If you have an account with Xfinity and fail to pay your bills, you can expect to hear from Comcast Collections, the debt collection department of Comcast Cable Communications, LLC. Comcast is the parent company of Xfinity.
If you see this on your credit report, it means that the company has reported an outstanding debt for your Xfinity cable, internet, or phone account, or for your Xfinity mobile account.
Xfinity will attempt to collect customer debts themselves, but if the bill remains unpaid, they will close the account and sell the debt to a collection agency. Collection agencies may work directly for the company and keep a percentage of any payments they collect, or may purchase debt from companies for pennies on the dollar. They then keep any payments collected on that debt.
Collection agencies may begin collecting a debt as soon as a few months after it becomes past due, or they may attempt to collect on a debt that is several years old. They work with credit card companies, banks, student loan and mortgage lenders, healthcare providers, and utilities, including telecommunications providers like Xfinity.
Even if you don’t owe very much to Xfinity, if the outstanding debt appears on your credit report as a delinquency, which can affect your score and access to credit.
For this reason, you should not ignore collection attempts from Xfinity. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to pay what they say you owe. Read on to learn more about how to verify collection accounts and have them removed from your credit report.
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Is Xfinity Collections a Real Company?
If you have a delinquent account with Xfinity, any attempts to collect the debt will come from Comcast Collections. Comcast is based in Philadelphia, and has provided telecommunications service for over 50 years. The consumer division, which includes cable television, internet, mobile phone, home security, and home service, was rebranded to Xfinity in 2010.
Comcast is not a Better Business Bureau accredited company, and has more than 22,000 consumer complaints with the agency, with nearly half of the complaints related to billing and collections. One common complaint is the company sending accounts to collections even after they have been paid.
What to Do if You See Comcast Collections on Your Credit Reports
If you see a Comcast collection on your credit reports, take immediate action to prevent damage to your credit history and stop them from contacting you. Collection agencies will be persistent and sometimes aggressive in their attempts to get you to pay what they claim you owe.
They may call multiple times a day, send increasingly threatening letters, and even take you to court. Although unlikely for an outstanding cable bill, a collection agency could receive a judgment allowing them to repossess assets or garnish your wages to settle the account.
However, that doesn’t mean you should immediately send a payment to the collection agency. Following are some tips for handling a collections account that ensure you only pay legitimate debts and the effect on your credit is minimal.
Verify That the Debt Is Legitimate
Just because Comcast/Xfinity is a real company does not mean that debt in your name is legitimate or accurate. It’s possible that a bill could belong to someone else, or that the amount could be incorrect.
Therefore, your first step is to confirm that Comcast Collections has the correct information. You have the right to request additional information regarding the debt from anyone who attempts to collect it.
If you discover a Comcast collection on your credit report, send the company a debt validation letter. This letter serves as an official request that the company provides proof the debt is yours and is the correct amount. If they cannot do so, then they need to stop all collection activity and remove the debt from your credit report.
Comcast will attempt to contact you before reporting negative information to the credit bureaus. If they call, you have the right to request that all further communication be conducted by mail. This stops collection calls and provides a paper trail. Once you have made this first contact, you have 30 days to request validation of the debt. If you wait any longer, the company will assume you accept responsibility for the debt.
Regardless of how the company makes contact, never share any information with the collection agency until you verify that the debt is indeed yours.
Handling the Debt
If Comcast can confirm that the debt belongs to you, you have several options.
- Pay the debt. Paying the debt does not automatically remove the collection account from your credit report, but it does change the status of the account to paid and the balance to zero. However, you may be able to negotiate with the collections department and settle the account for less than you owe.
- Work with a credit repair company. A credit repair company or a credit counselor can handle much of the legwork for you if you have collections on your credit report. They will work on your behalf to challenge creditors to verify the debt and negotiate settlements and terms to have negative items removed.
How to Remove Comcast Collections from Your Credit Reports
If the Comcast/Xfinity debt listed on your credit report is legitimate, it may be challenging to have the negative information removed from your account, even if you pay it off. If the debt was reported by mistake, or you were the victim of fraud, the credit bureaus — not the collection agency — will remove the item from your credit report.
Sometimes, you or a credit repair agency may be able to request a goodwill deletion. If you repay what’s owed, send a written request stating the reasons you want the item removed, such as you are taking out a mortgage.
Another option is a pay-for-delete agreement, when the company removes the item in exchange for payment. This doesn’t mean you need to pay the full amount, either. The company may accept a portion of the payment just to get the debt off the books. This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth trying to reduce your debt and improve your credit report.
Xfinity Collections Phone Number
You can reach Xfinity collections by phone at (888) 936-4968.
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