Charge-Offs and Bankruptcy

[jarnaginra]

Do you think it would be beneficial (or even make sense to) pay off a charge off that occurred before I filed for bankruptcy?

I tried my luck at disputing it with the bureaus as IIB, but it came back as verified.

[lrprn]

When was your discharge? And are you considering paying off a discharged debt just to help your credit score?

Since the charge-off occurred before your bankruptcy was filed, then the creditor has every right to keep the charge off designation on your credit report. You can dispute it all you want - the creditor doesn't have to change the charge-off description.

In my opinion, paying off a discharged debt makes no financial sense. As long as you are paying your debts post-discharge on time, one pre-filing charge-off impacts your credit score less and less as time goes on.

Once all the incorrect descriptions have been changed over to IIB, the only real cure for your credit score is time while continuing to make ontime payments.

[backtoschool]

I agree with lrprn that paying off charged off, discharged debts is not going to improve your credit score, and is throwing good money away. Make sure the debts are showing zero balances and have a IIB designation and move on to rebuilding.

[jarnaginra]

Yeah, it doesnt make sense to pay it at this point. I suppose my logic in thinking about it derived from the fact that i disputed another charge off that ended up being deleted entirely. After it was removed I noticed a big increase in my score. So, I was thinking that I could maybe send a letter to the collection agency hoping to strike a "pay for delete" deal with them. I'm not really sure its even worth all the hassle. Like you said, backtoschool, I should probably just focus on rebuilding which im sure will have a bigger, better impact over time anyway.