Accounts that don’t
belong to you
Credit restoration is the process of removing any questionable negative items from your credit. This process could potentially improve your credit score. Credit restoration is typically carried out by a credit restoration company or organization for a fee. A reputable credit restoration company will work to help you understand your credit report and dispute any inaccuracies with credit bureaus and other creditors on your behalf.
When you fail to pay a bill on time, it will appear as a late payment on your credit reports. Creditors will send this notation to the bureaus after 30 days and it will worsen every 30 days after if it has not been paid (30 days, 60 days, and 90 days). Late payments can typically stay on your reports for seven years.
This is when your account is written off as a loss by your creditor and handed to collection agencies. This typically will happen after the maximum late payments are recorded. Charge-offs can typically stay on your report for up to seven years.
After your debt has been written off, it will typically land in third party debt collection agencies. Often, these charges can show up on your report as both collections and charge-offs for up to seven years.
A bankruptcy is typically among the more damaging negative items on a credit report. They can typically stay on a report for up to 7-10 years.
After a borrower misses enough mortgage payments, the lender may take over the property in a foreclosure. Foreclosure is also among the more damaging negative items.
Similar to a foreclosure, a repossession is a loss of property on a secured loan. The lender takes back the collateral property and auctions it off to recuperate losses. This includes voluntary repossessions.
An inquiry is when a company requests to check your credit. A soft inquiry (usually for personal use) does not affect your credit, while a hard inquiry (usually when applying for a loan) is a more in-depth check and typically affects your score negatively.
