ByHow to Erase Child Support Arrears and Clean Your Credit Report
Responsible parents should support their kids, no matter what. But sometimes, you have no control over circumstances and you may not be able to provide financial support. If you fall behind in your child support payments, that information can negatively impact not only your kid, but your credit score, too.
Once you are caught up and back on track with your support payments, you may wonder how to remove derogatory remarks from your credit report. Good thing you're here, because DoNotPay can tell you everything you need to know about .
The Importance of a Clean Credit Report
Based on a number of factors, including your payment history and balances due, your credit report is important for a variety of reasons. Lenders, landlords, and potential employers may refer to your report as well as your FICO score to determine whether or not you are a good risk.
Dings on your report, such as those placed , can adversely affect your day-to-day life and make it difficult or even impossible to rent a car, lease an apartment, or qualify for a home mortgage.
How Credit Reports Are Compiled
There are three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Each receives information from creditors with whom you do business.
Credit cards, bank loans, mortgage payments, and revolving lines of credit are usually included as part of your report. Utility providers don't typically report to credit agencies, unless you become delinquent in your payments and your account is turned over to a collection agency. The same applies to health care providers.
What Is a FICO Score?
Established in the mid-20th century by mathematician Earl Isaac and engineer Bill Fair, FICO offers businesses, creditors, landlords, and lenders a simple way to determine whether a potential borrower or tenant is worthy of extended credit.
A FICO score is determined by algorithms that anticipate consumer behavior. FICO scores consider factors like amounts owed, ages of accounts, payment history, and use of credit.
FICO Scores
FICO scores determine credit worthiness.
| Credit Report Score | Credit-Worthiness |
| 300 to 579 | Very Poor |
| 580 to 669 | Fair |
| 670 to 739 | Good |
| 740 to 799 | Very Good |
| 800 to 850 | Exceptional |
It’s good to see your credit report standing so you can determine areas where you can improve your credit score.
Derogatory Marks and Negative Comments on Your Credit Report
Late child support payments are only one of the derogatory marks that might be found in your credit report. According to Lexington Law, other negative remarks may include:
- 30 day late payments
- 60 day late payments
- 90 day late payments
- Bankruptcies
- Charge-offs
- Civil judgments
- Collections
- Criminal judgments
- Debt settlements
- Foreclosures
- Hard credit inquiries
- Liens
- Repossessions
Monitoring Your Credit Report
Before you can erase child support arrears or other negative remarks from your credit reports, you'll need to know what they are and who put them there. Fortunately, you can see your credit reports from all three major agencies at least once every year, explains the Federal Trade Commission.
You can visit all three credit reporting agencies one by one, or make it easy by requesting your reports from all agencies at once from the Annual Credit Report. Be sure to log in from a secure computer and verify you're at the correct site before asking for your free reports.
Once you get your reports, read them carefully to make sure they don't contain any errors. If you find negative remarks, it's in your best interest to have them removed as soon as possible.
How to Erase Negative Marks by Yourself
If there are errors on your credit report, that's the bad news. The good news is that they may be removed, if you follow the procedures perfectly. Here are a few things to try:
- Write and file a goodwill removal request
- Dispute inaccurate reports
- Write and submit a debt validation request
- Write and send a pay-to-delete negotiation request
An Easier Way to Dispute and Erase Negative Marks With DoNotPay
The above-mentioned methods may work, but managing them on your own can be time-consuming and frustrating. Instead, let DoNotPay do the job for you. Our artificial intelligence lawyer is on the job 24/7 and never takes a day off.
If you want to clean up your credit report but don't know where to start, DoNotPay has you covered in 3 easy steps:
- Search Clean Credit Report on DoNotPay.
- Prepare a recent copy of your credit report that you can use as a reference.
- Let us guide you through the 4 potential options:
- If you've already paid off your debt, we'll help you file a Goodwill Removal Request to get it removed.
- If you notice any errors in your report (we have a list of common errors you can use!), we'll help you file a credit dispute to the creditor or major credit bureaus.
- If there are no errors, we'll check if you're still eligible to file a debt validation request. If they can't validate your debt, they're required to remove it from your report and they can't collect it!
- Lastly, if none of the above options work, we'll help you file a pay-to-delete negotiation letter. You can customize the amount you are willing to pay in exchange for getting the item removed.
DoNotPay Is Standing By to Assist
When DoNotPay first started out, we focused on helping people avoid paying for costly parking tickets. Over the years, we've listened to our members and found a lot more ways to help.
When it comes to improving your credit score, we can help you:
- Write and deliver a debt validation letter
- Erase collections from your credit report
- Erase late payments from your credit report
- Compose and deliver a credit dispute letter
- Dispute your credit report
- Erase hard credit inquiries from your report
If you need us to , we can get started right away. Is there anything else DoNotPay can help you with today? and let us know.