Has anyone had a collection agency remove a bill from your credit report after it is paid in full?

OK, the different answers are killing me, I had to answer. Yes they (not all) will remove an item from your credit once it is paid. I've done it about 3 times in the last 5 months. I got a letter from the creditor BEFORE I paid them stating that if I paid the item in full it would be removed. That is a contract between you and the creditor or collection agency (who I did it with also). I have also had creditors that refuse to remove the item once I pay it. I don't pay them. I had one collection agency manager tell me one time that they would remove an item from my credit once I sent the item (no letter). He had the nerve to tell me that I would just have to "take his word for it." I have plenty of good active accounts to offset the few bad ones. In the last 5 months I have went from a 495 FICO to the low 600's by doing this and disputing everything in the world, sometimes 4 or 5 times. I still have 9k in collections with 1 company and several thousand with another. The credit bureaus hate me because I dispute so much. I have a legal right to do so under our laws. The bureaus are not our friends. They are in the business of selling your info to the highest bidder. Good Luck!

I was in mortgages for about 3 years and I've seen many hundreds of credit reports. What will probably happen is that the collection account will remain on your credit report for about 7-10 years. However, what you want is for them to update the credit bureaus so that it reads paid in full, satisfied, or paid and closed. Those "better" statuses will make a big difference on your credit report and your score. The only way it can be taken off once it's on there (other than when it comes off automatically after 7-10 years) is if it was someone else's mistake other than yours i.e. the original creditor did it by mistake because of a goof in an applied payment or a dispute that you were going through that slipped through the cracks. If the creditor and/or the collection company acknowledge this and they and/or you provide proof that this is what happened, the credit beaureas can remove it and in most cases, via writing to them or sometimes a three-way call with the creditor, they will. Bottom line: as long as the status changes to "paid or satisfied or paid closed" the negative affect on your score will be minor. Example: if that's all you had wrong with your credit report and you had good history with everything else i.e. mortgage, car payment, etc for at least 2 years of history, and your middle score was "normally" above 620, very, very, very few lenders would turn you down for another mortgage. All they would want was a brief explanation letter as to what happened. Note: what you don't want is for it to just disappear and have it either remain "open and unpaid" or "closed." "Closed" is not a good thing on your credit report because it doesn't mean it was paid and it will impact your score differently than "paid or satisfied or paid closed." Best wishes...

First, good for you for taking the actions necessary to clean it up with your creditor. So long as you haven't paid the collection agent (CA) company yet, you have negotiating power: your cash. Use this power BEFORE you pay. Once you pay, your power is gone. The strategy is called PFD, Payment For Deletion. That is, in consideration of accepting your payment in full, the other party, your creditor, promises IN WRITING to delete all negative information it reported to each of the 3 major Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs): Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Do NOT negotiate with the CA by phone. Everything must be in writing, especially their promises. With paper evidence, you can sue and win in court under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act if they break their written word. Get the cash together to make a payment in full. Contact the CA directly by letter, US Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. State your PFD offer to pay in full, and request a reply in writing. Include the name, address and account number exactly as they appear on the bill, but do NOT include a phone number. You must leave a paper trail. For a standard PFD letter, go to a specialized credit message board site and ask: http://www.creditboards.com http://www.creditnet.com How bad unless you act properly - and promptly - with a PFD? An account going to collection is a big negative to your credit history. It can easily send your credit scores well down into sub-prime levels (FICO 620 - 625 and below). The negative info will stay on your credit history for 7 years. You won't likely be able to apply for unsecured, prime credit cards, but you will be able to apply for secured credit cards that have high fees. For any credit you are granted while the negative info is on your credit reports, you'll pay much higher interest rates. Please vote: Did this help?

If the Collection Agency agrees to take it off your credit, make sure you get it in writing. Most of the time it is the Collection Agency and not the original company who puts it on your credit and if it is part of the arrangements for paying off the bill they can take it off. I had something removed from my credit report once I paid the bill.

The collection agency does not control the credit report. The credit report company does. Experian, Trans Union, Equifax. are the three main bureaus companies use. Things on your credit report stay there for up to 10 years. Only the details might change. The only way something is wiped from a report is if its not yours or is totally false. It will show how you paid, how many times you were late, your high credit , if you were over limit and how late your payment was. What the mininum and average payment was, hold old the account is, If you pay it off in full it will say zero balance account canceled / or closed by credit issuer.

the bill would stay on your credit report but it will read a zero balance.

Unless you pursue it through the credit bureaus yourself the chances of them doing extra work are slim to none. I have had one do it but that was the exception. Keep copies of your cancelled check and the bill and when you get your next free credit report dispute it tell them why and send the proof where they ask and they will remove it for you. Last year I had 10 Items removed that I disputed and three of them tho at the time i didn't remember were legit.

This is an FDCPA violation. If something is accurate it can not be removed from your report.