, but they ignored us and told the bureaus to keep false information on your credit report.

Of course, we sue the original creditor along with the credit reporting agency or agencies that kept the false balance on our report.

If we represent you, our deal is that they have to remove the false information, and they have to pay you money damages. 

Contact Us.

If you’re working on settling with an original creditor, or if you’re dealing with their misconduct, you can reach us by phone at 1-205-879-2447.

You can also fill out a contact form and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

I look forward to chatting with you!

Have a great day.

-John G. Watts

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