The presence of a collections account may hurt your credit score. What you should know about collections accounts on your credit report, including when they are reported to credit bureaus and how they affect your credit, is provided below.

When do credit bureaus receive reports on collections accounts?

Debt collectors are not required by law to report a collection account to each of the three major credit bureaus. When a debt collector obtains the debt, a collections account may be reported, or it may not. The collection agency is free to decide whether to report.

If a debt collector contacts you about a debt they claim you owe but isn't listed on your credit report, proceed with caution. Ask for more details to confirm the debt if you don't identify it.

How would a collections account affect your credit?

Your credit may already have been harmed by a collection account. Your credit score can suffer greatly from late payments.

Depending on your credit score range, the collections account will have a different influence on your credit. A collections account will affect a credit score in the 700s more severely than one in the 500s.

Some more recent credit scoring algorithms either disregard or give paid collections accounts less weight. Medical accounts that are past due are likewise handled more leniently than other late bills. However, the majority of lenders continue to base their lending choices on outdated credit reporting methodologies.

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• A collection account on your credit report: what should you do?

  Whether or not a collections account on your credit report is accurate will affect how you handle it.

  There are a few ways to handle a debt in collections, including paying it off in full, setting up a payment plan, and settling the bill for less than what is owed, if you find the obligation is yours. Clear things out with the bill collector first if you disagree with the precise amount owing. Be ready to back up your claims with evidence.

  Request written verification that you have paid the bill in every situation. You might be able to get the collections account off your credit record before the seven-year mark once the obligation is paid off.

  If it's incorrect

  Take these two steps if you're positive that the debt you're being asked to pay is incorrect because you never owing it, you previously paid it, or the details of the stated debt are incorrect:

  Let the debt collector know about the mistake and ask that all contact end immediately. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act must be followed by third-party debt collectors who demand payment on a creditor's behalf. Make a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if it keeps bugging you.

  If the false information is already included on your credit reports, use the credit agencies' dispute procedure to have it taken off.

  Collect all relevant debt documents for both steps to support your arguments. Keep the original documents and send copies only.