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Credco Inquiry: How to Resolve My Debt

George Simons | January 21, 2025

George Simons
Co-Founder of SoloSuit
George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: To settle debt and remove a Credco inquiry, dispute inaccurate entries with credit bureaus, validate the debt, negotiate a settlement, and secure updates to your credit report. Solo can help.

If you see a Credco inquiry on your credit report, it’s probably because you’re facing a lawsuit brought by Credco due to delinquent debt, it is important to go into the legal process with your eyes open to ensure you are fully informed about what to expect during a lawsuit. Conducting sufficient due diligence in the legal process is essential since it can help provide advice and guidance on how to resolve the debt outside of court.

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What is Credco?

Credco is not a debt collection agency. Instead, Credco is a credit reporting company. Many mortgage lenders utilize “CoreLogic Credco” from Credco to obtain and review merged credit reports from the “Big Three” credit bureaus (i.e., TransUnion, Equifax, Experian). This is why you may have noticed an inquiry on your credit report from Credco if you recently applied for a mortgage or attempted to refinance your home.

Credco is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, but it does maintain an A- rating. The company is headquartered in Beaverton, OR, and can be reached by phone at (806) 774-3282.

How does the CreditIQ system work?

CoreLogic Credco offers mortgage lenders and other companies the opportunity to review reports generated from a system known as “CreditIQ.” A CreditIQ report is typically run during the pre-qualification phase of a loan decision.

The CoreLogic Credco CreditIQ report combines the merged report from the Big Three credit bureaus and CoreLogic Credco's proprietary data. This data gets integrated into existing sections of a standard credit report. The CreditIQ from CoreLogic Credo might include the following types of information not usually contained within a traditional credit report:

  • Your history, if any, of owning property.
  • Any legal filings made on a piece of property.
  • Property tax payments.
  • Rental applications.
  • Any history of evictions.
  • Any filed debt collection attempts (including debt collection lawsuits).
  • Bankruptcies.
  • Child support obligations.

Discovering Credco inquiries on your credit report

If you see an inquiry on your credit report from Credco and you have not been working with a mortgage lender, you should consider disputing the inquiry with the credit reporting agency. Why? Because hard inquiries on your credit report can negatively impact your credit score.

Do not let inquiries that should not be on your credit report go undisputed. Failing to remove unnecessary inquiries could result in you having to pay higher insurance premiums and interest rates.

Dispute an error on a Credco report

Whether it is a merged credit report or a CreditIQ credit report from CoreLogic Credco, there is a general presumption that these reports should be free from any blatant errors. This is why you should take immediate action if you discover an error in these types of reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) states that consumer reporting agencies should make sure that the information they provide to lenders and other companies is accurate and up-to-date.

Unfortunately, mistakes on these types of reports are fairly common. As a result, the FCRA provides consumers the right to dispute errors in their reports. Credit reporting agencies have 30 days to investigate your dispute and make any necessary corrections.

Responding to a lawsuit filed by a debt collector

If you are served with a Complaint filed by a debt collector, it is extremely important to respond to the lawsuit in a timely manner. Do not ignore the lawsuit. Why? Because you gain nothing by doing nothing. You need to take action and file a formal response to the lawsuit. In legal terms, your response to the Complaint is known as an Answer.

Filing an Answer is crucial because not doing so means you are essentially admitting defeat and allowing the collector to file a motion for a default judgment against you. Once the Court issues a default judgment, you will be left in a vulnerable position without many options.

Make the debt collector substantiate the allegations in the lawsuit

When you file an Answer to the lawsuit, it means the debt collector has to take the time to substantiate its allegations against you. This is important because the collector may have inadvertently filed the lawsuit and, upon further inspection, decides to drop the suit or offer a settlement to resolve the case.

Make collectors prove the lawsuit was filed within the statute of limitations

Responding to a lawsuit is crucial, yet many consumers overlook this important step. Many large debt collection companies correctly assume that consumers will not file a formal Answer to a lawsuit, allowing their legal team to obtain a default judgment. Consequently, there are instances where companies fail to verify their legal right to pursue a debt against you.

It is essential to remember that if the statute of limitations has expired, a plaintiff cannot legally sue you. In most states, plaintiffs have a limited time frame within which to initiate a lawsuit.

If the statute of limitations has lapsed, you can raise this issue as an affirmative defense that could enable you to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit entirely.

Settle debt with a collection agency

Settling a debt doesn’t have to be complicated. SoloSettle utilizes the latest technology to make the settlement process easy to initiate and allows you to keep track of all correspondence with the creditor. Follow these easy steps to settle your debt:

  1. Gather the information you have about the debt.
  2. Analyze your budget to determine how much you can afford to pay.
  3. Negotiate with the collector to reach a final settlement amount.
  4. Get the settlement agreement signed and in writing.
  5. Pay the amount as outlined in the agreement.

Once you’ve settled the debt, make sure the settlement is reflected on your credit report. If the collector has filed a lawsuit against you, make sure you get a Notice of Dismissal stating that the court has dismissed the lawsuit.

For more tips and tricks on how to settle debt, check out the interview with a debt settlement attorney below:

Important takeaways for what to do when sued by a collector

Here is what you need to do if you are served with a lawsuit filed by a debt collector:

  • Make sure to file your Answer to the Complaint.
  • Make sure to file the Answer in a timely manner (failure to do so could result in a court ignoring your tardy response and finding in favor of the collector).
  • In your Answer, make sure to raise affirmative defenses like the statute of limitations and demand that the company provide proof concerning the allegation raised in the company's legal complaint.
  • If a hearing is ordered by a court, make sure to attend and to be prepared to advocate for your interests.
  • Once you’ve verified the debt belongs to you, start the negotiation process.

Watch this video for a brief explanation of how SoloSettle can help both consumers and creditors.

Best of Luck!

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