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If Capio Partners, LLC has contacted you recently, it’s likely the company opened an entry on your credit report. Debt collectors can cause many financial difficulties for individuals who owe them money. Collection accounts can hurt your credit score even after you pay off the debt.

The three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and Transunion, keep collection entries on your report for up to seven years. Creditors and lenders can view bad credit entries, which could affect your financial goals. Fortunately, you can work with debt collectors to remove negative entries and improve your credit score.

What is Capio Partners?

Capio Partners is a medium-sized debt collection agency located in Duluth, Georgia, and headquartered in Sherman, Texas. Originally founded in 2008, it’s the largest purchaser of health care debt in the U.S. Capio Partners is a legitimate company. If you have any unpaid medical bills from any health care provider, it’s possible you could hear from Capio Partners.

Capio Partners complaints

Even though it has only been in business for 12 years, many customers have filed complaints against Capio Partners. Within the past three years, approximately 700 people have filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and more than 500 individuals filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau. The majority of these complaints cite harassing phone calls, inaccurate reporting and failure to respond to debt validation requests. In one instance, Capio Partners continued to pursue a debt after a customer was the victim of identity theft.

Steps to remove Capio Partners from your credit report

Here are the important steps to take if you want to remove Capio Partners from your credit report:

  • Know your rights
  • Ask for a goodwill deletion
  • Request debt validation

Know your rights

There is federal legislation that protects you against certain unfavorable debt collector behaviors. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) gives consumers the right to dispute debts and prohibits harassment, abuse and deception from debt collectors.

The FDCPA prevents debt collectors from taking the following actions:

  • Calling individuals before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
  • Harassing you by telephone
  • Using profane or abusive language
  • Calling after you have requested that they only contact you through the U.S. Postal Service
  • Misrepresenting themselves when communicating with you
  • Reporting false information to credit bureaus
  • Contacting your friends, family or place of work regarding your debt

Understanding your rights under the FDCPA gives you an upper hand against Capio Partners. Most debt collectors assume that people don’t know their rights and will treat them abusively to secure payments. By knowing your rights, you can prevent abuse from Capio Partners.

Ask for a goodwill deletion

If you have already paid off the balance of the debt, there is a possibility that you can get the collection removed from your credit report. Capio Partners may agree to stop reporting the debt if you ask for a goodwill deletion. When a debt collector agrees to stop reporting a paid debt out of benevolence, it’s called a goodwill deletion. To receive one, you must write a letter to your debt collector explaining the reason for your late payments and why you would like the entry removed.

When crafting your goodwill deletion letter, explain your situation and tell the debt collector how the collection account is affecting your financial goals. You can include more personal information, such as your hope to qualify for a mortgage. Capio Partners may agree and grant you the deletion.

Request debt validation

Goodwill deletions won’t always work, especially if you haven’t paid your debt yet. Luckily, there are alternative methods to resolving this issue. If you have doubts about the validity of your debt or want to get rid of your debt, you can request a debt validation.

The debt collection process is by no means perfect. When the original creditor transfers debt information to a debt collector, they sometimes lose or misreport it. This means that the amount, the date of acquisition and the creditor may be incorrectly listed on your collection entry. In fact, it’s possible that the debt doesn’t even belong to you. That’s why it’s important you verify the debt information as soon as you can.

Under the FDCPA, you have the right to ask for debt validation from the debt collector, but you must make this request within the first 30 days from which a debt collector contacted you. Start by writing a debt validation letter that asks Capio Partners to confirm various pieces of information associated with your debt. If you’re unsure how to write a debt validation letter, you can find examples online.

Once Capio Partners returns with the information you requested, look over it carefully and note any inaccuracies. If you see anything that doesn’t match up, file a dispute with the three major credit bureaus and ask those agencies to remove the entry. The law requires debt collectors to prove the terms of a debt. If they can’t, they must remove the collection from your credit report.

Capio Partners’ contact information:

Capio Partners
2222 Texoma Pkwy Ste 150
Sherman, TX 75090-2481

Phone number: 888-502-0303 or 903-892-7400
Website: https://www.capiopartners.com/

Other names: Capio Partners Collection, Capio Partners, LLC.

Communicating with Capio Partners

If you’re still having trouble removing Capio Partners from your credit report, you may want to hire a credit repair company that can help you remove any negative marks on your credit report and improve your credit score. For example, the credit repair company, Credit Saint, has professionals who have extensive experience working with debt collectors and know how to resolve debt problems quickly.

While dealing with debt collectors may be difficult, it’s worth getting your collections issue resolved quickly. This will help you rebuild your credit score and achieve your financial goals.

Update: This article has been updated to reflect Capio Partners’ current contact information and the number of BBB complaints against them.

Disclaimer: This story was originally published on August 17, 2020, on BetterCreditBlog.org. To find the most relevant information concerning collections or credit card inquiries, please visit: https://money.com/how-to-remove-collections-from-credit-report/ or https://money.com/get-items-removed-from-credit-report/

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