What does this mean? We have a med bill that won't die from 2 years ago. Was disputed once and disappeared from CR's only to reappear with new collection agent (can they do that?). All info such as suffix of name, and dob are missing which is a red flag with us for id mixup as my spouse is a "jr." and this has happened before. Ie. it's not a bill we are responsible for. Have since discussed with latest Collection Agency and they agree it's an unvalidated bill. They further report that upon attempt to validate with original creditor, original creditor asked that the debt be "returned to them." I received the following in a handwritten "speed letter" from from this Collection Agency: "Above referenced account is closed and returned to client listed above as of 5/28/04" and is not listed as an open account with ___ Collections. It was reported closed to the Credit Bureaus on 5/29/04." What does this mean to me? And ... will this remove it from CR's (I have also disputed directly with all three at same time) or just report it as "closed" - aka no great help. Thanks! Man, trying to prove you DON'T owe something ...
Basically, this means that the CA is now out of the picture, the account goes back to the OC, who will probably turn the account over to another CA. I would personally send the OC a letter, informing them that this account is not yours, and that if you are harrassed in this matter again by anyone acting on their behalf, you will fully enforce your rights under federal law. Now, the CA entry should be deleted from your credit reports, it could take a week or longer for the account to actually fade away, but you will want to check your reports to make sure. If it doesn't get deleted on its own, try disputing it as NOT MINE, POSSIBLE CROSSED FILE. If you've disputed it before, one of the CRA's may give you a hassle over verifying it again, but if they do, (and the letter is on their letterhead) send them a copy of their letter saying that they don't have the account any longer.
One thing that disturbed me was that the letter from the supervisor at the Collection Agency is handwritten on this badly copied little half-page homemade looking form. It says "speed letter" on it. It is from the Collection Agent but honestly, could understandably appear to be something I made up myself (although with todays pc options - mine would look better I assumed that this means it will be removed from our CRs, but it was reported as closed to all three on 5/29/04 and as of our reports of 6/9 it's still on all three CRs. Of course, maybe that's too soon to expect results? Will wait for dispute status online ... Thanks for the input. It's good to know I'm not alone in the weird world of "you are what you score!"
If it is not your bill, you want it removed, as well as any inquiries they left from pulling your CR. You also want the CA to notify the OC that this is not your liability. Stretching out the time to get it corrected does not work in your favor; it only does more damage to you. Bring the matter to a head, require that all damage be fixed, and that the CA acknowledge their error in writing. Otherwise both OC and CA will do the least work possible, probably resulting in trying to collect from you again. Regardless of whether they did it deliberately, the CA only had PP to pull the CR of the actual debtor, not you. Just sending it back to the OC will probably result in it being sent to another CA, and around you go again. If this is all the CA does, they are as negligent as the OC. You may eventually need to deal with the OC to actually get it removed, and the time to start building that case is now, even if they are competent enough to fix it.
Thanks to all for the guidance on this. All I have of now is verbal reporting from the CA rep and supervisor that this will be removed. I am concerned that they will believe sending it as "paid or closed" will do the trick. No, I want it GONE. I don't care what they SAY, I intend to send a certified letter stating that "per our converation of ___ you will do the following : ___" and following with the reminder that I will be receiving a copy of all CRs in 30 days and this is more than ample time for all corrections to have been made. I also figure that letter sent is good in the arsenal for future problems - as you noted. I suspect the OC will do what they have before which is simply put it back in their system and attempt to sell it to another CA in the future. Your advice to go right to them is very good. Thanks! I wonder if there are good letters on here somewhere for this type of thing ...
Don't just ask for removal of the tradeline, but also removal of their inquiry since it was without permissible purpose. The CA will probably say they can't, but they can, they just have to notify the CRA that they misidentified you, and it gets to the heart of the matter, which is that they and the OC have misidentified you as the debtor, and are irresponsibly tramping thru your credit records, causing damage that they have a responsibility to correct. The CA and OC must correct their records to ensure that you are not hassled in the future, not just pass the account to the next CA, doing additional damage to you by adding inquiries and pulling down your FICO score, and continuing to invade your privacy by illegally pulling your credit report.
