If you’ve recently checked your credit report, you may have seen an item labeled “hunter warfield,” “hwarfield,” or something similar. If this is the case, it likely comes from the collection agency Hunter Warfield, Inc.
Hunter Warfield is a legitimate collection agency with a Better Business Bureau rating of 1.34 out of five stars. If Hunter Warfield has made a claim on your credit report, that means the company is trying to collect either an existing or a perceived debt that you owe.
In either case, it can be alarming to see a collection agency claim on your credit report, and it’s certainly important that you take action as quickly as possible. However, it’s equally important that you stay calm and keep your head on straight so you can address the issue properly.
Below are several steps you can take to verify the claim, address it, and then make sure it has minimal impact on your credit.
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What to Do if You See Hunter Warfield on Your Credit Report
If you have a claim from a collection agency on your credit report, you want to deal with it as soon as possible. Leaving an unresolved derogatory mark of this nature will lead to several unfavorable repercussions, such as:
- Repeated calls from the agency as they hound you for owed money;
- Repossession of property to pay off any existing debts;
- Damaged credit due to an unresolved negative mark on your report.
If you have a mark from Hunter Warfield on your report, here are the steps that you should take to resolve the situation.
Verify That It Is Legitimate
The first step when dealing with any collections scenario is to verify that the claim itself is legitimate. Even if the company is real, that doesn’t mean the debt they claim you owe is correct. Reasons for an incorrect claim could include:
- Details about the debt or amount owed are incorrect;
- The debt is due to identity theft;
- The claim was filed by accident or after you resolved the issue with the original lender.
Debt doesn’t have to be fictitious for the claim itself to be incorrect. Always send a debt validation letter to confirm that you’re dealing with an accurate claim.
Pay It Off
This next step is the one straightforward part of any collection claim. If the claim is accurate, you need to pay back the owed funds. As you figure this out, consider creating a strategy to pay back the debt, such as using the debt snowball method.
It’s also worth trying to negotiate with Hunter Warfield, as many collection agencies are willing to adjust your final payment. Remember, a collection agency isn’t out to ruin your life. They should want to work with you and find the best resolution possible for all parties involved.
Speak With a Credit Counselor
Finally, if you’re dealing with a collection claim on your credit report, there may be some fundamental financial behaviors you want to address. This can help you avoid finding yourself in a similar situation in the future.
Consider contacting a credit counselor to help you identify the areas where you need to adjust your behavior. Once you have a clearer picture of where you can improve, you can begin to cultivate healthy financial habits to bolster your finances in the future.
How to Remove Hunter Warfield From Your Credit Report
If Hunter Warfield is on your credit report, the claim won’t magically disappear simply because you paid off the debt or addressed your financial shortcomings. On the contrary, once there, a collection agency claim can linger on your report for seven years, impacting your credit score throughout that time.
If a claim is incorrect, you must send a dispute letter to the three credit bureaus explaining the error and asking them to remove the mark.
If it’s legitimate, the only way to get a collection agency claim off of your report is to proactively request that it be removed. You shouldn’t even begin this process until you’ve verified the debt and paid it off.
From there, you can draft a goodwill letter to the original lender. Among other things, this explains that you’ve paid off the debt, you had a genuine financial challenge that held you back from initially paying off the debt, and you have an otherwise good credit history.
If received well, a goodwill letter can convince a lender to request that the derogatory mark be removed early.
It’s worth noting that if you choose to work with a bonafide credit repair company to fix your credit, they can also go to bat for you. A professional like this specializes in fixing existing credit report issues, and they’ll be well-equipped to work with lenders and give you a good chance of having a mark removed.
Will Hunter Warfield Sue Me?
One question that often arises with credit claims is whether the agency can sue you. The dual answer to that question is both yes and not likely.
Technically, a collection agency owns your debt and can sue you to recover the missing funds. In our research, it appears that Hunter Warfield even has a reputation for doing so more aggressively than other agencies.
With that said, unless you owe a very large quantity of debt, the odds of Hunter Warfield lodging a formal lawsuit against you are slim. Suing is a costly activity, and collection companies are only likely to file lawsuits for larger debts.
What should be of more immediate concern to most individuals is the desire to resolve the existing claim (whether it is correct or incorrect) to remove it from your credit report as soon as possible. This can ensure that the impact of the derogatory mark is as minimal as possible on your long-term finances.
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