FAQ
I have one collection showing on my credit report and I am needing it to be removed. I paid off the collection, but it’s still reporting on 2 agencies and has brought my scores on those 2 agencies down from 735 to 660. Please advise on best approach.
When you pay a collection you must do a “Pay For Delete” where the item is removed off of your credit report. Paying collections, especially ones that are old can hurt your scores. Now you need to dispute to get them removed.
My collections agency sent a letter that verified the debt by telling me the hospital placed it with them, the dates of service, and a bill for the amount. They gave me nothing else but the number to original creditor. I drafted the letter that asks for further validation...or am I stuck asking for pay to delete?
Keep fighting! This is part of the process, sending a bill is NOT validation. Continue sending debt validation letters.
Is it true that after you opened a credit card, your credit score will automatically go down? How many points?
Depends how much credit you have open, if you open 3-4 credit cards right away, yes it will hurt your score. If you are just opening your first line a credit it will help. Building credit in general helps your score, it may dip a little bit but it will continue to rise!
I have an account in collections that I paid in full this month before asking for a pay for deletion. I went back and tried to ask collection agency to give me a deletion letter, but they declined. The account has not been updated as paid in full on my credit report as of today. What options do I have of getting it removed now?
If you pay a collection you are out of luck about getting a deletion letter, the collection agencies report once a month so wait 30-45 days to see if the account is updated to $0. Once it is $0 you can work on trying to get the item removed through inaccuracies. Always send a Pay for Delete letter with final payment.
How do I know if a debt is still with the original creditor or if it has been sold? The original creditor is all that shows up on my credit report.
If it is still listed on your credit report with a balance then it’s with the original creditor. You can always call the creditor and ask if they still own the debt.
If we do get collections removed from our credit report, how do we handle the debt in a way that it doesn’t pop back up on our report? The statute of limitations is 3 yrs. All of my collections/charge offs fall within this statute of limitations.
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions if you do not see it pop up but the way debt will pop back up is if the collection agency was in the middle of selling the debt. You just continue to fight the collections with inaccuracies.