I've been battling with a collection agency since I found out they were after me when I saw them in my credit report in January. Except for two phone calls, they haven't sent me any information about this account in spite of several letters and a court summons. They did answer a letter from my state AG's office which was then fowarded to me. In that was sufficient information for me to figure out the account was one that I was responsibile for (although I didn't know that until then), so, a month ago, I sent them a letter asking how I could pay them. Today, I get a letter from another collection agency, apparently about the same account, although I'll need to verify that with them. In the meantime, it appears my account has been sold to the next level of debt collector. So, my question to those who have navigated these waters ahead of me, if the account has been sold to another debt collector, shouldn't I be able to get the first one off my credit report? Or, (nightmare scenario), it gets sold again and again, each adding another entry resulting in countless collection entries for the same account. (is that possible?!) The irony in all this is that I was going to pay the first one if they would have sent me a shred of validation. Now, I'm just pissed off. Oh, well, I'll just tell that to the judge when we go to court.
Any tradelines should be able to be deleted. It appears your inquiry got them to want to wash their hands for the account. You'll want to send a DV to the new guys.
The "DV/don't call me" letter goes out tomorrow. At least, this time around, I have all the letters drafted. I just need to change the name. Just last week, I sent a request for reinvestigation of this account to the CRA so, hopefully, that will be enough to get them to look into it and take it out.
If your goal is to put this behind you, then the first CA should remove their tradeline, as they have transferred the debt. The "new" CA has to send you the notice, and (usually) if you pay within the 30 day window, they will not report. However, get this in writing!
That's exactly where I am. Hopefully it will be that simple. I really don't want to file any more law suits.
Hopefully, it will be that simple, but it never really is, is it?! I would follow up with the "original CA" that is reporting on your CRs, to ensure removal. I believe this scenario is in the "CDIA Manual" I posted a while back.
Vanished Well, the collection TL from the first CA disappeared from yesterday's credit report. So that only took six months. Of course there's still the pending law suit for FDCPA violations so it ain't over 'til it's over. Now, I'm still waiting to hear back from the next CA. Good news: FICO says EFX is over 700! TU is 685 and EXP is 690 so...almost. That's over a 100 points in 6 months of wrestling with them. (What a PITA) If I've learned anything, it's to be much more vigilant about this nonsense in the the future (both my credit report as well as my spending habits Thanks to everyone for all the help!
Congrats on the scores! Perserverance is everything! Just a little more time of "seasoning" will put you over 700 on the others.....
CDIA manual... I didn't see that post earlier but that's a VERY handy reference (for those who like reading laws, regulations, or technical specifications, anyway). http://www.cdiaonline.org/files/PDFs/2006CRRGWholeManual.pdf For example: and from the FAQ at the end of the doc: I didn't know that, although I sort of expected it. But that would be a handy thing when reviewing late account notations.
Well, now the fun (i.e. revenue stream) starts... After getting no validation from two out of two CAs, and an FDCPA settlement out of one out of two CAs, so far, I've tried to get the OC to send me a bill so I can pay them directly with no luck. Yesterday, when I called them, they said they had no record of that account. None, whatsoever! So, the good news is (I hope) that the OC won't be putting anything on my credit report. The bad news is that I suspect it's now in the process of being bundled into a bad-debt portfolio so I expect that I'll be hearing from the likes of AFNI or somesuch, one of these days. But that's really good news, because now, I'll be waiting for them . Sure, they'll probably catch me off guard with the first phone call, but after that... payday!!! The sad thing about all this is I have had a first-hand look into why the country's economy is on such shaky ground--the whole notion of money has been perverted beyond recognition. Loans aren't just a transaction where one entity lends money to another for the purpose of earning an interest stream (like in the old savings and loan days), now they are just the beginning of a long and complicated series of financial transactions that all seem to be delicately balanced on one another. With the sub-prime mortgage market crumbling, I'm afraid the balance has been lost and the result is not going to be pretty.
