How to Remove Capio Partners from Your Credit Report

If you have found a negative mark on your credit report related to “Capio Partners,” you may be wondering how it got there. Maybe you have been receiving phone calls from people representing this group. You can get Capio Partners removed from your credit report and/or stop their representatives from contacting you if you follow some of the strategies we will outline here.

Table of contents

• What is Capio Partners?
• Is Capio Partners a legitimate business?
• Will Capio Partners sue or garnish your wages?
• How to remove Capio Partners from your credit report
• Your rights when dealing with collection agencies
• Medical debt and your credit score
• How to request a free credit report

What is Capio Partners?

Capio Partners, LLC, is a third-party debt collection agency that buys uncollected medical debt from healthcare providers and attempts to collect the amounts believed to be owed. Medical providers sell debt to Capio once they give up trying to collect it themselves, which is known as a charge-off.

This contact information can help you reach Capio Partners:^[1]

Phone number: (903) 892-7400
Website: https://www.capiopartners.com/
Mailing Address:

• 2222 Texoma Pkwy, Ste. 150, Sherman, TX 75090
• 1745 N Brown Rd, Ste. 450, Lawrenceville, GA 30043

If Capio Partners tries to collect a healthcare debt from you, the company may contact you demanding payment of medical bills. Capio Partners may call, send you letters, email or send text messages in an attempt to get you to pay.^[2]

Is Capio Partners a legitimate business?

Capio Partners is a debt collection agency headquartered in Texas and is the largest purchaser of health care debt in the U.S. It is a legitimate business, and according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, it is currently not accredited.^[1] A BBB-accredited business refers to a determination by the BBB that a business has met certain accreditation standards, including making a good faith effort to find a solution to consumer complaints. Consumer complaints are not factored into the accreditation.^[2]

Debts claimed by Capio Partners typically appear on credit reports as:

• Capio Partners Collections
• Capio Collections
• Capio Partners LLC

As mentioned above, Capio Partners is a debt collection agency, which must adhere to a federal law for debt collection agencies, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Debt collectors could violate your rights under the FDCPA, if they call or engage you in phone conversations repeatedly for the purpose of annoying, abusing, or harassing you. Under this federal law, the company is not allowed to falsely represent themselves by claiming to be an attorney. It also cannot make threats or use profane language.^[3]

Will Capio Partners sue or garnish your wages?

If Capio Partners goes to court and receives a judgment against you, it may be able to legally garnish your wages or your bank account, depending on the state in which you live. However, some federal benefits directly deposited into your account, such as Social Security and VA benefits, may be protected against garnishment.^[4]

If Capio Partners has sued you and you don’t believe you’re responsible for the debt, you may want to seek legal advice from an attorney or a law firm with experience handling collections cases.^[5]

How to remove Capio Partners from your credit report

Depending on your situation, you can use a few different methods to try removing a collections account or erroneous debt from your credit report, including medical debt from Capio Partners. Keep in mind that Capio Partners can continue to pursue you for the debt even after it falls off your credit report. Just because it falls off your report doesn’t change the fact that you owe it and can be pursued for it.

Request debt validation

If you receive a notice of a debt you still owe, make sure you write a debt validation letter. This is a standard letter you write to a debt collector asking them to send proof that you actually owe money. It also can help verify whether the debt amount and other details as described below, are correct.

The debt collector is responsible for providing you with this information request under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Make sure to send the letter within 30 days of receiving your first notice from the collector.^[3]

Once Capio Partners returns with the information you requested, look over it carefully and copy down any errors you see.

Obtain copies of your credit report

You can also verify the details of your collection account from your credit report to determine if the debt is accurate. To do this, you can start by requesting a copy of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). You can also request a free copy once a year from annualcreditreport.com to check your credit as well.

If the debt is inaccurate, dispute it

If there’s information that’s incorrect (for instance, the debt amount is much higher than you remember, it belongs to someone else, or it’s outdated), then it’s more likely the collector cannot prove that you owe the money for that debt.

Then you’ll have a good chance of disputing the debt, getting the inaccurate item removed and fixing the error on your credit reports. File a dispute with the three major credit bureaus and ask them to remove the inaccurate item from your credit report.^[3]

If the debt is accurate, negotiate a settlement, a pay for delete or goodwill removal

If the validation letter does prove that you owe the debt listed, you can offer to negotiate a settlement or installment plan to close the collection account. Still, closing a collection account through a negotiated settlement is better than leaving it unpaid and open, just waiting for it to drop off your credit record.

Depending on how old your debt is, you may want to speak to an attorney or credit counselor as well as seek out your state’s statute of limitations on debt. Although debt doesn’t go away until it is paid, each state has its own laws regarding how long you can be sued over debt. Because each state is different and how you act can affect the statute of limitations, an attorney who specializes in collections can help you navigate the process.^[3]

Because only inaccuracies can be disputed and removed, the only options for removing accurate debt from your credit report is to negotiate a pay for delete or request a goodwill removal. While you may negotiate one of these successfully, bear in mind that debt collectors as data furnishers under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) are obligated to report accurate debts. Even if they agree to a pay for delete or goodwill deletion, they do not have to follow through with it, especially if it is not in writing.

Pay for delete

Once you’ve received notice of the debt you owe, you can try to negotiate a pay for delete, asking Capio Partners to remove the debt from your credit reports in exchange for you paying off the agreed-upon debt amount. Through this method, you would request pay for delete, in writing, asking Capio Partners to accept the payment amount you are able, or willing, to pay to have the debt removed. However, debt collection companies may deny your request, and even if they do accept it, they can’t remove the negative mark from the original creditor and are under no obligation to remove the collection from your credit history.^[6]

Goodwill removal

Another way to try and remove Capio Partners from your credit score is with a goodwill letter. The letter explains why the debt occurred and provides proof that this was an extenuating circumstance to your otherwise consistent payment history. For example, you lost your job or had a medical emergency.^[7]

Like a pay for delete, a goodwill letter is not an official strategy and is not guaranteed to work. The Federal Trade Commission states that if negative information is accurate, it will simply take time to go away.^[8]

Your rights when dealing with collection agencies

Throughout the entire debt collection process, it’s important that you know your rights. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:

• Unless you have given prior consent to Capio Partners, a debt collector such as Capio Partners collection is not allowed to communicate with you about the collection of any debt or validate the accuracy of debts attributed to you while you are at work, outside of the hours 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in your time zone, and if you’re clearly working with an attorney (unless the attorney consents to the collector contacting you or doesn’t respond to the debt collector within a reasonable timeframe).
• You have the right to protect yourself from harassment or abuse, false or misleading representations and other unfair practices.
• A debt collector may not engage in conduct that is used to harass, oppress, or abuse you in connection with the collection of a debt, such as threatening or violent acts to you or harassing you by continually calling without disclosing meaningful details.
• A debt collector is not allowed to use false or misleading representations in connection with a collection of any debt or threaten to take any action that is not intended (such as to file suit or garnish your wages) or that can’t legally be taken.
• A debt collector is not allowed to use unfair means to collect any debt. For example, they can’t collect any amount — such as interest or a fee — that’s not expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt.
• Upon your request for validation, a debt collector is required to send you a written notice containing the following: the amount of the debt owed, the name and contact information of the creditor to whom the debt is owed and a statement that the debt is valid (unless you have disputed the validity of the debt within 30 days of the notice).^[3]

If you wish to dispute a debt, you need to notify the debt collection company in writing within 30 days that you intend to do so. In response to such a request, the agency must stop trying to collect money from you while it attempts to verify the debt. They must also disclose to you the name and address of the original creditor.^[2]

Medical debt and your credit score

Medial providers generally wait 90 days before sending healthcare accounts to collections, but the amount of time can vary — some wait just 60 days while others don’t charge off debt until after 180 days.^[9]

While some medical debt may still show up on your credit history, the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) have announced the following changes:

• They will remove 70% of such debt from credit reports beginning in July 2022.
• Starting sometime in 2023, they plan to remove unpaid medical debt under $500 from credit reports.
• The bureaus will increase the time it takes for medical debt to appear on credit reports — changing it from six months to one year.^[10]

How to request a free credit report

If you’re carrying medical debt, paying it off can feel like an uphill battle, especially when professional debt collectors get involved. But it can be a relief to know you have the right to protect yourself from harassment by any third-party debt collection agency.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus, beginning July 1, 2022, paid medical bills will no longer be included on the consumer’s credit report. So knowing what is listed in your credit report makes a great start toward determining whether you have inaccurate items to remove. You can access your annual free credit report from the three primary credit reporting bureaus.You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report once a year under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).^[11]

Sources

1. Better Business Bureau. “Capio Partners, LLC,” https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/sherman/profile/collections-agencies/capio-partners-llc-0875-90119675. Accessed on May 26, 2022.
2. Better Business Bureau. “Exclusive Programs and Services.” https://www.bbb.org/get-accredited. Accessed on October 21, 2022.
3. Federal Trade Commission. “Debt Collection FAQs,” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/debt-collection-faqs. Accessed June 2, 2022.
4. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “Can a debt collector garnish my bank account or my wages?” https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-a-debt-collector-garnish-my-bank-account-or-my-wages-en-1439/. Accessed on May 26, 2022.
5. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “How do I find a lawyer or attorney to represent me in a lawsuit by a creditor or debt collector?” https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-find-a-lawyer-or-attorney-to-represent-me-in-a-lawsuit-by-a-creditor-or-debt-collector-en-1433/. Accessed on September 26, 2022.
6. Forbes. “Pay For Delete: Learn About This Collection Removal Strategy.” https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-score/pay-for-delete/. Accessed October 21, 2022.
7. Credit Karma. “Goodwill letters: What you need to know.” https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/goodwill-letter. Accessed October 21, 2022.
8. Federal Trade Commission. “Fixing Your Credit FAQs.” https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/fixing-your-credit-faqs. Accessed October 21, 2022.
9. Experian. “Can Medical Bills Hurt Your Credit?” https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/can-medical-bills-affect-credit-report/. Accessed on May 26, 2022.
10. CNBC. “70% of medical collection debt will soon be removed from credit reports—and it could boost your credit score,” https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/18/credit-bureaus-to-strip-70-percent-of-unpaid-medical-debt-from-credit-reports.html. Accessed on May 26, 2022.
11. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “Know your rights and protections when it comes to medical bills and collections,” https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/know-your-rights-and-protections-when-it-comes-to-medical-bills-and-collections/. Accessed July 12, 2022.

About the author

Ana Gonzalez-Ribeiro, MBA, AFC® is an Accredited Financial Counselor® and a Bilingual Personal Finance Writer and Educator dedicated to helping populations that need financial literacy and counseling. Her informative articles have been published in various news outlets and websites including Huffington Post, Fidelity, Fox Business News, MSN and Yahoo Finance. She also founded the personal financial and motivational site www.AcetheJourney.com and translated into Spanish the book, Financial Advice for Blue Collar America by Kathryn B. Hauer, CFP. Ana teaches Spanish or English personal finance courses on behalf of the W!SE (Working In Support of Education) program has taught workshops for nonprofits in NYC.

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