Taking Care of Your Debt Collections To Repair Your Credit
When you see a collection show up on your credit report, it can hurt a little. Your credit score will be affected and this item will stay with you for a period of seven years, unless the entry is incorrect and you choose to remove it. Every lender or entity that will see it, will judge you to be less credit-worthy because of it. Therefore, it's a very good idea to look into them in-depth to see how you can remove them from your credit report.
In case of an error
First of all, in case of an error for a collection entry on your credit report, you should definitely not skip it as it impacts your credit repair situation. You can put together a credit dispute and send it to the reporting credit bureau so that it removes the mistake from your credit report. Don't worry as this kind of mistake can be frequent and credit bureaus are used to getting that kind of a request. Your demand will get classified and then judged according to the proof that you provide. And in any case, you should also choose to ask the collector to validate what you owe (or in other words prove what you owe).
What to do after an entry expires
Another unfortunate thing that can happen is that your negative account could stay on your credit report even after the default period of seven years. Collectors can sometimes play with the reporting dates that start the 7 year count down so you need to watch out for that. Certainly, after the seven year period is up, you have all the rights to remove debt collection marks from your credit report and should do so for the sake of your credit repair. Always keep track of the evolution of each item on your report and watch them to go away, or do something about it.
Check the collector
If you know a bit about the world of collection, you probably know that your account can go from one collector to another, if you’re still not paying that is. If you find that there’s a mistake on this matter as well, you can choose to dispute.
When you manage to pay it
When you manage to pay a debt, make sure that you check on what happens to that entry in your credit report. Depending on the state of the entry and when you paid, different things could happen, including deletion. If you find the outcome unsatisfying, gather proof of your payment and what you agreed to with the collector and dispute this event as well. It can affect the whole account delinquency if the collection agent is not complying with the FCRA guidelines.
Still feel an injustice?
Of course, in the end credit repair is still about people and if you feel like the case was handled in an unfair manner considering your credit repair situation, you can make what’s called a goodwill request for deletion. Explain your situation the best you can as this works on a case-by-case basis.
So to sum it up, don’t stay inactive in front of a debt collection account. You most likely have some work to do depending on each set of circumstance so get it down to every detail and make some disputes if you need to do so to improve your credit repair situation.