Steps to Remove Sprint Collections From Your Credit Report

Summary: In this article I will outline a detailed method for removing Sprint Collections from your credit report.

Like any bill, if you don’t pay your Sprint cell phone bill, it will go to collections. When that happens, you not only show that you don’t make your payments on time, but it also significantly hurts your credit score.

This is all for a bill that normally doesn’t appear on your credit report. Sprint doesn’t report cellphone payments to the credit bureaus unless you default. Typically this means you haven’t paid your bill for 3 months or more, but each situation differs.

If you find Sprint Collections on your credit report, it’s important to know how to remove the sprint collection account.

Leaving it there damages your credit score and makes it hard to get more credit in the future. Fortunately, it’s an easy collection to take care of with the right steps.

Should I Contact or Pay Sprint Collections?

In general, you should avoid contacting or paying debt collectors before you have a game plan. In particular, make sure that you don’t pay a debt collector any money before they agree to remove the collection account from your credit report.

This is called a Pay for delete agreement and I will go into more detail about this in a bit.

Also, don’t communicate or make any arrangements with Sprint Collections over the phone. Try to get everything in writing.

Try to Avoid Sprint Collections

Your first step should be to work out an arrangement with Sprint. 

Here’s why.

The faster you act, the less likely it is they’ll send it to Sprint collections. In other words, don’t ignore your Sprint bill. If you can’t pay it, contact them right away. They may offer a payment arrangement that’s more affordable and avoids Sprint Collections.

Let them know your situation and why you fell behind. They may work with you if you’re honest and willing to come up with a solution.

Generally, you will have a couple of months to make an arrangement before the debt goes to a debt collector.

4 Ways to Remove Sprint Collections From Your Credit Report

If you missed your opportunity to get up-to-date on your bill before it’s sent to collections, there are still steps to take to remove sprint collections, but you should act fast.

1. Write a Debt Validation Letter

As soon as you hear from Sprint Collections or you spot it on your credit report, ask for debt validation. Write a debt validation letter to Sprint or the collection agency with the debt asking about the debt.

Ask them to prove you owe the debt, all details about the amount, dates, and when it defaulted. The more information you ask them to prove, the less likely it is they can validate the debt. 

They have 30 days to respond to your request. If they don’t respond or they can’t validate the debt, they must remove it from your credit report.

2. Dispute the debt with the credit bureaus

If you don’t agree with the collection or feel its reporting is inaccurate, you can dispute it. Again, do this in writing. This time you’ll write to the credit bureau reporting the debt (TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax).

Include as much proof as possible as to why you think the debt is inaccurate or unfair so the credit bureau can fairly assess the situation and decide how to proceed.

Here are a few details you should check on each collection entry:

• Name
• Balance
• Dates
• Misspellings
• Amount due

Basically you’re looking for any information that is inaccurate. The smallest inaccuracies can sometimes result in the removal of the sprint collections.

Here are the addresses you will need when disputing with the three credit bureaus:

Credit Bureau Dispute Mailing Addresses

Transunion	Equifax	Experian
P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19016	P.O. Box 740256 Atlanta, GA 30374	P.O. Box 9701 Allen, TX 75013

You can expect one of three outcomes when you dispute collection accounts:

1. The collection is verified as accurate and nothing happens.
2. The collection is found inaccurate and is removed from your credit report.
3. The collection is found inaccurate and the inaccuracy is corrected.

Of course, any outcome other than the collection being removed from your credit report is a bad outcome.

3. Offer to Pay-for-Delete

The final do-it-yourself step is to ask for a pay-for-delete arrangement. You’ll work directly with Sprint Collections or the debt collection agency that bought the debt.

Remember, they may have bought the debt for pennies on the dollar, so there is room for negotiation. They’ll try to make you pay the full amount, but if you can’t afford it, negotiate a settlement.

In your negotiations, ask for a pay-for-delete. This means in exchange for your payment (settled amount) Sprint Collections or any other collection agency agrees to delete the collection account from your credit report.

This allows you to settle the debt plus remove the Sprint collections account from your credit report. Leaving a collection on your credit report damages your credit score considerably and makes it hard to get future credit.

This method is usually the most successful way to remove Sprint Collections, aside from hiring a reputable credit repair company, who are experts at this type of thing.

4. Get help if you need it

If all of this sounds too overwhelming, consider hiring a professional credit repair company. The professionals know just how to handle debt collectors such as Sprint Collections and can help you remove it from your credit report.

This doesn’t mean you won’t owe the debt – you may use the same steps, but without the stress and hassle of handling it yourself.

If you’re the type of person, like myself, who would rather have a professional handle it and just be done with the whole thing, I suggest you check out Lexington Law Credit Repair.

They’ll take care of you, and honestly they usually get a collection account removed quicker than if you try to do it yourself. Give them a call at 1-844-331-6062 or Check out their website.

How to Deal with Sprint Collections

Like I mentioned before, don’t make any agreements with Spring Collections over the phone. And whatever you do, don’t give them access to your credit card or bank account.

Rather, tell them that you will only communicate over e-mail or snail mail. By communicating this way, you ensure that you have everything in writing.

Lastly, if you’re tired of them calling, you can always just block their number on your phone. You don’t need to worry about them calling your work, friends, or family, because this behavior is illegal.

Understand Your Rights Dealing with Sprint Collections

When you’re dealing with a collection agency, it’s a good idea to understand what your rights are. These rights are laid out in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

This act basically says that a collection agency can’t harass or threaten you. Sometimes debt collectors just assume you don’t understand your rights, and therefore break the rules.

It’s very much to your advantage to not only know your rights, but let them know that you know your rights.

If a collection agency does start to get aggressive, or use shady tactics, try not to get emotional about this situation. That is, remain calm, let them know you understand your rights.

Of course, you can avoid dealing with a collection agency altogether by hiring a credit repair company to handle the situation.

How Sprint Collections Affect Your Credit Score?

Both paid and unpaid Spring collections will have a big negative affect on your credit score. A collection agency might try to tell you that your credit score will improve if you pay the debt. This isn’t true. Collection accounts, paid or unpaid, are will hit your credit score.

The only advantage of a paid collection is that it might look better for you when you’re trying to obtain new credit, such as applying for a credit card or getting a mortgage.

Will Sprint Collections Sue You?

Yes, debt collectors are known to sue people in order to get payment. That’s why it’s important to get this all taken care of as quickly as possible.

You usually have some time before they take this step, because litigation is expensive and they will try to avoid it as possible and collect from you directly first.

Bottom Line

Whether you go the do-it-yourself route, or hire a professional, it’s very much to your advantage to try and remove all collections from your credit report.

Depending on what your credit score was prior to getting the collection, it could increase as much as 100 points by removing a single collection.

It can be stressful, but with the knowledge outlined above, repairing your credit is more than possible.