I am trying to get all my collections paid off, and ran into a strange situation. My OC is Bellsouth for $125. The CA was Franklin, whom i never got a bill, call, or statement from, only saw it on my report. I contacted Bellsouth for a address to write them, and they said the account had been turned over to Franklin, but they had returned it to Bellsouth. I told Bellsouth that I would pay them directly, but only through regular postal mail. She got rather mad about that. I then asked when Franklin was going to remove the account from my reports, she informed me that they do not have to remove anything, even though they do not own the account anymore. I am very confused. Could someone please help me out with this. I dont understand how a CA, who is not the OC, can keep a negative account on your CR without even owning the debt. We are trying to buy a house, and I'm really working hard on clearing up my credit, so any help would be greatly appriciated. Thanks.
Dispute the tradeline through the credit reporting agency. If the CA does not own the account, they can't report it. The OC (BellSouth) can, but the CA can't.
Thanks for your response. I didnt think that the CA could keep it on there if they didnt own it, but I wasnt really sure. I know it cant be reported as the same debt twice. I'll dispute that with the CRA.
Is BellSouth reporting on your credit reports as well? You may want to offer a "Pay For Deletion", offering to pay in full if they will remove any negative tradeline on your credit report. You should dispute the CA tradeline, as a CA is supposed to remove their tradeline from your credit report if they return it to the OC.
Bellsouth isnt reporting it yet. They havent reported it at all, and its been 1 1/2 years. Should I just send them a payment, or send them a PFD, even though its not reported, or just pay them over the phone? Sending them a payment via postal mail is scary, considering that someone else has my old phone number now, and I dont want them to credit that payment to someone else's bill. Thanks
I would make the payment over the phone, but of course ask for payment verification ASAP. I would also ask for assurance that no reporting to the CRAs will be made, and try to get them to put that in writing on the receipt as well. You got a bit lucky on this one, best to take advantage of it.
