subject: Credit Repair - Why Timing is So Important [print this page] You will see the best credit repair results if you time your credit repair efforts properly. People aren't always in a position to do this because most of the time people simply need to get it done because they have been procrastinating about it for far too long. So, as a rule of thumb, the best time to repair credit is NOW. Just get it done.
But if you have a fair amount of outstanding collections and old bad debt, you might want to do yourself a favor. If the debts are really old, then you might not want to dispute them because after 7 years of no activity, they should just go away on their own. Disputing the accounts could actually reactivate them. Paying those old accounts could also reactivate them, thereby giving the creditor more time to keep reporting them against you. If the accounts have a zero balance, then you should dispute them because removing old zero-balance collections from your report can and will actually help your credit profile. Do NOT hesitate to dispute collections or negative accounts that have no balances on them. Generally, a creditor will not respond to that kind of dispute since you don't owe them anything. And when they fail to respond, the account is deleted and that improves your credit score.
If you have small debts that you are able to pay off, you should go ahead and pay them off. Immediately after you pay them off, go ahead and dispute them. You might just get lucky and the creditor might not respond to the dispute since they will see that the account has been paid. Or the creditor may update your balance to zero quicker than they would otherwise have done.
If you are going through a bankruptcy, don't do credit repair until it is discharged. If you are paying on bad debt, don't undertake credit repair until the accounts are fully paid. If it is a judgment you are paying on, don't dispute the judgment until you have completely paid it off.
