too many accounts unused in many years still on credit report

[Catarina25]

One of teh negative factors affecting my credit scoreis that i have 45 different accounts. However most of these accounts were paid off and have not been used in many years such as leased car loans, some student loans, a gym membership that i paid off 8 years ago or even some credit cards that haven't been used in years.  How do i get closed accounts off the report? How long should i expect that an account shows up?

Also there is a collections charge of $50.00 from a hospital bil back from 2006.  I had no idea i owed them money, as a matter of fact i have been to that hospital multiple times over the past years adn they never told me i owed them money.  How long does a Collections item remain on the credit report?

Thank you

Silvia

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

I'm guessing you saw a remark on your CR (probably TU if I had to guess) about having too many accounts, right? There does seem to be a negative ding if you have 30 or more opened and/or closed accounts reporting. I'd hazard a guess and say it's very minor and it likely at the bottom of the negative factors listed on your CR. It's easy to get there if you have old SLs and so on. I wouldn't worry about it. The age of these old accounts are helping a heck of a lot more than the ding is hurting. In fact, guessing here, if you removed your old accounts, you'd get rid of that comment but your score would take a big hit with the loss in your overall length of history and maybe your AAoA too.

Most negative items, like a collection agency, will remain for 7 to 7.5 years (as set by federal law (FCRA)) from the date of first delinquency (DOFD). In this case, being medical, the DOFD is the date you went to the hospital. There are steps you can take to get it removed early. If you didn't talk to the collection agency about this, you could contact the hospital and ask them to pull back the debt. If you have a positive account history with them they can possibly do that. That would result in the collection to go away. If they require that you pay it, then pay the hospital and then google "HIPAA process" to follow steps on getting the CA removed. If you don't follow these steps, and alternative is to send the collection agency a DV letter. If they verify and you agree with the $50, then you can send a PFD letter to the collection agency. If they agree, then you'd pay it and they'll delete.