I had a Capital One card that was in collections. Alliance One, the collection agency, never reported it to the CRAs, but the OC showed it as a collection/chargeoff. Since it was a legitimate debt, and since I didn't have enough cash to make a deal with the CA or the OC, I made very small payments monthly for five months. Then I got a bonus, so I called up Alliance One and asked what it would take to settle the account. My balance was close to $600, and they agreed to settle it for $493. I made the payment via check-by-phone, and within two days received a letter from Alliance One that says "As agreed, we have returned your account as "settled" to Capital One Bank." I just checked my credit report, and all three CRA's are showing the Capital One account as having a balance of $166. It's still shown as a chargeoff/collection account. I'm thinking this may actually be a good thing, as their error will eventually result in having the tradeline removed completely instead of hanging around as a paid collection. But I'm not sure how to proceed. What do I do next?
