Have you missed a few payments on one or more of your bills? You may start getting calls from a Debt collector.

Failing to pay your bills will cause the debt to move to collections.

This means that your original creditor has officially handed the account over to a collection agency that will hound you for payments.

One such debt collector that you may hear from is called Firstpoint Collections.

They are relentless and will not stop contacting you until you pay your bill – or remove their entry from your credit report.

Removing a debt collector from your credit report isn’t easy, but it is worth it. All it takes is persistence and knowing what to do next.

About FirstPoint Collections

Headquartered in Greensboro, NC, FirstPoint Collections is one of the oldest debt collectors in the nation.

It was originally founded in 1906 under the name Greensboro Merchants Association.

Eventually, their name changed to FirstPoint Collections when they were incorporated in 2000.

They operate as a third-party debt collection agency and serves a variety of industries such as:

• financial institutions
• government agencies
• healthcare providers
• public utilities

Similar to other third-party collectors, they have a number of complaints filed with various oversight bureaus.

They currently have 38 complaints listed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and 52 complaints listed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). They have also been listed as a defendant in at least two cases of civil litigation.

The major issues when it comes to FirstPoint Collections are violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

This is a piece of legislation that regulates the ways in which debt collectors can solicit payments from customers.

You should learn more about your rights under the FDCPA after hearing from FirstPoint Collections.

If you believe that they have abused your consumer rights, you can file a complaint or civil suit as well.

If you are overwhelmed by dealing with negative entries on your credit report,
we suggest you ask a professional credit repair company for help.

Ask Lex Law for Help

How to Remove FirstPoint Collections from Your Credit Report

Want to boost your credit score and stop FirstPoint Collections’ calls? The best way to do that is to remove their collection account from your credit report.

Here are the essential steps to remove the collection from your credit report for good.

Appeal to Their Good Side

If this is your first debt to move to collections, you may be able to appeal to FirstPoint Collections’ good side and ask for a goodwill deletion.

It may not feel like it sometimes, but debt collectors are people too. They are able to understand when a debt is due to circumstances that are outside of your control.

For example, if you were unexpectedly laid off from work and had to choose between paying your car bill and putting food on the table, they may sympathize with you and remove their collections account out of benevolence.

However, a debt collector will only grant a goodwill deletion if your debt is fully paid. If you still have a lingering balance on the debt, your request for a goodwill deletion will be rejected.

To ask for a goodwill deletion, write a letter to FirstPoint Collections explaining the circumstances around your debt.

If you had a medical emergency or were laid off, you should say so in your letter. Be sure to provide corroborating documents so that they know you aren’t spinning a tall tale.

No matter what, be sure to be courteous and polite in your letter. You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar, as the saying goes.

They will be more inclined to do you a favor if you are nice in your letter.

Get Validation on the Debt

Asking for a goodwill deletion isn’t the best course of action for everyone.

If you need to go a different route, you should write a debt validation letter to FirstPoint Collections instead.

Debt validation is a right that is guaranteed to you under the FDCPA and the FCRA.

It allows you to confirm that FirstPoint Collections is authorized to collect your debt and that their information is valid.

The only catch is that this right is not guaranteed forever. In fact, you only have 30 days after you first hear from them to send your request for debt validation.

If it turns out that they are reporting inaccurate information about your debt, they will be required to delete their collections account and stop collecting the debt altogether.

This alone is reason enough to not procrastinate the debt validation step.

To request debt validation, start by drafting a debt validation letter to FirstPoint Collections using your account information.

If you are unsure how to begin your letter, you can use our template as a starting point.

From there, send your letter through U.S. Mail and request a return receipt. This is how you will know when FirstPoint Collections gets your letter.

It should take them about 30 days to gather your account information and return it to you.

Once you receive this, go through each detail to make sure that everything is up-to-date and entirely accurate.

If you spot a glaring error in their report, contact the major credit reporting agencies and file a dispute.

The agencies will look into the allegation and remove FirstPoint Collections’ account if they agree that there is inaccurate reporting.

You can mail your letter here:

FirstPoint Corporate Office
225 Commerce Pl
Greensboro, NC 27401

FirstPoint Management Resources
1500 Sunday Drive
Suite 102
Raleigh, NC 27401

Make a Deal with FirstPoint Collections

If FirstPoint Collections is able to validate your debt, don’t worry. You still have another trick up your sleeve.

The next step will be to make a deal with them to delete your account in exchange for payment. This is commonly referred to as a pay-for-delete agreement.

As the name implies, pay-for-delete agreements involve negotiating with a debt collector to remove their collections account from your credit report in exchange for paying your debt balance.

What a debt collector won’t tell you is that they are often willing to settle for less than the full balance. It will just take some negotiating skills on your part.

To start negotiations with FirstPoint Collections, offer to pay them half of the total debt if they agree to remove their account from your credit report.

This offer will likely not be accepted, but that’s ok. This gives you a starting point to work your way up.

Go back and forth with FirstPoint Collections until you reach an amount at which they are comfortable removing their entry.

Get the full agreement from them in official writing before you pay them a penny.

After receiving your payment, FirstPoint Collections should contact the credit bureaus and remove their account.

If you still notice their entry on your report after 45 days, you should reach back out and press them to uphold their end of the deal.

Conclusion

FirstPoint Collections is a tough egg to crack. If you’re having trouble negotiating a deletion with them, it may be time to contact a credit repair professional.

Credit repair professionals help customers handle the nitty-gritty details that come along with boosting your credit.

Specifically, they will take over the negotiations, communications, and any other time-consuming task that stands in between you and a clean credit report.

One of the best credit repair companies to work with is Lexington Law.

They have several decades of experience dealing with companies like FirstPoint Collections, and they know how to get you the results you want.