Article Directory :: Finance & Investment Articles Will Your Credit be Ruined by a Utility Bill Charge-off? By John Rasor Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 27Jun2009 Word count: 408 Viewed: 203 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site Possibly, but possibly not. In fact, the credit bureaus may not even know that it happened. We all pretty much expect that everything to do with our financial lives is an open book - reported to the credit bureaus and there for any and all to see. In spite of privacy laws, credit card companies, insurers, and even would-be employers can get access to our credit reports. But it isn't necessarily true with utility companies and small businesses. The fact is, it costs money to supply information to the credit bureaus, and not all companies want to spend the money just to report on their customers' financial habits. If you don't know if the charge-off appears on your credit report, get your free copy right now and check. If it's there, you might be able to make it go away, if you agree to pay the bill in full. It's worth a try to contact the utility and offer to make full payment if they'll agree to remove the information from your credit report. If so, be sure to get their commitment in writing before you send the payment. You will want to ask for a letter to "delete" the account. And for full payment in a hurry they are very likely to do so. They may not be willing to remove the information, but if you're trying to raise your scores high enough to purchase a home before 7 years have passed, it's still in your best interests to pay the bill. While lenders do put emphasis on your credit scores, they also look at the credit report itself. If some time has passed and your report shows that you've not only paid the debt but have had good payment history since then, you may still be eligible for a home loan. The more time has passed since the charge-off, the better. Negative information stays on your credit report for 7 years, but its impact on your credit decreases over time. While you're working to restore your credit after a charge-off or other financial mishap, do be sure to pay all your accounts on time. If the problem was severe enough to prevent you from getting any credit, consider a secured credit card. Then use it, but sparingly. Keep usage at 10% if possible, and never over 30%. Your timely payments on that card will show as "good" entries on your credit report and will begin to raise your FICO scores. http://www.creditscorecowboy.com is the #1 source on the planet for a free credit report, identity theft software and a blog with a wealth of information writtten by lending professionals that know about credit and what determines ones creditworthiness. EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here More articles by John Rasor

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