Collections can significantly impact your credit score and financial future. Learn how the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to dispute inaccurate or unverifiable collection accounts — and how CreditRise can help.
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A collection account appears on your credit report when a creditor sells your delinquent debt to a third-party collection agency, or when the original creditor transfers the account to collections. Once an account is "charged off" by the original creditor, it can be sent to collections, where it becomes a separate line item on your credit report.
Collection accounts can originate from various sources, including:
Hospital visits, procedures, and emergency care that weren't fully covered by insurance
Unpaid credit card balances that have been charged off and sent to collections
Unpaid electric, gas, water, or telecommunications bills
Collection accounts can significantly damage your credit score in several ways:
Collections can drop your credit score by 50-150 points or more, depending on your starting score and other factors in your credit history.
Collections indicate that you didn't pay as agreed, which is one of the most heavily weighted factors in credit scoring models.
Unpaid collections can remain on your credit report for up to 7 years from the date of the original delinquency, continuously affecting your score.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), negative items like collections can remain on your credit report for a maximum of 7 years from the date of the original delinquency. This is known as the "7-year rule."
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal law designed to protect consumers. It gives you important rights when it comes to your credit report, including the right to dispute inaccurate or unverifiable information.
You have the right to dispute any information on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable.
Credit bureaus must investigate your dispute within 30 days and provide you with the results of their investigation.
If a collection cannot be verified as accurate and complete, it must be removed from your credit report.
You're entitled to one free credit report per year from each bureau at AnnualCreditReport.com.
When you dispute a collection account, the following process occurs:
You (or your representative) submit a formal dispute letter to the credit bureau questioning the accuracy of the collection.
The credit bureau forwards your dispute to the collection agency, which must verify the debt's accuracy.
The collection agency has 30 days to investigate and verify the debt or report it cannot be verified.
If unverifiable, the collection must be removed. If verified, it remains but you can continue to dispute.
Credit repair can be time-consuming and confusing. We make it easy by handling every step of the dispute process on your behalf — so you can focus on what matters most.
We review your credit reports from all three bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to identify all collection accounts and potential disputes.
We draft and send formal FCRA-compliant dispute letters to all three credit bureaus on your behalf, questioning inaccurate or unverifiable collections.
We contact collection agencies and creditors directly to verify debts and request documentation of their claim against you.
We track all dispute responses and follow up as needed. We continue working on remaining items until resolution.
We believe in our process. That's why our pricing is simple: $125 per successful deletion, per bureau. If a collection is not removed, you don't pay for that deletion.
per deletion, per bureau
Get answers to the most common questions about removing collection accounts from your credit report.
Schedule your free consultation today. We'll review your credit reports, identify collection accounts that can be disputed, and create a personalized strategy to help you improve your credit.
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