Q: If I have an overdue account at a health club, and the club sent me to a collection agency, will this go against my report?
I was told that health clubs do not get reported.
A: It’s not true that health club bills that are overdue or that go into collections don’t get reported to the credit bureaus.
Any institution that is a registered “credit furnisher” can report information about an account to the credit agencies.
A credit furnisher can be practically any institution, including: a mortgage lender, a student loan firm, a library, a state agency, a credit card company, a retail store, a hospital, a company that sells magazines, and yes, even a health/fitness club.
Whether or not your delinquency or your collection account actually gets reported depends on whether or not the health club is already a recognized as an authorized credit furnisher – or a business that does, indeed, supply data to the credit bureaus on a regular and consistent basis.
Read this related article I wrote on this topic for more advice about why some companies just don’t report to the credit bureaus.
Also, be aware that if your account is reported as a collection, and that collection winds up becoming a court judgment against you, then that could also wind up on your credit report as a negative item — a “public record.”
I hope this info helps. Good luck!
