How to Remove Diversified Consultants From Your Credit Report
If you’ve noticed Diversified Consultants (DCI) appear on your credit report, it means that you have acquired a collections account. This happens when you forget to pay a bill, and the original credit hires a third-party company to get the money from you.
Collections accounts can have a negative impact on your credit report and can affect your score for up to seven years – even if you pay off the debt. It is important to deal with them swiftly and firmly to prevent this collection account from taking its toll.
Are you curious about how to remove a Diversified Consultants entry from your credit report? Check out our guide below for the full scoop.
What is Diversified Consultants?
Diversified Consultants is a legitimate debt collections agency out of Jacksonville. However, just because they are legitimate does not mean that they are any more pleasant to work with.
With over 1,000 employees, Diversified Consultants is one of the largest debt collectors in the country. In 2019 alone, they made over $60 million in revenue.
They specialize in collecting overdue bills in the telecom industry. This includes companies that offer services related to phone, internet, cable, and utilities.
Diversified Consultants may appear on your credit report under a variety of names. Here are some of the common names that they may use on your credit report:
- Diversified Consultants
- Diversified Credit
- Diversified Consultants Sprint
- Diversified Consultants T-Mobile
- Diversified Consultants Chicago
- Diversified Consultants Comcast
Diversified Consultants collects debt on behalf of the original creditor, which is why you may find the same debt listed twice. Dealing with them directly should help delete both entries, but you may have to contact the credit bureaus to confirm.
Why is a Collections Account on My Credit Report a Big Deal?
Removing a collections account from your credit report is extraordinarily important for the health of your credit score. The presence of a collections account on your credit report can impact your score for up to seven years after the fact.
Your credit report is the number one thing that potential lenders look at to determine if you are responsible when it comes to making timely payments. Lenders prefer candidates that have established credit with no history of collections or loan defaults.
Having a collections account on your credit report signifies to lenders that you were unable to pay a debt to the point that the original creditor offloaded it onto a collection agency. This indicates that you have a problem repaying money owed and may have a tendency to do it again. A lender will be less likely to approve your loan because they want to avoid the headache of involving a collections agency.
In short, you could be denied loans because of the collections account, even if you paid it off quickly. This will make it more difficult to buy a house, a car, or make any other large purchases that require financing.
Does Diversified Consultants Have Any Complaints Against Them?
Diversified Consultants has over 4,000 complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and 900 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for infractions of the FDCPA.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is an act that protects consumers from consistent and abusive harassment from collection agencies. Diversified Consultants seems to be guilty of violating several articles in the FDCPA. Some of these infractions include:
- Calling before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
- Failing to respond to debt validation letters
- Lying about their identity or amount owed
- Trying to collect a debt that does not belong to the consumer
The feedback seems to be that Diversified Consultants, like many collection agencies, is unpleasant and unprofessional to work with. However, that doesn’t mean that you should take their abuse.
Keep detailed logs of your calls and interactions with them. If they violate the FDCPA in anyway, you may be entitled to $1,000 per infraction. This involves legal counsel, but it may be worth it if you feel particularly targeted.
How to Remove Diversified Consultants From Your Credit Report
Unfortunately, a collections account will not be removed from your credit report even if you pay it off. There are a specific series of steps that you need to take in order to ensure that the account is removed from your report for good. Here are the steps you need to take to get your credit report on the right track.
Keep Written Records of Your Interactions
Many people don’t realize that you can request how and when a debt collection agency contacts you as part of the FDCPA. That is why it is important that you request all correspondence by US Mail to have everything in writing.
Debt collectors are notorious for agreeing to things over the phone and then not following through because of lack of proof. When you have everything in writing, you can keep track of all your correspondence with Diversified Consultants and refer back to it at any point.
Verify that the Debt is Yours
It’s somewhat common for collection agencies like Diversified Consultants to get information wrong when it comes to who the debt actually belongs to. Original creditors are quick to offload the debt, so sometimes information gets lost in the process. This is why it is imperative to confirm that the debt is actually yours.
You can do this by sending a debt validation letter along with a Section 609 A Form. This is to prove that the name and date of the debt are correct and belong to you. You have 30 days from the first time Diversified Consultants contacts you to do this. If you want after 30 days, you may not hear back on your debt validation request.
Confirming the date of the debt acquisition is highly important. States have different laws regarding the statute of limitations for debt collection. The time frame is typically between two and ten years, so you may not have to pay the debt back if it has been longer than this. You will need to check the laws in your state for exact statute of limitations, but this is a loophole that debt collectors will skirt around if the consumer is not informed.
Make a Pay-For-Delete Agreement
Once you confirm if the debt is yours, you will need to establish a pay-for-delete agreement. This agreement means that Diversified Consultants will delete the collections account from your credit report in exchange for payments on the debt.
Referring back to the first step, you will need to ensure that you have the agreement in writing before you make any payments. Agreements over the phone are not sufficient. Debt collectors are notorious for making promises over the phone and not following through. Establish the agreement in clear language with set terms so that Diversified Consultants can’t weasel their way out.
Once you have the agreement in place, you will begin to make small payments until the debt is paid off. Check your credit report 30 days after you make your first payment. You should find the Diversified Consultants entry cleared from your credit report.
If the entry is still there, reach back out to Diversified Consultants and remind them of the agreement you have. They are typically consistent about following through with deleting entries from credit reports. If they don’t follow through, have the written agreement handy to force their hand.
Have a Professional Remove the Portfolio Recovery Collection
Sometimes, you are just over the hassle of it all and would prefer to leave it in the hands of a professional. If you’re the type of person, I suggest you check out Lexington Law Credit Repair.
They’ll take care of you, and to be honest, they typically get stuff removed from your credit report a lot quicker. Check out their website.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with collection agencies can be anxiety-inducing. No one wants to look down on their phone and see missed calls from debt collectors. However, the best way to deal with them is to face them down and not procrastinate. The longer you wait, the worse off you will be.
Clearing collection account entries can be accomplished with three easy steps. As long as you follow the guidelines above, you should be able to clear them from your credit report in no time.
Be sure to check out our other articles to learn how to boost your credit score and set yourself up for financial success.
The post How to Remove Diversified Consultants From Your Credit Report appeared first on Better Credit Blog | Credit Help For Bad Credit.
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