This problem has come up before but I have not yet seen an answer. Since it came up again today in another post, I figured I would ask it again. Is there any limit to how long after a collection account is paid to a Collection agency that they can report the paid collection to the CRA's? In my case, they claimed to have collected the money from me in 1998. They never reported anything to the CRA's until 2 1/2 years later when they reported it as a paid collection. I have heard of cases where they waited five years after collecting before they reported. So, is there any time limit? Is there a reason for doing this or are they just being jerks?
The FCRA does not address issues such as this. And unfortunately, I have not read an FTC opinion letter that addresses it either.
Lizardking: I did do a validation letter last fall after reading here for a while. I used your letter, modified to my circumstances. The first one was not signed for by them - returned to me. The PO said they never pick up mail from that address. I got another address and tried again. This time they signed for it but never responded. They deleted it from Experian. But, the PO lost the green card and cannot provide a duplicate. But, they offered me a refund. I assumed it came off EQ also, but could not check. I have a real hard time getting my EQ reports. I guess I was not persisent enough. I just got my EQ report and saw it is still on there. So, since I don't have proof they got my validation letter, I will have to do it again. This time I will pay extra for guaranteed signature and keep on top of it better. It fell off my TU when I disputed it with TU (Before I knew what I was doing). I just don't understand why they report it to the CRA's years after it is paid. The kicker is that this is not my debt and I never paid it. Even the creditor gave me a letter saying that they have no record of me and do not know what the CA is doing.
Lizardking: I sent the creditor letter to the CA with my validation letter. I assumed that would resolve the issue. When the paid collection came off my Experian report on the 30th day, and they did not answer my validation request, I assumed that the matter was over. I just recently checked my Equifax report and saw it was there. Since I cannot prove receipt by the CA of the validation letter (because the PO lost the green card), I am going to send another validation letter (along with the letter from the creditor). I have a real problem with EQ merging my reports with other people. When I try to get my report, nothing checks out because there is info there from three different people. As a result, I have not checked on my EQ report - it is just too much trouble. I find that my EQ and EX scores are within a couple points of each other, so I have developed the bad habit of assuming that if EX is ok, then EQ must be ok. I need to be more careful.
