How To Get A Collections Removed From Credit Report?
This is true because credit reporting agencies lower your score when a collection account appears on your credit report. From collections, it is apparent that you had some unpaid amount, which was charged off and sold to a collection agency since you were inactive for a long time. This goes a long way in informing future credit lenders that you could be a risky client. Fortunately, the following are among the measures that one can take to have collections removed from a credit report.
Review Your Credit Reports The first step is to obtain credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union and go through them. Ensure that all the information listed is correct and that the details regarding the collection are well stated. Can I be sure that the collection belongs to you and that you did not borrow it from anyone else? What is the amount and to whom is it payable? How many years has this collection been included in your report? Some of the areas to understand include:
Contact the Collection Agency Then call the credit reporting company, which is the debt collector to inform them that you have unpaid debts. Try contacting them in writing either by sending them a letter via a courier or through the post office so that you have some form of record. More so, get to learn why they are reporting your debt to ensure that the information they have on file including the amount you owe is correct. At times, the collectors may make errors involving wrong amounts or confuse certain details when reporting.
Negotiate a Pay-for-Delete Agreement Once you confirm that the particular debt is legitimate, then negotiate with the collections agency to have the negative entry removed from the credit reports in return for payment. This is another very popular technique known as the pay-and-scream method. That is why the act commonly known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act permits debt collectors to delete legitimate adverse information for a fee. To avoid falling prey to such agencies, always ensure that you get a pay-for-delete agreement in writing from the agency as debt collectors often fail to honor verbal agreements.
Send Validation Letter In case you have any doubt if the collection is yours or if the details provided are wrong, you should write a debt validation letter to the collector. This calls for confirmation that the debt belongs to you and they tend to produce proof that you owe the amount in question. According to legislation if they can’t support the details, then they have to cease all the collections and it should be deleted from the credit reports. Validation letters do help one gain some time, and depending on the validation made, the collection is removed for lack of validation or else there is more light shed on the next course of action.
File Disputes In case where the collection agency fails to execute what was agreed under the pay-for-delete agreement or where the agency cannot confirm the details of the debt, forward disputes to the three major credit bureaus including Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Enclosed are copies of any verification correspondence and request for an investigation into the items reported about you as inaccurate information. The agencies are required by law to consider cases of conflict within Thirty days. Often collections either are not verified or the debt collector does not send information in response to the dispute within the set time which calls for their deletion from the credit reports.
Prove Inaccuracy Another way to get collections removed from your credit reports is where you present evidence of basic errors in the information that the collections agency presents. I suppose it is pertinent to highlight that any discrepancy as a consumer is a valid basis for removal: whether the amount, the date, the spelling, or that the debt has exceeded the statute of limitations in your state. Secure information that negates what the agency has to say to the bureaus and then file complaints. If the credit bureaus decide while investigating that it is inaccurate or unverifiable information they must delete such information from your file.
Hire Attorney If all the above steps fail to get the wrong collection removed from your credit you then consider hiring an attorney. They can write legal and formal threatening letters on their legal letterhead to both the debt collector and credit bureaus for your removal. It also bars credit bureaus from reporting information that is inaccurate, obsolete, or cannot be verified by furnishing the consumer with the details of investigations made by the credit bureaus if they fail to remove the information after investigating the same. As we all know going to court is the most costly way of handling a conflict and therefore should be the last option.
Request Goodwill Deletions You can write a goodwill letter to the first creditor informing them about the unpaid balance and asking for their leniency in removing the collection out of goodwill. It may be because of layoff, medical bills, or some family issues – kindly assure them about the circumstance and how the reporting of the bad credit is adversely affecting credit. If it is an original creditor that you have made regular and on-time payments to in the past then do not hesitate to use that. Merger goodwill deletions are not certain but normally are effective if you had a prior good relationship or if there are other circumstances.
Wait Out Collections If none of the measures above work and you still have not paid your debt, you may be forced to simply wait out the collections on your credit report. Under the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative information is supposed to be removed after seven years from the date of their first activity. The 7 years is drawn from the time when the debt first became bad and this is added to 180 days. While bankruptcies are still fresh, they can remain on the three reports for as long as 10 years. Fortunately, as collections hit the credit reporting, they tend to negatively affect credit scores less and less. There is something you can do to reduce the harm done to your score in the meantime: proactively scrub any lists of your reports beyond collections.
Even if you are successful in having a collection removed from all three credit bureaus, stay on the watch for its return, and do not be discouraged if the collection is not immediately removed. Make it a regular practice to contact the debt collectors and credit bureaus regularly. If you have not been successful at an earlier attempt, then you will have to wait 6-8 weeks and attempt it again. However, it is worth not surrendering too quickly because getting negative items expunged from your report can transform your life for the better. Building up a good credit score is a long process, it takes constant work, but the good news is that you shall reach the line!!
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