How to Remove a Collection Account From Your Credit Report

Receiving a call from a debt collection agency such can fill you with dread, not to mention fear. Your credit score is about to plummet, and that is only the start. You may find yourself the target of a lawsuit.

And you may find yourself asking what steps you may take to remove a collection account from your credit report.

Fortunately, you do have some choices. Let's go over some of the things you may do to increase your chances of getting the past-due bill discharged and alleviate your debt collection worry.

Here’s how to remove a collection account from your credit report.

Collection Agencies Report to Credit Bureaus

If a collection agency contacts you or appears on your credit report, they now hold your debt and have the authority to collect it. Trust and believe they will make every effort to collect on your obligations. One of those methods is to notify the credit bureaus about your collection account. This will appear as a collection account on your credit record, and your credit score will suffer significantly.

How Can you Remove a Collection Account from Your Credit Report?

Collections can have a negative impact on your credit score and can stay on your credit record for up to seven years regardless of whether you pay them However, there are methods by which you can have a collection account erased off your credit record.

Ask for Debt Validation

Most collection agencies are hired by initial creditors to collect on their behalf. Thus, it is critical that you have your any debt certified prior to entering into any form of payment agreement. Otherwise, there is no way to determine if they are entitled to collect your debt, or whether the amount they are assigning you is entirely true.

Send a debt validation letter as soon as you receive a notice, whether by phone or email. This compels the agency to provide you with legal documentation that they are the ones who owe you money.

Additionally, it requires them to cease collection efforts until they have delivered you information. You may also contact the original creditor to see if you can work something out — if the debt is proven to be valid.

In such an instance, it might be a good idea to see relief of debt assistance at www.FreedomDebtRelief.com. They can often help you settle such debts for less money than is owed. But do this only after the debt is confirmed to be yours. Once it’s settled you can ask for a goodwill deletion.

Request for a Goodwill Deletion

If your report contains a paid collection, even if it’s a relief of deb, you can simply request the collector to erase the notation. This normally entails submitting a goodwill deletion letter to the debt collector or collection agency explaining the error, pleading for forgiveness, and demonstrating how your payment history has improved.

Wait Until it Falls Off

When a debt is legitimate and you are unable to persuade a collection agency to remove it from your report, your only alternative is to wait. After seven years from the initial delinquency date, the collection should be removed from your credit record.

How Long do Collection Accounts Stay on Your Credit Report

Paid or unpaid collection accounts may lawfully remain on your credit reports for up to seven years after they become delinquent. When a collection account hits the seven-year mark, credit reporting organizations should erase it from your credit reports automatically.

If your collection account does not disappear from your credit record after seven years, you can contest it with each credit bureau that reports it.