How to Report Bad Debt to the Four Credit Bureaus

One way to report bad debt to the credit reporting agencies would be to pay a fee and have your full-time in-house credit team report the debt directly. Unless you have a large volume, high revenue business, this approach is probably not practical. In that case, it makes more sense to work with a credit reporting service like Datalinx, LLC to help you navigate the ins and outs of credit reporting without breaking the bank.

Each credit bureau has its own guidelines for reporting bad debt but the general rule-of-thumb is to report debts that have gone unpaid over 90 days. Credit reporting agencies report bad debts to each of the three credit reporting bureaus. In addition these services, they can offer support for small companies in reporting all bad or delinquent debts. However, unlike a collections agency, credit reporting services don’t try to collect money for a delinquent account or bad debt on your behalf.

Report Bad Credit With A Credit Reporting Service

Let’s be honest, maybe we’re a little biased. But we think the numbers back up our logic here. If you have late payers or non-payers of debt of any kind, the best chance you have of collecting that money in full is a credit reporting service like Datalinx, LLC. In terms of costs and fees, it costs a lot less to use our service when compared to collections agency fees or court costs. Once you report bad debt to the bureaus, it sticks with them for 7-10 years or until they pay it – making it difficult for them to qualify for new revolving credit accounts or even secured loans.

Going to court is a possibility, but the fees and court costs add up quickly. Even if you win a judgment, that doesn’t guarantee a payment. You still have to initiate collection activity somewhere, which is going to cost you even more in money and time.

You could use a collection agency. They can collect the amount owed, but they will keep some of it, typically 30-50% as a fee for the work of collecting the debt.

The set-up fee and reporting fees charged by Datalinx, LLC are a fraction of those charged by collection agencies and courts. And your chance of actually collecting the bad debt are roughly the same. Contact Datalinx, LLC for more information and find out how we can help you and save you money at the same time.