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Finance & Loans

Can you dispute a collection?

February 10, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Erroneous collection notices do occur. Some even find false or outdated collections on their credit report. Can you dispute these errors as well as collection notices? If so, how do you do it?

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a US law to protect the rights of debtors. It contains standards for collecting a debt and verification of debt for individuals. Under the law you have 30 days to file a dispute from the day you receive a collection notice. If a debt is in dispute, agencies are prohibited from reporting a collection to a credit bureau.

This law doesn’t cover business debt obligations. But if the debt is in your name and you run your business and file your tax return under your personal name, you may be covered under the law.

If a delinquency appears on your report after seven years from the original delinquency, it is against the law and not valid. Delinquencies that do not belong to you could show up on your credit report impacting your credit. If the debt is not yours or has passed the legal time period allowed for reporting, you can simply contact the credit bureau for removal. If a collection of a debt doesn’t belong to you shows on your credit report you need to deal with each bureau separately.

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