Debt Collectors Reporting Obligations

collection agencies do not report anything positive to the reporting bureaus. When they get the debt the original creditor has already charged it off,in most cases. The collection agencies are only interested in one thing which is getting the best return for what they paid for the debt. They do not have to report anything. But they will report a negative if you don't pay them.

It is part of the Fair Credit Reporting act.I am enclosing the relevant section for you. Simply write them a letter telling them you are asserting your rights under the FACTA provision of the Fair Credit Reporting act and that they are to report to the bureaus correctly or they must delete the account from the bureau completely. Send it certified mail return receipt.

SEC. 312. PROCEDURES TO ENHANCE THE ACCURACY AND INTEGRITY
OF INFORMATION FURNISHED TO CONSUMER
REPORTING AGENCIES.

A big thank you for the assist!

Actually, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm living proof that a collection agency does report payments made to them to the credit bureaus. I was confident they had too and Cajun confirmed my thinking.

As a furnisher of data,they are required by law to report correctly.

HA i'm going to remember this. How much for a violation? $1000?

They don't report a pay pattern/MOP, since the account is already delinquent. As you make payments, they should be reporting the correct balance every month.

Exactly who ARE they? What business names do they DBA? How does it all work, Cajun?

Jo,if a collector is reporting on your report you would see them listed there. The rule under Fcra is if you report,it must be 100% accurate or you are in violation of the law.If they do not fix when the account is disputed by a consumer,they could be liable for civil damages under the Fcra. In my signature you will find the federal laws pertaining to collections & reporting.Click on the links and give it a good read.

Sorry, I'm a little confused. Cajun, I meant to ask you about data furnishers. Please tell all that you know....many thanks. I appreciate your input.

Ok a data furnisher is exactly that.They have a subscription with the credit bureaus and they report the consumers account activities to the bureau which routes the data to the correct report.Debtcruncher here is a data furnisher because his business is in lending/finance. So basicaly if you owe someone money and they report to a credit bureau,that company is a data furnisher.

Thanks. So next question or 2. I have 2 charged off debts from Cap One. (No SOL applies.) Each is being collected by a different ca. I have no problem paying the charge off, except I can't get through to Cap One and REFUSE to pay a ca because of their tactics. I have VOD'd each ca and haven't heard any response - it's been almost 30 days. What to do?

Jo there is no time limit on a validation of debt.If you dispute the account with the credit bureau,there is a 30 day limit.Capital One in my opinion rarely sells their accounts. Continue to try and contact someone in their company.Raise heck and keep kicking it up the food chain until you find a supervisor who can point you in the right direction.

Every company works differently. Some creditors will take the payments directly, some will refer you to the CA and tell you they are handling it.

The VOD is a good step to make sure they are actually representing the creditor and have the correct balance. However there's some inherent problems with it. They really don't have to send you anything back -- they just can't make any more collection attempts until they do. As far as credit reporting, they (the CA) also can't report negative information to the credit bureaus until they validate it. However, this doesn't preclude the original creditor from continuing to report it's own information about your account to the bureaus.

You may try writing two different letters- One to the CA, telling them they haven't validated your request, quote the fdcpa and tell them they should not be collecting further in violating of the FDCPA.

Send another letter to Cap1. Tell them you requested validation from the CA and they have not provided it within reasonable time, and therefore you refuse to work with them. Propose a settlement amount and see if Cap1 will accept it.

A big thanks to you both, C & DC.

I had paid a collection agency 150.00 a month for over a year for an American Express Account. The only thing on my credit report was the charge off from American Express. I questioned the collector about this and was told "We don't report to agencies." Period. So do not tell me my statement was "far from the truth".

But if it was a collection agency it is still a negative hit on your report as it would show as a Paid Collection.

They are a collection agency and reported nothing good or bad. Nothing! They just do not report. Many of them do not report at all. If they report bad they must report good also but if they report nothing they do not have to report. They do not care. They just want there money as easy as they can get it. I am living proof. Charged off on my report by primary lender! Nothing after.

The reason for not reporting may have something to do with their assignment contract with American Express.Frog is quite correct,creditors have zero obligation to report info under the Fcra.They are just required to report accurately if they do report.

The stange thing is Amex has it back again after my last payment did not go thru along with the LDLs. How can they do that if they charged it off.

Frog,charge off is just an internal accounting term.Some creditors hold onto their paper a long time.Amex,Capital One,& Discover come to mind. Since collector no longer has it you may be able to open talks with their inhouse collections dept. now.

Thanks. I have made several attempts working w. Cap One. One account they cant even find, and the second they want me to write a letter to them about it. Asfaras the CA's collecting on both: How can a CA inquire on my personal files if under the trade says Cap One? And the addresses and phone #'s belong to a CA? I'm so very confused. Who do you think is reporting the trade? Cap One or can the CA be doing it?

A collector and oc can report the exact same account if it is done properly.This is what happens if debt is sold off. If cap one is using inhouse collections,they have account.I would dispute both accounts in writing with cap one and make them send a complete account history to you.If cap one no longer owns account,they will know who received it.

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