How To Wipe-OFF Collection Accounts From Your Credit Report
Collection accounts can remain on your personal credit report for 7 years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the collection (the original delinquency date) if not removed or disputed.
If you haven’t paid your collection account yet, negotiate with the debt collection agency. Let them know that you plan to pay them off. You can try to negotiate less than the full amount if you want. The important thing is getting them to agree to remove the item from your credit report. It’s wise to get this agreement in writing before submitting your payment.
If you’ve paid a collection account in full and the item remains on your report. You will want to dispute the item with the credit bureaus by mail. When a collection account is paid in full, it will be marked “paid collection” on the credit report. It is NOT removed from your report and is still considered a negative account. For this reason, you want to have the account removed from your credit report.
Always remember that the burden of proof is on the credit bureaus. You have nothing to prove to them. They have to prove to YOU that the account is yours. Simply dispute by stating something like “Please provide documentation that the following account belongs on my credit report and that my rights have not been violated; otherwise please delete this damaging data immediately.” That’s all you need to say. One line. The credit bureaus then must conduct an investigation; they have 30 days to do so. If the collection agency can’t verify the account (most of the time they can’t), then they must remove the collection account from your credit report.
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