How to Dispute Collection Accounts on Credit

A collection account on your credit report drags down your credit score and looks bad to lenders, employers, rental managers and insurance companies that may pull and review your credit. If you notice a collection account appearing on your credit report that doesn't belong to you or that contains incorrect information, you can dispute the account with both the collection agency reporting the debt and the credit bureaus. Federal law prohibits information providers and credit bureaus alike from knowingly maintaining incorrect information.

Instructions

1

Pull a copy of your credit report from TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Your credit reports from each credit bureau may differ, and successfully removing or remedying the collection account with one credit bureau doesn't influence the way it appears on your other credit reports.

2

Review each credit report for incorrect information contained within the collection account's trade line. Circle the collection account's trade line on each of your credit reports and make copies of each report.

3

Write a letter to the collection agency reporting the debt. Notify the agency that it is reporting a debt to the credit bureaus in error. Request that the company investigate the debt and provide you with written validation of the debt's accuracy. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that until the company provides you with validation of the debt, it cannot continue any form of collection activity -- including reporting the debt to the credit bureaus.

4

Write a letter to the collection agency demanding that it remove the collection account from your credit report if you do not receive a response within 30 days or the debt validation you receive only contains your name and the amount you supposedly owe.

5

Write a letter to each credit bureau whose report contains the erroneous collection account if the collection agency fails to properly update your credit history. Inform the credit bureaus of the exact error. Include a copy of your credit report with the error circled or underlined. After receiving your dispute, the credit bureaus will conduct an investigation. If they determine that the collection account contains errors or does not belong to you, they will either update the account or delete it from your credit history.