Hello, I settled 2 accounts last year one with Lowes and one with CareCredit both under synchrony bank now. I paid on time for years then waited 90 days before settling with them. my settlement payments brought the accounts current and then they closed them upon final payment. I received a letter indicating they will put a comment on the agencies as "settled for less the full balance" and they show that but they are also reporting it as a collection and "date of first delinquency" is showing as the first month I went 30 days late. I spoke with there corporate office and had one of the late payments removed on each account but they are saying they will not remove the collection status because that's parts of there settlement agreement (but doesn't state that in there letter). Can they report these accounts as a collection even though I was never sent to a collection agency, was not 6 months late and account was brought current upon final settlement payment?
The 30 day late is the DoFD. This determines when the account gets deleted. IF the account would have stayed open after being brought current, it would have reset when it was brought current.
DoFD is only a flag for deletion of the tradeline. You need the DoFD to be what it is, or it will never go away, or will stay longer. Collections doesn't mean sent to a third party CA, it can include being referred to their in-house collections department.