Thread: Collections

If you have a debt that they are threatening to turn over to collections can you still make an agreemen with them to pay it off and do you have to pay the full amount. Once its been turned over to collections, does it immediately reflect on your credit and how long does it stay on your report for. If you have had something go to collections, and you've paid it off, how do you go about having it taken off your report?

Yes it will reflect immediatly on your credit report, usually 7 - 10 yrs it will stay on. When you pay it off you can ask them to remove it but usually they will tell you you have to inform the credit reporting agencies. If it gets turned over to collections you can still try to work a paymnet aggreement with the collection agency.

If it's sent to collections and you pay it, you won't be able to get it removed from your credit report. However, before you pay it, you should offer the collection agency a payment in exchange for removing it from your credit report. Generally, this will work. make sure you get it in writing though.

As others have already stated, when a debt is passed over to collections, it will show almost immediately on your credit report. You can request that it is removed and put forward a case to the credit reporting agency in question but it will be at their discretion. You should be able to set up a payment plan with the collections agency, the main thing is to be honest and upfront. Half the time, problems only arise when people avoid the issue all together and bury their heads in the sand.

Not true. This is a very common misconception. By law, a debt collector must notify you in writing and you have 30 days to dispute the matter with them at which point they must provide proof the debt. During this time period, it WILL NOT be reported on your credit file and if you find yourself dealing with a fraudulent collector, you can easily have it removed. There are two parts in dealing with this, first, it should never get to the collections side, typically by that point you have ignored all collection attempts by the company or made no reasonable efforts. I get "I can't afford it" but there is never an excuse to ignore it. Secondly, once it hits collections, it's not done there, most collection agencies will work with you, remember they are people doing a job and if you are honest and upfront, they will typically help you. People often screw up on both these points, assuming, "I have no money so what are they going to do" that is often the worse mistake you can ever make.

Originally Posted by jkennedy

If it's sent to collections and you pay it, you won't be able to get it removed from your credit report. However, before you pay it, you should offer the collection agency a payment in exchange for removing it from your credit report. Generally, this will work. make sure you get it in writing though.

This is a great idea, and one that I never thought of! I always assumed that they would not want to bargain with you and instead just send the negative report to the credit agencies. I guess they will do anything to get a payment but I agree, get it in writing!

Indeed, this is a great idea to implement.