Over two years ago, I fell behind in two payments to a creditor (each payment was under $30). When I discovered my mistake, I called the creditor, apologized, and paid in full. The creditor seemed happy. It is important to note that I discovered my mistake right after I missed the second payment. The creditor never reported anything to any CRA. I just found out that they had turned it over to a CA before I paid the creditor. Apparently, when I paid the creditor, they notified the collection agency. The credit report says the debt was assigned to the CA. The CA never contacted me at any time. Now, the CA just reported it to all three CRA's as a paid collection, showing the payment being made over two years ago. Their first report of this to the CRA's was March, 2001, two years after payment. The original creditor is willing to write a letter to help me and is willing to say anything reasonable. I would then send it to the CRA's. What should the letter say? My goal is to get this removed from my reports. This resulted in me being denied credit recently and I need to get it taken care of to get a car. And, how can I prevent the CA from reporting it again to any CRA? It appears they only reported it once, in March 2001. Any comments would be appreciated.
I don't know an answer, but I thought I would bump it to the top to see if anyone would answer tonight.
First it is doubtful that the CA would ever report again, especially on a paid account. This is not how they make money. Next I would dispute the CA account as "not mine" to CRAs and cross fingers. The original creditor should also send a letter straight to the CRAs with proof of debt and ask for immediate removal. Good Luck.
MikeB: What do you mean when you say they should include a proof of debt? I don't know what that is. Just curious.
If you paid the creditor and you are current with creditor I don't understand why a collection agency is still pursuing on this matter. Get a letter from the creditor stating that you paid them in full and the matter should not have been referred to a collection agency and any reference to a collection agency should be removed. I would also ask the creditor to talk to the collection agency to drop the matter. I think 2 months behind is not excessive enough for a creditor to send you to collection agency. Further, did this collection agency ever contact you before putting this item in the credit bureau, did you request validation? What is your payment history with the creditor now? If it is very good then they should be able to help you with in this matter. Since you paid the original creditor , dispute it and say it is not yours because you actually never owed the collection agency and you handled the matter with the creditor. If they continue to verify, investigate whether they have violated any FDCPA laws and then go after them and have them end up paying you, that would be sweet.! Just my 2 cents! Cyprigirl
I do not have any credit with the creditor now. Left on good terms. He is willing to work with me. CA never contacted me at any time. When I first saw this on my credit reports, I called them. They swear I paid them but say they have no proof. But, they claim they never make mistakes. I tried to get CRA's to verify this debt with creditor, specifically telling them to contact creditor, not CA. They contacted CA which verified. I will prepare a letter for the creditor to sign that I can send to CRA's. I still don't know what to say, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know. They will sign anything reasonable. Thanks for your help.
Do you still have a copy of the check that you used to pay the creditor? I would write that the CA has no claim to this item because the whole matter was resolved in-house with the creditor and through an oversight, the creditor mistakenly referred the matter to an outside collection, which has no claim to the paid debt and therefore this matter should be reported. Further, the CA never provided you with notice, which they have to under the FDCPA, sounds like a violation to me. It sounds like they are bitter because you paid the Creditor and now they want to mess with your credit. I would also have the creditor revoke the assignment with the CA. Which really leaves the CA with no recourse. If they continue to pursue it sue them, because they really had no valid claim if they never notified you and you did not pay them. I would also advised the CRA that they are reporting inaccurate information and they maybe liable by continuing to report inaccurate information. Cyprigirl
No. I don't have the check. When I was found out I had goofed, I was out of state without my checkbook so I bought a money order and paid immediately. It was all handled on a friendly basis with the creditor. I did not save the receipt because I thought it was over. But, the creditors records show paid in full. I will get a letter together for the creditor to sign to send to the CRA's as soon as I figure out what to say.
How do they get buy with reporting something 2 years after the fact? What do the consumer laws say about that?? +++++++======================
I agree they cannot do that, it is after the fact especially if it was paid to the original creditor. That does not make sense, did you get the name of the person and the address who is reporting this information. I would definitely go after the CA and the CRA for reporting this item. But is this the whole story? If they did not report the debt before, how can they report as paid, if there was no collection to be paid, they had to contact you first about whether the debt was valid. If this is the whole story then it sounds like you have a great case against them especially if the creditor is willing to help you out on this matter. This sounds like an abusive act on the part of the CA. Don't let them get away with it!!!! Cyprigirl
You obviously have the same fear that I do on this one. We don't have all the details as of yet. That almost reaches out and jabs one in the ribs, so to speak, doesn't it? There is just something fishy in the way the story is told, and I most assuredly don't mean to say or imply that the poster is untruthful in any way. I'm not meaning to be derogatory either. Just saying it seems pretty likely we don't have the whole picture or he hasn't presented it in such a way that we totally understand. I'm not worried about that, because I'll bet he corrects it quickly. BTW I really like your posts and explanations. You are great!
Re: an answer Yes, it is all true and complete. There is nothing else to it. I paid the creditor as soon as I realized I was wrong. He never told me it went to a CA. The CA never contacted me by phone or mail or any other way. I did not know about the CA until they reported it to all three CRA's recently. I have a credit report form all three CRA's from February, 2001 and it was not on any report. The original creditor does not have any recollection of turning it over to the CA but this is the CA he uses. Nor does he have any hard copy of the payments made. His computer records show payment in full was made over two years ago but he does not show from who or where it came from. I will contact him Monday and get him to write me a letter to all three CRA's asking for deletion. He does not want to go to bat for me with the CA because he has a relatonship with them now. The only explanation I can come up with is that the creditor sent the payments I sent to him and forwarded them on to the collection agency. That would explain why I never heard from the collection agency. I just don't reaally know what to say in the letter.
Re: an answer Well, I'm not an attorney, so I'm hoping Anthony or Caprigirl or one of the other fine legal minds we have in this form can tell you for sure if I am correct or not, but it seems to me that you may have a cause for action against the creditor on grounds of defamation of credit or whatever else the resident attorneys might suggest. I'm just hoping one of them will notice my post and give you the right information as they usually do. The only piece of advice I have for you is above all demand a new receipt from the original creditor if you don't have a copy or a cancelled check now. And when you demand it, be all nice and smiley with them and above all, don't mention anything whatsoever about the letter(s) you got from the collection agency. The moment you walk in their door or call them, just forget all about the collection agency. I would consider that to be of prime importance because if push comes to shove, you want proof of payment in full in your hot little hand. If you don't have that, you won't have a crying chance of doing anything. While the resident legal minds may very well not agree with me about the defamation of credit thing, I'm almost willing to bet there is some kind of action you could take against the creditor. I'm also willing to bet that it was a secretarial goof up that got you in this position, and now the creditor don't want to admit the mistake. Hope I have helped you just a bit at least.
Re: an answer I agree the best thing is to get a letter from the creditor as well as proof of payment. A little pointer find out what is their policy for turning things over to the collection agency. How many months delinquent do you have to be in order for the account to be turned over to a collection agency Somehow I don't think a creditor is going to turn over a debt to a CA and pay them a fee to collect the debt when the payments were only two months behind. The creditor is in business to make money and paying someone else to collect your money when it is very likely that you will collect it on your own, makes little sense. Qn? Is this a large company or small business? Maybe they were overwhelmed and had to turn to an outside agency to collects on debts owed to the company. Sounds like someone made a mistake. I don't advise being adversarial with creditor right now, don't upset the apple cart unless they refuse to aid you further in this matter. But create a paper trail and dispute it with the CRA, eventually. Cyprigirl
