I recently received a letter from a collection agency offering me a settlement for about half of the original debt. I called them and asked that after I paid this would they in turn DELETE the debt from the National reporting agencies. He told me they could update the National report to say it was "settled", but to delete it would be illegal. Is he just bluffing?
Its a reverse logic kind of thing No where in the FCRA (or anywhere else for that matter) does it say a company HAS to report to the CRA's. You might want to try something like: "Oh really??? Which law would that be?" I love to hear CA's stammer and stutter.
Maybe. How's that for a definitive answer? My understanding is that anyone who submits data to a CRA (EX, EQ, TU) can do whatever they like. Pretty much whatever they send is what the CRA reports. Hence all the headaches we collectively go through, because the CRA will always point us back to the CA that submitted the data. So they do, in fact, have the option of deleting it. They may not want to, but they can. The general logic I've heard for it not "being legal" for them to delete an entry is that it's not correct. I find this humorous, CA suddenly gets ethical about the accuracy of what they're reporting. Check out what happens on the other side - http://www.collectionindustry.com/forum/categories.cfm?catid=9 I've seen discussions about this subject and the logic I've seen tossed around is that the consumer should be punished for their actions to date and a deletion is the equivalent of letting a criminal go free in a trial. I'm sure there will be much discussion on this subject, but the bottom line for any CA is their numbers. If you have no other motivation to pay than to get the item deleted, eventually they have to accept your terms. If they have leverage, they don't have to accept your terms. You know what sort of shape you're in with them, regarding SOL, etc. I don't have much experience hands on with this, just one account from a dentist who just never billed me. I didn't even know about it until a $58 collection showed up on my TU. So I called them and discussed getting it deleted. They said they "can't" do that. I replied you can do anything you want, but if you want to see payment today in full you'll delete it. Puts me on hold, supposedly talks to his supervisor and says they can't do that because I'm "so delinquent". I patiently explained they had done a terrible job of contacting me (old address) and I had just contacted them. I had no need to pay the debt immediately, just wanted to clear up my CR. Talks to his supervisor again, says no. Now I'm getting a little miffed, but I persevere. He says I'm obviously trying to clear up my CR to purchase a home. Nope, Sparky, no home, loan or anything in the works. I can wait until this puppy falls off, if need be. One more time on hold. Now he's ready to take payment. Not so fast, since I learned some useful stuff here on creditnet, first you fax me the terms and THEN I'll give you payment info. What I learned was this: if you show them your weak spots, they'll go for them. Be as detached as possible but willing to close the deal. One other thing I said before he accepted it, since I don't think he was actually talking to anyone when he put me on hold. I told him I'd like to speak w/his supervisor and listen to their reaction when I tell them I offered to pay in full and you turned it down. IOW, someone above him would hear he left money on the table. Since CAs are all about numbers, this is their language. Forget the emotional crap they'll try to sell you. That's all manipulation. At the end of the day, it's about their numbers.
I actually told him that it has been on my credit report for 2 years, it hasn't hurt me yet, so it can stay on there another 5 for all I care. Which is partly true. I figure that if they simply update it to say "settled", it is doing me no better than if it stays as unpaid. What do they care what the reporting agency reports as long as they get their money. Thank you, I will stick to my guns then. By the way this is a debt "purchased" by Capital One who in turn "hired" National Financial to collect.
Jlynn's "reverse logic" is a pretty good word for it. In an open democracy, a civilian may do ANYTHING he wants to do unless specifically outlawed in statutes. The law spells out what we cannot do. If the law spelled out everything that we COULD do we'd have billions of pages of law. lol That's why you won't find a specific law. Since it's not spelled out that they are required to report, they may chose NOT to report. Conversely, if one works for the gov't they may do NOTHING unless specifically permitted by law, the exact opposite.
Re: Re: Is it illegal? Butch, I apologize in advance; I just had to post that I almost fell out of the chair snorting on your first post - thanks for the laughter ... Tee hee ... __________
Butch, thanks. If it were not for folks like yourself, I would not have had the tenacity to send this guy to his "supervisor" a few times. Previous to my education here, I always looked at my time on the phone as wasted and tried to keep it to a minimum. Now I enjoy the volley. I would have either lost it completely (not a good thing, trust me or settled for something half assed. Once you sort things out logically, it's pretty simple. The damage was already done, I put the ball back in play and it was in his court. We had no volley if he didn't do that deletion thang and I had nothing to lose. From this board, I've learned that a lot of things are possible. Now getting someone to share "my vision" of what's possible... he he... that's the fun.
