Can Collections Be Erased from a Credit Report?

Depending on how much a credit claims you owe, even a single collections account on your credit reports can do serious damage to your credit score.

Collections accounts for smaller dollar amounts don't weigh down your credit score as much, but if you have a number of these negative listings listed on your credit reports, don't be surprised when your credit score isn't as high as you would like it to be.

Regardless of whether a is reported for $100, $500, $1,000 or more, your credit would probably be higher if it didn't show up on your credit reports. Just about everyone would prefer to have this damaging credit listing erased, but few realize there is anything they can do about it. What they are not aware of is that there are steps you can take in an effort to delete collections accounts from your credit reports. In fact, Lexington Law, a consumer advocacy law firm with 18 years of experience helping over 1/2 million Americans work to improve their credit, reports that their clients had over 250,000 collections removed from their credit reports in 2008.

You have a number of options when it comes to clearing up your credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to dispute with the credit bureaus any items in your credit reports you feel may be inaccurate, untimely, misleading, incomplete, ambiguous, unverifiable, biased or unclear (known as "questionable" items). Essentially, as the name of the act implies, you are able to to question any items in your credit reports that you feel give lenders, insurance providers, and others an unfair impression of your credit worthiness; including collections.

If your credit bureau dispute is unsuccessful or if the reported collection account does not fit the definition of a questionable negative item, there are still options available to you. Your creditors and collections agencies have the ability to remove the items they have added to your credit reports. On occasion, simply as a result of you asking nicely, they will agree to stop reporting a negative item. If this doesn't do the job, there are a number of more confrontational tactics you can employ based on your rights under consumer protection statutes such as the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

It may not be easy, but with time, effort, and proper knowledge, you may be able to remove collection accounts from your credit reports. Of course, if you do not have the time or the desire to attempt repairing your own credit, there are a number of reputable credit repair companies who will make use of their experience to aid you in working towards achieving your credit goals.

Credit Repair Thoughts: http://www.creditrepairthoughts.org

Since 1991, Lexington Law's credit repair services have been helping clients legally dispute the questionable negative items in their credit reports. In 2008, Lexington Law's clients saw over 250,000 collections accounts removed from their credit reports (combined removals for all three credit bureaus).

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