By Greg Fisher
August 10, 2015
UPDATE: August 28, 2015

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission states, "No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report."

However, unfortunately, the website of the state of New York states,

If I pay a delinquent account, will that remove it from my credit report?
No. Payment will not automatically remove the debt. You may be able to negotiate removal of the negative information as part of the payment agreement with a third-party collection agency. The original creditor is not as likely to negotiate removal of the negative information.

If you do attempt to negotiate removal of the negative information from your credit report, make absolutely sure to get the terms of the agreement in writing and signed by someone with the authority to request removal of the information. This is essential because if the collection agency does not follow through with its promise to contact the credit bureaus, you can forward the written agreement to the credit bureaus yourself.

The same, two, exact paragraphs except for one word—"forward"—on the website of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse:

If I pay a delinquent account, will that remove it from my credit report?
No. Payment will not automatically remove the debt. You may be able to negotiate removal of the negative information as part of the payment agreement with a third-party collection agency. The original creditor is not as likely to negotiate removal of the negative information.

If you do attempt to negotiate removal of the negative information from your credit report, make absolutely sure to get the terms of the agreement in writing and signed by someone with the authority to request removal of the information. This is essential because if the collection agency does not follow through with its promise to contact the credit bureaus you can send the written agreement to the credit bureaus yourself.

In conflict, another page on the New York website (same division of the same department) states, "Note that accurate and timely information cannot be removed from your credit report for up to seven years, even if you have paid off a once delinquent debt."

UPDATE, August 28, 2015

From: Greg Fisher [mailto:greg@truthandfalsity.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2015 1:43 PM
To: Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy and media contact, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Cc: Beth Givens, director and founder, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Subject: RE: New York 2

I'm with the media, I'm writing about your organization and the state of New York, and I'm on deadline. The deadline is tomorrow.

See http://www.creditscoring.com/influence/government/states/ny/dos.html [this page] .

To avoid clicking on that link (also in the previous email below), you can try a search-engine search for "State of New York statement on collectors." Bing, Google and Yahoo return that page as the top result. There is, also, a link with that title under "Recent" on the home page of creditscoring.com.

Did someone in your organization or acting for it write the two paragraphs beginning with "No. Payment will not automatically remove... " at https://www.privacyrights.org/cc/frequently-asked-questions-about-debt-collection#6 ?

The same, two, exact paragraphs except for one word–"send"–are on the website of the state of New York. They both make the questionable statement, "You may be able to negotiate removal of the negative information as part of the payment agreement with a third-party collection agency."

Our law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act states: "The banking system is dependent upon fair and accurate credit reporting. Inaccurate credit reports directly impair the efficiency of the banking system, and unfair credit reporting methods undermine the public confidence which is essential to the continued functioning of the banking system."

See "The FCRA, and despicable, un-American liars" published earlier this year at http://creditaccuracy.com/government/ny/negotiate.html (there is a link to that item on the home page of creditaccuracy.com (as opposed to creditscoring.com; I write both).

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Greg Fisher
Truth and Falsity
truthandfalsity.com
The Credit Scoring Site
creditscoring.com
PO Box 342
Dayton, Ohio 45409-0342
skype fisher100
mobile/text 937-681-3224
fax 937-630-3213