What Is A Remark On A Credit Report?

A remark is added by your lenders to your credit report in order to provide information in regard to one of your credit accounts. This isn’t necessarily always negative, as a remark can also be positively placed on your credit report. 

What Are The Main Reasons That A Remark Is Added To A Credit Report?

A remark can be added to a credit account on your report for the following reasons:

• You have settled a debt for less money than was originally owed. 
• You have defaulted on a student loan.
• You have entered into negotiations with a creditor in order to remove a negative payment history that is listed on a credit account.
• You have informed a creditor that your account has been impacted by extreme, external circumstances. 
• A report has been filed stating that the credit account has been subject to identity theft.
• Accuracy of the report is being disputed.

What Is A Dispute Remark?

A dispute remark is a common kind of comment that is added to a credit report. This remark will be listed on a credit report whenever you have disputed the accuracy of an item on your report. This occurs whenever the debt collection agency is investigating your dispute, and they may wish to add a dispute remark of their own. This typically reads ‘account in dispute’ or something along those lines. 

You will also have the option to add your own dispute comment to your credit report. This is otherwise known as a consumer statement, and it applies to a specific credit account or to the whole credit report. This is usually the last option that people choose whenever a credit dispute has been rejected and you want a report to stipulate that there is inaccurate information attributed to a credit account. You can add a dispute comment to your report by visiting the websites associated with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. 

Why Was A Remark Removed From Your Credit Report?

If you are using a credit score monitoring app, then you may receive a notification that states the following: “remark removed from account”. If this has occurred, then there are numerous reasons why this may have taken place. These reasons include the following: 

1) Change of Payment Status

A lender may have placed a remark on your credit report if you have approached them to state that you are having trouble making payments to your credited account. They may also make a note if you have requested any specific accommodations including reduced payments of forbearance. If you begin to make your payments again, then your creditor will have removed this remark from your credit report. 

2) You Have Finalized A Debt Management Plan 

If you have been placed on a debt management plan with a credit counseling agency, then your creditor may have added remarks to your credit report in order to stipulate that you were following a debt management plan. 

Thus, these remarks will be removed once you have completed the debt management program and successfully repaid your debts. This means that your report will show in the same manner that It had prior to you working in conjunction with a credit counselor. 

3) You Have Filed A Dispute That Has Since Been Resolved

As previously mentioned, a statement of dispute can be added to your credit report if you have formally disputed a credited account. If your creditor had initially added a dispute to your credit report, then they will remove it as soon as the issue has been resolved. Credit disputes typically last for 45 days as this is the amount of time required for them to legally conduct an investigation into your dispute. 

If a creditor has removed a dispute remark from your credit report, and you remain unsatisfied with the result of the investigation, then you can choose to dispute the credited account again or issue a consumer dispute statement on your credit report. If you have added a consumer dispute remark, then you should note that only you can remove this from your credit report once the issue has been resolved. 

4) Your Account Has Been Deleted

Remarks are usually attached to specified credit accounts. Thus, if this account has been removed from a report, then the associated remark will also be removed. There are numerous reasons why an account can be removed from your report. For instance, if your account has been closed for an extensive period of time, then it could have fallen off your report after a certain number of years. Alternatively, a credit bureau may be correcting an error to a remark that they have previously issued on an inactive account by removing the account entirely.

Does A Remark Impact On Your Credit Score?

Remarks, comments, and statements that are added to a credit report do not directly impact your credit score. In short, remarks are merely notes that provide context about your credit accounts that can inform lenders who are assessing your credit reports. They are not one of the main factors that impact on your credit score, and they are not usually used to calculate your credit score. 

With this being said, remarks can accompany items that do impact your credit score. For example, if you have defaulted on the payment of a credit card or loan, then a statement can be added to a credit report in order to explain your reasons for defaulting on your payments. This statement in and of itself does not cause your credit score to decrease. However, any late payment on a credit report will have a negative impact.  

How Long Can A Remark Remain On A Credit Report?

The period of time that a remark will remain on a credit report is dependent on the type of remark that has been added, and the reasons why it was issued in the first place. For instance, if a lender has added a remark to your credit report, it can stay on there for as long as they want it to, so long as the information reported is still relevant to your account.

If you have added a remark yourself, then you can issue a request with the credit bureau in order to delete it. If you do not request for this to happen, then it will remain on your report for a number of years. A consumer statement that you have issued on your Experian credit report will be removed automatically after 2 years if the account has been deleted, or you have issued a general statement.

How Do I Remove Remarks From A Credit Report?

It is actually pretty easy to remove a remark from your credit report. However, the steps required to do so will depend on how the remark was added in the first instance. In order to remove a consumer statement that you have personally added, you merely need to contact the credit bureau that published the remark and request that it be removed. 

In order to remove other forms of remark, you will need to directly contact the debt collector or the creditor that issued them in the first place. You should bear in mind that they are not under any obligation to have the remark removed. However, you may be able to convince them to do so. 

Companies are likely to remove negative remarks if the defaulted payment was associated with extenuating circumstances such as a medical emergency, a death, or the loss of employment. 

Is There Any Point In Removing A Remark From A Credit Report?

Whether you should take action to remove a remark from your credit report is dependent on whether it has an impact on your life circumstances. Consumer statements should be removed if your circumstances have drastically changed or they are causing potential lenders to reject you on the basis of previous financial difficulties that you may have had. 

Conclusion

To conclude, you will receive a “remark has been removed from account” notification whenever a lender or creditor has removed a remark that they have issued on a credit account. Alternatively, you may receive this notification when a credit account has been deleted, and thus the remark has been removed with it. 

In order to remove a remark from your credit report, you will need to directly contact the lender or creditor and request that it is removed from your account. The vast majority of creditors will be willing to do so if your circumstances have changed since the remark was issued.