and I've paid it, what are the next steps if the credit card company is refusing to delete it? I've written to them directly and attached the documentation, but they just ignore it. They updated my credit profile as "paid and closed" and "settled for less then full value" and the charge off is still there too. Do I have to literally sue them, or is there an agency I should be reporting this to first instead?
They signed an agreement with you and need to abide by it. If they're ignoring your letters, I would try getting a representative on the phone next to see what the deal is. I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that your best recourse would be filing suit if they continue to ignore you.
An agency probably wouldn't be helpful. First, you want to make sure that the agreement that they did was a PAY FOR DELETE, and that they didn't counter with their typical "federal law says that we can't do that, what we can do is mark it as "paid and closed" and "settled for less than full value"." If they did in fact agree to the PAY FOR DELETE, I would *PERSONALLY* send a demand for compliance with the agreement to the company. As an example. (Remember the standard disclaimers, I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV.) On XX/XX/XXXX, your company entered into an agreement where in exchange for payment of $xxx.xx, you would delete the trade line for XXXX from my credit report. Your company has chosen not to comply with said agreement, despite my satisfaction of my half of the contract. This letter is to demand compliance with your agencies agreement. Your company has xx days to delete said trade line from my credit report, or I will initiate legal proceedings for breech of contract, and fraud.
From what I understand, "pay and delete" or "pay for delete" (stated as "I'll pay you if you remove the account from the credit report") is illegal and violates the FCRA and the agreement the data provider has with the credit reporting agency. They cannot delete an account simply because it has been paid. I'm not sure, but I don't think they are obligated to break the law, even if they agreed to do so in a contract. On the other hand, if you and the collection agency agree to non-disclosure such that you are both barred from discussing anything about the account or the settlement in the future, THEN, a month or two after all is said and done, you dispute the information in the credit report. The CRA sends the CA an e-mail asking about the account. The CA can't respond because that would violate the non-disclosure nor are they compelled to respond by any legal requirement. So, after a month of not hearing anything, the CRA has to delete the entry. Problem solved. Everyone goes home happy. Potential downsides: 1) the CA has to agree to a non-disclosure clause (in writing before you do anything like send them money) 2) the whole process takes about 3-4 months 3) you'll probably have to pay in full or thereabouts 4) you'll most likely have to pay in one lump sum
ccbob: Actually, it's not illegal. The FCRA only requires that the Data Furnisher report only 100% complete, accurate, and verifiable information. There is no requirement that a Data Furnisher report anything about any specific account, so an agreement that they delete a trade line belonging to a specific account would be legal.
