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How to Get Collections off Your Credit Report

Getting collection activity off your credit report can help you accomplish credit goals like improving your score or qualifying for certain types of loans. Though there’s no one way to remove collections or guarantee you’ll get the exact outcome you are hoping for, it’s still good to know how to remove this information from your credit report whenever possible.

The good news is that it’s possible to remove this derogatory information, so here’s exactly what you need to know about removing collections from your credit report.

Table of contents

How to get collections off your credit report

This guide will walk you through the steps of removing collection accounts from your credit report.

Check your credit report thoroughly

If you start getting calls or notices about bills that are past due and missed payments, it might mean these delinquent accounts and unpaid charge-offs have been reported to the major credit bureaus and now appear on your credit report. In this case, the very first thing you need to do is check your credit report thoroughly. Fortunately, it’s now very easy to get access to your free credit report online.

If you don’t know how to get a credit report, then you can always request it each year, at no charge, at annualcreditreport.com. Knowing how to read your credit report is a helpful skill you can learn in a few moments. When checking for negative accounts, jump to the “credit history and accounts” where you can find information on missed or late payments.

In some cases, these accounts may have been sent to collections. You can always call the creditor listed to find out if you can bring it current through them or if you have to deal with a collections agency they may have turned the account over to.

The next place to examine is the “negative information” section. It may also be listed as “public records.” This section contains everything that can lower your credit score like bankruptcies, foreclosures, charge-offs, delinquent payments or repossessions.

It’s important to go through this information for accuracy. If you find anything reported incorrectly, you can take steps to update or remove the information.

How to identify collection account errors in your credit report

If you see any information in these sections that are not accurate, you have a legal right to dispute them. Common errors you might find include:

• Someone else’s information appearing on your credit report by mistake
• The debt is over 7 years old
• Incorrect data points on amounts and other activities like delinquency, date opened, balance, etc.
• Negative items that should have been removed by law, like paid off medical bills

If you find an error in the report, dispute the collection

Errors on your credit report can be removed or corrected. In most cases, you have to initiate this process. For incorrect information, you can file a dispute with the credit bureaus to have the accounts investigated. Your dispute letter should include:

• Your contact information: Complete name, address, and telephone number
• A clear list of each mistake with account numbers
• An explanation as to why and how the information is incorrect
• An explicit request for the information to be removed or corrected
• A copy of your credit report with the erroneous items highlighted
• Supporting documentation proving how the information should be reported

There are many ways you can contact and dispute items on your credit report. The Consumer Protection Bureau’s guide on disputing credit report errors contains the following directory of each the credit reporting agency (CRAs) and where to send disputes:

Equifax

Online: www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-dispute/

By mail: Download the dispute form

Mail the dispute form with your letter to:

Equifax Information Services LLC

P.O. Box 740256

Atlanta, GA 30348

By phone: Phone number provided on credit report or (866) 349-5191

Experian

Online: www.experian.com/disputes/main.html

By mail: Use the address provided on your credit report or mail your letter to:

Experian

P.O. Box 4500

Allen, TX 75013

By phone: Phone number provided on credit report or (888) 397-3742

TransUnion

Online: https://service.transunion.com/dss/login.page?dest=dispute

By mail: Download the dispute form

Mail the dispute form with your letter to:

TransUnion LLC

Consumer Dispute Center

P.O. Box 2000

Chester, PA 19016

By phone: (800) 916-8800

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit reporting agencies (CRAs) and furnishers (creditors) must investigate and respond to disputes within 30, and sometimes up to 45, days of receiving your credit report dispute. If the information is found to be correct, then it will remain on your report. Otherwise, it will be removed or updated.

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If you don’t find any errors, ask the agency to validate the debt

In many circumstances, debts can get shuffled around from one third-party debt collector to another, sometimes several times over. It’s not uncommon for inaccuracies to get transmitted to the debt collection agency. Also, documents verifying the original debt can get lost, too.

Once a debt ends up in collections, and you start to get communications about owing the debt, it’s totally acceptable to ask the debt collector to verify that the debt is valid and actually belongs to you.

Here’s the information you should include in your request to validate the debt:

• Information about the original creditor and the original account
• Amount and age of the debt
• Supporting documentation like an original invoice, bill, promissory note or similar document to prove the debt’s validity
• Why the agency believes you owe the debt
• Whether or not they are licensed to collect debt in your state

Note, once you send the debt collector a written dispute or a written request to validate the debt within 30 days, they have to pause collecting the debt until they respond to your dispute or answer your request.

If the personal information attached to the debt, like your name, aliases, phone number, address, etc., cannot be accurately matched with the debt, it must be removed from your credit report. Also, if they cannot provide any proof the debt is valid, it must also be removed from your credit report.

Another tactic along these lines is to ask credit reporting agencies to correct any inaccurate information. So if you find any mistake in relation to the collection account regarding any data point, you can ask the CRA to update it. Like asking for validation, if the item is not updated in a timely manner, it must be removed.

If the collection hasn’t been paid, continue paying on time

Assuming the steps above don’t work, then you want to take measures to prevent further damage to your credit score. You will need to continue paying the debt until the creditor responds to your validation request or until you’ve paid the entire balance off.

Chances are, you don’t have much room in your budget to make extra payments on a debt you didn’t expect to go to collections in the first place. In this case, try to make a payment arrangement with the creditor. Pay as much as you can with the frequency that work for your budget.

To make sure the collector doesn’t violate any part of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) ask them to put the payment agreement in writing. Then, be sure to pay according to the agreement.

Also, avoid giving any debt collector direct access to your debit or credit card or even your bank account, as they could withdraw more money than you agree to. Make your payment by check or money order. In some cases, you may be able to pay online.

If the collection has been paid, send a goodwill letter to the agency

Even if the collection has been paid, the unpaid collection and the record of collection activity can stay on your credit report and have a negative impact for up to 7 years. Some lenders will consider this derogatory information based on the credit scoring models they use or in their underwriting process, which could negatively affect your borrowing applications.

Even with a valid, paid collection account, there’s still a chance you can get it removed, and some FICO score and Vantage score models will ignore a collection that’s marked as paid. You can write a letter asking the creditor or collector to remove this information as a goodwill deletion. Your goodwill letter doesn’t need to have a lot of information or details. Simply identify the debt, and point out that it has been paid and that you’d like them to remove it.

The debt collector is not obligated to remove factual, verified information from your credit report, although some will as a courtesy. If this method works, be sure to get written communication from the agency saying they have notified credit bureaus to remove any reference to the delinquent account from your history. This way, you can present this to the credit bureaus in case the agency doesn’t push the update to all CRAs.

If that fails, wait for the collection to drop off your report

Generally speaking, negative information is removed from your credit report after seven years. The clock starts from the first date your delinquent accounts are reported. This means if you miss one or more payments, then the account is sent to collection, the “late payment” information will be removed seven years after the first date of delinquency, not when it gets to collections.

Be aware, however, that just because a debt disappears from your credit report doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay it. If it’s not past the statute of limitations or the time frame when a creditor can sue you for a debt, then a creditor still has the right to pursue payment and even take you to court to recoup it.

Each state has its own laws that govern the statute of limitation on debt. Make sure you understand your responsibility to pay old debts based on your state’s laws. If necessary, seek counsel from a lawyer to make sure you are compliant with your debt obligations and will not end up paying more than required.

Should you negotiate a pay-for-delete agreement?

In some cases, you can negotiate what is called a pay-for-delete arrangement. With pay-for-delete, you pay all or a portion of the debt in exchange for the collection agency removing the account from your credit report.

This arrangement can be successful, but you should proceed with caution. Capture the agreement in writing (which some collections agencies are hesitant to do) and also make sure they will remove both the late payment information and the collection account. Pay-for-delete can work sometimes, but the practice is not as common because creditors are technically supposed to report accurate information to CRAs.

As an alternative, hire a credit repair company

Credit repair companies may help you remove negative information from your credit report, but it can be a costly service. Although you can pretty much do the same thing they can, hiring a service can save you time and potentially get better results. Plus, the credit repair company may have insight into additional personal finance tips and strategies to help boost your credit score even further.

If you go this route, make sure that you’re dealing with a reputable company that uses effective, nonfraudulent ways to remove items from your credit report. Check sites like the Better Business Bureau, Trustpilot, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) or Google Reviews to make sure the services don’t engage in unethical, shady practices around credit repair.

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Summary of Money’s guide for removing collections from your credit report

You can remove a collections account from your credit report with a few different methods. Though removing a collections account from your credit can be helpful, there’s no guarantee that it will work or have the results you are expecting. If you decide this is the route you want to go, here’s a quick recap on how to remove collections from your credit report:

1. Check your credit report thoroughly
2. If you find an error, dispute it
3. If you don’t find any errors, ask the debt collector to verify it
4. If the collection hasn’t been paid, continue paying on time
5. If the collection has been paid, send a goodwill letter to the debt collection agency
6. If that fails, wait for the collection to drop of your credit report
7. Hire a credit repair company as needed

If you’ve got past due debt and don’t want to pay the full amount, you may be able to negotiate that debt down significantly. Depending on your personal finance goals, this move can be helpful for paying down debt faster, in some cases, improving your credit profile. If you want more information on how to negotiate your debt in these situations, we’ll break down what you need to do, step by step.

Table of Contents

How to negotiate with creditors the right way

Although you can negotiate directly with your creditors, a debt management tactic that works especially well for medical bills, we’ll focus on negotiating down your debt once it’s been sent to collections. If you follow these steps, you should be able to negotiate your debt to an amount that works best for you.

Understand how debt collection agencies work

If you understand how debt collection agencies work, you’ll be empowered to negotiate the best arrangement possible. Original creditors — say, a credit card company — sell their delinquent accounts to debt collection agencies to get “bad debt” off their books and access the related tax benefits of this type of expense.

Many agencies specialize in the type of debt they collect, usually by amount and age. Reputable ones will also only collect debt within their state’s statute of limitations. Delinquent debt can include credit card debt, student loans (or other kinds of loans), and utility or cell phone bills.

Debt collection agencies must rely on the debtor to settle their debt, and as such, they can’t go into your bank account, even if they have the account information and routing number.

Knowing that collection agencies buy debt for pennies on the dollar helps you understand the bill collectors’ motivations. If your original debt was $700 and they purchased it for $200, you know there could be some wiggle room to negotiate a settlement to pay less than the original $700 amount.

The debt collection agency wants to, at a minimum, recoup their original investment plus a profit, often between 25% to 50%. No matter what they want out of the situation, you should still do your best to get the most favorable settlement possible.

Fully comprehend the extent of the debt

Although it might be tempting to comply with a debt collector’s request for money right away, take some time to figure out what’s going on. Get the correct information regarding:

1. The amount of the original debt
2. The name and address of the original creditor
3. The date the debt became delinquent

By law, creditors have to supply this information within 5 days of contacting you.

If you know how to get a credit report, then you can also get information about this debt from there. Make sure everything matches up both on your credit report, as reported by all three credit bureaus along with the information from the debt collector. Now, you can get free credit reports weekly to stay on top of all the updates that hit your credit report.

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Know your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is legislation designed to prevent abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices of debt collectors. When this legislation was proposed, findings suggested that abusive debt collection practices “contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy.” In November 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s Debt Collection Rule provided clarification on some of the provisions in the FDCPA, namely related to how you can be contacted.

Provisions of this legislation give you several rights that you should be aware of:

• Debt collectors may call you between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:00 pm in your local time zone unless you give them permission to conduct phone calls outside those hours.

• In some cases, debt collectors may be prohibited from contacting you at your place of employment.

• You can request, in writing, that debt collectors stop calling you and communicate via other means instead.

• Debt collectors may contact your friends, relatives or employer to find out your phone number or where you live, but they cannot reveal details about the debt owed.

• Debt collectors cannot engage in any type of harassment that includes profane, abusive or threatening language when attempting to collect a debt.

• You have a right to dispute your credit report and get validation of the debt. Debt collection activities must stop if you dispute it within a certain time period.

• Debt collectors can contact you on social media and send a friend request, but they must make clear that they’re a debt collector.

If a debt collector or credit is found to be in violation of the FDCPA, the statutory damages are up to $1,000 for each action. It’s also possible that you might be able to get actual damages, attorneys’ fees, and court costs.

Depending on the entity you are dealing with, your only recourse may be to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which will conduct its own investigation and, as needed, take action against the creditor. Finally, you should know that the FDCPA only applies to third-party debt collectors like debt collection agencies. Original creditors are not bound by the FDCPA.

Ask the debt collection agency to validate your debt

As mentioned above, you have the right to get all the information pertaining to the debt. Within 5 days of contacting you, the debt collection agency has to verify details around the original debt like the name and address of the original creditor, amount, date incurred, etc. They should also have your correct contact information connected to the debt to make sure that it’s actually yours.

If you don’t believe the debt is yours, you have up to 30 days to dispute it. While the collector is confirming the validity of the debt, they can’t engage in any collection activities. If the debt can’t be verified, the collection agency has to stop collection activities and remove it from your credit report.

Need help coming up with the best letters to communicate with debt collectors? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a number of debt collection letter templates you can use to send to the collection agency.

Come up with a reasonable repayment or settlement proposal

If it turns out that the debt is yours and it belongs to you, then it might be best to start planning for the payoff. Many times, debt collectors have purchased your debt from the original debt at pennies on the dollar.

If all they want to do is recoup their initial investment and make some profit, then there might be room to settle for a partial payment. Keep in mind that not paying the full amount of your debt could show up on your credit and count as a mark against you. Though it’s not as bad as having unpaid debts, you should know that a settlement could put negative information on your credit profile and impact on your credit score.

When negotiating down your debt, come up with an amount that makes sense for your budget.It might be a good idea to consider using a credit counselor for a debt management plan which offers some level of debt consolidation, without going into debt consolidation loans. Credit counseling can often be found for free through non-profit organizations and can help you with your credit repair process (another option for this last issue is looking into credit repair companies).

If you can make a lump-sum payment, consider that in your negotiations. If you need more room in your budget, propose a longer repayment plan with lower installments of monthly payments. If your goal is to knock out the debt quickly, then make larger payments over a smaller amount of time. You could also pay in a single lump sum.

We should also note here that starting a payment plan for old debts could reactivate an account. If this debt was slated to fall off your credit report due to the statute of limitations or reaching the 7-year mark, it could have a negative impact on your credit. Starting a payment plan will create new activity on this debt, and it may also restart the clock for both statute of limitations and your credit profile.

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Negotiate with the collection agency using your proposal

Once you have a clear view of your position, it’s time to negotiate a settlement offer. If possible, avoid presenting your settlement offer first. Let the other side make the first suggestion, then present a counteroffer with a lower number. Repeat this back-and-forth process until you arrive at a settlement amount you are happy with.

It’s ok to start negotiations with a lowball offer. You may think there’s no reason to start with what might seem to be a somewhat absurd proposal, but you might be surprised to find that the debt collector is agreeable to your offer. It never hurts to try!

Tip: While you may be inclined to go with a debt settlement company, be wary of some red flags, such as promising to settle all your debt or charging money before settling your debt. If their debt relief package sounds good to be true, it likely is. Further, some creditors may refuse to work with a debt settlement company at all.

Make sure all agreements are set in writing

Debt collection agencies are notorious for not keeping a record of payment agreements or even reneging on them. The representatives you talk to may or may not annotate your account with the details of your conversations or payment arrangements you’ve negotiated.

Before you think your arrangement is set in stone and begin making payments, make sure the debt collection puts your payment arrangement in writing on official company letterhead. That way, if they deviate from the agreement or claim to have no record of it, you’ve got your bases covered.

If some time passes and you still haven’t received a letter from the debt collection agency, you should reach out to them. Be persistent until your letter on official company letterhead comes in the mail from the debt collection offices.

Keep calm, be patient and be careful about what you say

Although dealing with debt and debt collectors can add stress to your life, do your best to stay calm and level-headed. Even if a bill collector is rude or becomes belligerent, keep your cool. Be polite and keep records of the dates and times you communicate with the debt collector.

Also, avoid divulging too much information about your personal and financial situation. As all collectors inform you in their communications, any information you give them can be collected and used to help collect your debt. Provide just enough information to support your negotiations and nothing more, if at all possible.

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Summary of Money’s guide for negotiating with debt collectors

1. Understand how debt collection agencies work
2. Fully comprehend the extent of the debt (and learn how to read your credit report)
3. Know your rights under the Fair Debt Credit Collections Practices Act
4. Ask the debt collection agency to validate your debt
5. Come up with a reasonable repayment or settlement proposal
6. Negotiate with the collection agency using your proposal
7. Make sure all agreements are set in writing
8. Keep calm, be patient and be careful about what you say