The Disconcerting Problem Of Having A Tax Lien On Your Credit Report

By Patricia K Johnson

A tax lien can be the most complex credit issues that can happen to you. The IRS will put a tax lien against you on your credit report and if you possess real estate they will put it against that also. You most likely don't have a possibility to get out of it because the IRS is relentless and they will be merciless when it comes to collecting their money. Your only real hope is to be able to collaborate for a lesser amount.

If you own property the lien will be put against that. It will prevent you from selling the property and in time they may even be able to confiscate the property to satisfy the lien. If you don't have property it will only show on your credit report but you will not be able to get a home mortgage, a car loan, student loans or probably even credit cards. A tax lien is very detrimental to your credit report.

You will probably have to pay the tax lien off or at the very least bargain for a lesser amount. The worrying part of it is that even after the tax lien has been satisfied it can remain on your credit report for as long as 7 years. If you do not pay it off it can stay on there for as long as 15 years. If it is not fulfilled they can also renew it so you might have a tax lien on your credit forever.

It is in all probability not a smart move to try to contest a tax lien, as the Internal revenue Service is very influential. You probably will not win. Yet, you should attempt to cooperate for a smaller sum to satisfy the debt. Avoiding the Internal Revenue Service is not advised either as they will locate you, every time.

But when you pay off the tax lien, what can you do to get the derogatory listing removed from your credit report? Well as you are negotiating with the Internal Revenue Service, you can request that they delete the lien from your credit report. It may be that easy. If not you have the right to dispute the item and you can try to get it removed that way.

You will need to write a letter or dispute to all of the three main credit-reporting bureaus. In the United States, they are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You have the right to dispute any bad listing on your credit report because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If the tax lien has been paid and is displaying as satisfied you may be able to get it deleted.

Keep accurate records of all correspondence between you and the credit bureaus. They have between 30 and 45 days after receiving of your letter to either validate the accuracy of the listing or remove it. You are hopeful that they delete it. If they don't do it the first time around, submit another letter and another letter until you get the results you want.

Credit repair is a beneficial tool to improve your financial future. You can do it yourself or you can also get the help of a professional credit repair company. Regardless though you are accountable to make sure that your credit scores and credit report is as good as possible and if you need to do some credit repair to improve it then you need to take the steps to do that. - 29866

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