 TITLE: Can I Get a Paid Collection Removed From My Credit File? CONTENT: Does the Open Date of a Collection Account Determine When It's Removed?\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------\nIt sometimes takes a year or more between an account's charge-off and its sale to a collection agency, and collection agencies that fail to collect their debts sometimes resell them to still other agencies. That means multiple collection account entries—all related to the same unpaid debt—may appear on your credit reports.\nWhile that's not great news, you need not worry that each new entry has its own seven-year countdown to expiration. Any collection entries related to the same original debt will disappear from your credit report seven years from the date of the first missed payment that led up to the charge-off. END