Washington Collectors on Your Credit Report? Fight Back and Win

If you have negative information on your credit report from Washington Collectors, it can impact your life in far-reaching ways. For example, you might be denied if you apply for a loan or credit card if Washington Collectors negatively impacts your credit score. Even if you can qualify, your interest rate will usually be higher if your credit score is lower.

You could also get phone calls from Washington Collectors, and you want them to stop disrupting your life. 

The following is a guide to everything you should know about Washington Collectors and how to get them off your credit report and stop their phone calls and communication.

Is Washington Collectors a Real Company?

If you're wondering whether Washington Collectors is a legitimate company or a scam, they are real. The company is a debt collector based in Pasco, Washington. The phone number to contact the company is 509-547-9711.

Who Does Washington Collectors Collect For?

Washington Collectors is a third-party debt collector, so other companies will come to them and hire them to collect debts for them. It's like outsourcing their debt collection work. The companies that they collect for are in the following industries:

• Medical and healthcare
• Utilities
• Rentals
• Public debts
• Retail
• Bad checks

Washington Collectors also collects unpaid traffic tickets since they work with public entities.

Why Is Washington Collectors Calling Me?

Debt collectors call to try and recover money owed. For example, if someone falls behind on their rent payments, eventually, their landlord might send the debt to collections. Washington Collectors would then start calling you or contacting you in other ways to try and get the money, and they'd get paid by the landlord based on what they could recover.

There are also many situations where you might get calls from a debt collector, or a negative account is listed on your credit report, but you don't actually owe the money.

Errors are common—in one recent study, over one-third of people asked to review their credit reports found errors.

Errors on credit reports can occur because:

• The payment dates reported could be inaccurate, or similar information like reported late payments that weren't late.
• There could be incorrect balances or inaccurate dates for an account opening or closing.
• You might be listed as a primary account holder, but you were only an authorized user.
• Discharged debts could wrongly appear on a credit report.
• Your personal information might be wrong or mixed up with someone else. Credit reporting agencies frequently make mistakes with consumers' personal information. For example, maybe your name is mixed up with someone with a similar one, or your address is wrong, and someone else's credit information is included in your file.
• One of the biggest mistakes consumers come across is incorrect accounts. You want to look at your credit report regularly because if there's an account you don't recognize, you could be an identity theft victim.

Because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit reporting agencies are obligated to correct wrong information on your report. They could be accountable under the law if they don't do this.

If you've only just started getting calls from Washington Collectors and you aren't sure why, one of the first things you should do is pull your own credit report from the three bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You should review it in detail from each bureau because information can differ, and you should look for errors.

If you see anything negative or unfamiliar, whether it's from Washington Collectors or another company, contact an FCRA consumer protection attorney. 

An FCRA attorney can file a dispute with credit reporting agencies and companies that have listed wrong information on your report, like Washington Collectors.

When a dispute is filed, companies are obligated under the FCRA to investigate it and let you know what they discover. They have to provide details of their findings shortly after completing an investigation.

How To Get Washington Collectors to Stop Calling Me?

If Washington Collectors calls you continuously about a debt you do owe, you still don't have to deal with harassment. Along with the FCRA, you should know another federal law: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Debt collectors have limitations on how they can contact you and when. Under the law, they're required to be transparent and non-threatening, and they can't use deception or certain language when contacting you.

Companies that act as debt collectors also can't purposely try to contact you at inconvenient times.

You can request in writing that the company stop violating the FDCPA, but you may have to work with an attorney specializing in this area.

How To Remove Washington Collectors From Your Credit Report

If you owe the debt Washington Collectors is contacting you about, you should still talk to an FCRA attorney before doing anything else, like working out a settlement plan. Debts also are supposed to come off your credit report after a period of time. For most types of consumer debt, that's seven years.

If you believe the debt is an error or is because of fraud or identity theft, getting Washington Collectors off your credit report can be a different process.

In theory, because of the FCRA, if you submit a dispute, the company should respond. Then, after the investigation, if they find it is an error, the information should be deleted from your credit history.

That's not always what happens for different reasons if you try to handle this on your own. You might find the company doesn’t respond at all, or if you try to contact them or handle your own dispute, it can make the situation worse. 

Getting a response and a debt collector to notice can be challenging in that situation. That's why some consumers have to work with an FCRA attorney to clear their credit.

We'll Review Your Case for Free

If you'd like help with Washington Collectors, contact Fair Credit. Our FCRA attorneys offer free case reviews, so we can plan how to get this company off your credit so you can move forward financially with peace of mind.