My rights regarding outstanding collection w/ NCO Financial

Quote:

• Did you settle by your own or you took help of any settlement company?
  
  
• Do you have any records of your payments made to them?
  
  
• What about the other two accounts that you settled, are they listed in your report?

It broke down like this:
FirstUSA -> charge off -> Sold to Asset Acceptance -> Settled
Chase -> charge off -> Sold to Midland Credit Mgmt -> Settled
Student Loan -> defaulted -> Sold to USDE -> Settled
I settled all three on my own, all at once, all paid off in one lump sum.
I have proof of payment to all three.
All three original creditors and all three collection agencies all show up on my credit report (negatively of course)

This one with NCO was not one of the original three, it is a fourth, that I was not aware (remembered).
I believe this is a collection for a 3rd CC (Citibank), but Citibank does not show up on any one of the 3 CRA's.

Should I send a debt validation letter to NCO first?

That makes sense. Nice explanation.

Yes, I think you should start with debt validation. Send your letter through CMRRR. If they validate, you will have 30 days in your hand to dispute any errors in the validation. If they cannot validate, you can dispute it with credit bureau.

Now, there is no specific time limit for collection agency to validate the debt, but they cannot start collection activities without validation. You can also contact your original creditor to know if the account is indeed with NCO.

Thanks!
Just so I'm sure, CMRRR means "Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested"?

The Date of Last Activity (DLA) for Citibank was like, 1999 or 2000 (at the latest).
I don't want to contact Citibank because they are not reported on any of the three CRA's. I don't want to contact them, should I "tip them off" that they arn't reporting my original charge off.

I'm at work right now, so I don't have an exact time line regarding when the DLA for Citibank is, or when they sold it to NCO (and when the DLA for NCO is). I'll pull this all together tonight when I get home and try to post a clear timeline.

My main concerns are this:
1. Citibank doesn't seem to be reporting this debt, so I'm afraid to contact them.
2. NCO is reporting this as an open collection, but are not making any effort to collect anymore because it might be beyond the SOL. Additionally they may have altered my DLA (I have read they do this a lot).
3. I'm in a little bit of a Catch-22, if I contact Citibank to verify the original debt, they might start reporting it (not beyond 7 years yet). If I contact NCO, and send a DV, Citibank may be notified by NCO during the DV process, and start reporting it.

Like I said, I'll try to paint a more clear picture later tonight.
Thanks for all your help so far!

First, did NCO buy this debt?

Darn, I keep forgetting to log in and post as Guest (yes that is me as guest above).

Ok, so as I said I was going to do some more research, and I found a statement from NCO. Turns out I have paid them off COMPLETELY! I setup a payment plan, where I gave them 6 check #'s and every month between 12/02 and 5/03 they deducted the same ammount from my checking account. The statement even shows the agreed upon check numbers! Unfortunately I don't have any of the cancelled checks, but I have the bank statements showing they have been cashed.

So, I guess for the last 3 years they have still reported my account as unpaid! They have screwed me over even though I freakin paid them!

I have been turned down for credit, probably because of this. What are my next steps? I'm thinking they must have violated some law in not doing what they were supposed to do (it's my bad for not checking on this at the time, but still...) Anybody have any thoughts as to what I can do? I will of course need to contact them, but I don't think a DV is necessary now right? I should be able to have this completely removed, or have it reported as "Paid as agreed".

Any suggestions?

Chances are it will be reported as paid as agreed. Dispute the item with credit bureaus and send NCO an already paid letter.

Quote:

Thanks curlycarl.

So, this may sound ignorant, but what is an "already paid letter"?

I assume it it is something similar to a debt validation letter in format?
Is there a form I can customize that will have all the necessary information?
I want to make sure they respond in time.

2nd, should I dispute this before they respond, or go ahead and wait?

Last, simply, once they fix the issues, how do I get a free credit report to verify they have removed the derogatory item?

Send them a letter with a copy of the documentation you have stating that this item has been paid in full as of 5/03.

Demand that they report this item has been paid in full, or you will contact the FTC for their violation.

Jessi, perhaps you can answer this. I assume NCO violated the FCRA by not updating my information. Can you point me to the right section of the FCRA that references their responsibility? I want to include this in my letter, but I gave myself a serious headache trying to find the correct section.

Thanks!

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/09/fcra929.htm

Go through the entire document. Hope it will help you.