Unpaid collections

VantageScore code numbers

Code numbers can differ by bureau and score version. The wording of the statement is what to match.

What puts this reason on your score

VantageScore's explanation says unpaid collection accounts can have a significant negative effect on your score. The 4.0 user guide says all paid collections, medical and non-medical, are ignored. VantageScore also stopped using medical collection data in 3.0 and 4.0, a change it planned for the end of January 2023.

That makes this one of the few negative codes you can clear by paying. A $400 cable bill in collection counts until it shows paid. Once the collector reports a $0 balance, VantageScore leaves it out of the math, even though the entry can stay on the report for up to seven years from the original delinquency.

What to check on your credit report

• Every collection on all three reports, with the collector, the original creditor and the balance
• Whether any collection is medical. VantageScore shouldn't be scoring it, and the bureaus remove paid medical collections.
• The same debt listed twice, once by the original creditor and once by a collector, or by two collectors
• A paid collection that still shows a balance

What you can do about it

• Confirm the debt is yours and the amount is right before paying. A written validation request makes the collector show its records.
• Pay or settle the ones you owe and keep proof of every payment.
• Check that the collector updates the balance to $0 at each bureau. Dispute it if it hasn't changed after a cycle or two.
• Dispute collections that aren't yours or are listed twice.

The free drop off calculator can help with this step.

How soon a change can show

The change shows once the collector reports the $0 balance, usually within one or two monthly reporting cycles after payment. The next VantageScore pulled after that update leaves it out.

If you are applying for a mortgage

Because VantageScore 4.0 skips paid collections, paying one can show up on a 4.0 mortgage score as soon as the bureaus update. FHFA lets lenders choose Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 loan by loan, with one model for every borrower on the loan, so ask which one yours will use.

Guides that go deeper

• Should you pay a collection account? How to decidePaying a collection doesn't remove it, and the score effect depends on the model. How to decide, what to verify first, and how to pay safely.
• Debt validation: your right to make a collector prove the debtFederal law gives you 30 days after a collector's validation notice to dispute in writing and force it to pause. How the clock works and what to send.
• Medical debt on credit reports: the rules in force in 2026The federal medical debt ban was struck down in 2025. What still protects you in 2026: bureau policies, newer scores, state laws and hospital aid rules.
• How collections affect your score in FICO 8, 9, 10, and VantageScoreThe same collection can count fully, count less, or not count at all depending on the score version. A model-by-model look at paid, settled, and medical debt.
• What your credit score reason codes are telling youReason codes list what held your score back the most, in order. What the common ones mean, which you can act on, and which to leave alone.