From: "John A. Weeks III" 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Credit report
Date: 7 Jul 2005 11:50:08 GMT
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In article <1120704961.510226.225020@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
 russ@russ.net wrote:

> Is there any way to get these bad marks removed from my credit report?
> How long do they generally take to "fall off" your report?  Should I
> just go ahead and pay the collection agency or contact the apartment
> complex directly and deal with them and try to work out a deal to
> remove the bad mark?

I think you should make an effort to go though your records
and sort this out.  You should have copies of the paperwork
from the lease deal.  You should also have cancelled checks
and your checking account statements.  If not, you can go to
your bank, and they can pull these records for you (likely
for a small fee).

If you make the effort (a common theme in your life), you
should be able to figure this out.  If you didn't pay it,
then yes, you should work it out with them.  If not, they
may come after you and sue you, and you could end up with
a judgement that will stay on your record for 7 to 10 more
years.

> Also how about the late payment on my wifes car which I co-signed back
> then on (before we were married)?  Any chance of getting that removed
> or must I just wait?

You can always challenge the black mark.  You might get lucky
and the creditor will not bother to go back and look it up,
and it will be removed.  That is kind of a low ethics way
of doing it since you know you were at fault.  If you wait,
it will be about 7 years from the time of the event.

Sometimes, if you are back current, you can ask the creditor
to clean up your record.  Some will do that if you have had
a long history of good behavior.

What does trouble me is that both of these events were not
results of financial problems.  Rather, the result of an
attitude.  The attitude you have is that paying bills on 
time is not your top priority.  Creditors have a right to
know that, and charge you higher rates given that you are
a higher risk (ie, when you get busy, you might cut and run
rather than make the extra effort to pay a bill on time).

-john-

-- 
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John A. Weeks III           952-432-2708            john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications                         http://www.johnweeks.com
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