 TITLE: How to Pay Off Debt Collections CONTENT: Do You Need to Notify Credit Bureaus of Paid Collections?\n---------------------------------------------------------\nOnce you've paid off or settled debt that's been in collections, you don't need to notify the three national credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. That's because the debt collector is supposed to report the wiped-out debt to the bureaus, which will list it as either \"paid\" or \"settled.\"\nWhat if the debt collector doesn't tell the credit bureaus that your debt has been paid or settled? File a dispute with the bureaus so that your credit report can be updated. END