How do you get a collection agency off the credit report?

Question

A bad debt on my credit report is due to come off in Oct. BUT, it has now been turned over to a coll. agy. and IT now appears on my credit report. So, for ONE bill owed, I have TWO negatives on my credit report. And this has happened with more than one account. I have 5 bad accounts on my credit report, but, I have 12 negatives on the report because some have been turned over to more than one collection agency. HELP!!

Answer 1

If the original creditors sold the debts to collection agencies and the collection agencies are reporting - the original creditor MUST report a zero balance.

And like Studly said, more than one collector CANNOT place the same account on your credit reports at the same time. The collector who is the current holder of the debt is the ONLY collector who can legally report it.
If you dispute the account of the collector who does not currently own the account and they verify it, you have a legal right to sue them.

You should learn the collecting SOL for your state.
If you are out of the collecting SOL you do have a legal right to send the collectors a SOL letter and inform them the debts are no longer legally collectible.

You might start by sending the collectors a debt validation letter.
Everything that you send to collectors should be sent by certified return receipt.
Never sign your letters, print your initials or type your name.

When you get the green cards back, file disputes with the CRA's.
If the accounts are due to fall off this year, you might claim the accounts as obsolete when disputing the original creditors trade lines.
Look for any inaccurate info the collectors are reporting, there usually is, and file disputes for the inaccuracies.

Like I said above, if the accounts are out of the collecting SOL, you might send a SOL letter after the collectors respond to your debt validation request, or if they fail to respond, after 35 days have passed from when they signed the green card.

If the accounts are verfied and remain on your reports without being corrected, (or the collectors who no longer own the accounts verify and they remain on your reports) you might file complaints with the BBB, FTC, your AG and the collectors AG.

You might click on my profile and do some reading in the links I've provided for the FDCPA, FCRA and especially do some reading/ask questions in the last link I have listed.
Plus never overlook your own states statutes as some states have their own stiff laws.

Answer 2

Are all these debts due to come off in or around October or any time soon after that? If yes, then don't do anything. Do not contact a credit repair agency or do anything else. Wait until the time for the original debt to drop off. Since the company that originally owned the receivable is still reporting it as a debt owed to them then, legally, the collection agency cannot also claim to own the receivable. So as long as both are showing up on your credit report wait for the original 'dropoff' date to pass and then you don't have to pay any of them anything. If you contact them now they will fix the error, and you will be obliged to pay the collection agency and the collections will stay on your credit file longer.

Contact them after the drop-off date and in your letter, state that the 7 year time limit on the original debt has passed and that you are requesting that all related items be removed or you will take legal action. That is the time at which you should highlight that the collections entries were erroneous duplications of the original debt. What the above poster stated is incorrect. The unpaid debts that you owe may linger in the creditor's databse forever, but the credit bureaus CANNOT keep them in your file beyond 7 years. There is a federal law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act that strictly forbids the credit bureaus from doing this, and the only exception is if you declare bankruptcy, in which case they can keep the negative information on your credit file for as long as 10 years. If they do not remove the information after the 7 year period has passed, you can sue them and you will win.

Its their screw-up so let them eat it.

Answer 3

webhead28 is mostly correct, but I disagree with his statement to just wait until October before disputing it. You will end up waiting several more months getting it fixed.

As he states, debts can not be listed more then 7 years on your report, beginning on the date of the delinquency. So your first job is to hopefully find your final bill or some record as to when the delinquncy was. If you can't locate it, send a demand to validate letter to the credit and demand they send you your last bill and any other records related to your payments.

Duplicate items are illegal. The only person who may legally post to your credit report is the one who has the legal right to collect it. If it was sold to another collection agency, then the first gave up their right and must delete the item.

I've seen many people here dispute my answer, but have yet to post a source or proof that I am wrong. All I have to go by is the actual law in the FCRA and FDCA....but that doens't seem to be enough for them. hmmm....

Answer 4

Credit scores are designed to show who can manage their finances and who can't be trusted to take responsibility for their obligations. You failed in your responsibility to keep your creditor informed of your current address. You failed in your responsibility to give forwarding instructions to the Postal Service. The school didn't sell your account to a collection agency for one missed payment. How long did you go without a bill? Four to six months? Did you think, when you hadn't received a bill for a while that they were going to forget about it and just make a gift out of the money? A responsible person would notice that they haven't gotten a bill lately and contact the creditor. I'm not saying that you're an evil person. You just don't know how to manage your finances and you should expect your credit report and score to show this.

Answer 5

Funny, but I had exactly the same thing happen once. I had an old debt to AT&T that I refused to pay because they put up an illegal cell phone tower in someone's back yard. Hell could freeze over as far as I was concerned...

Years went by, then all of a sudden I found that some collection agency had bought the debt and put the thing onto my credit report. I immediately send them a highly indignant letter stating that this was not mine, it must have belonged to someone with the same name as me, that it was 5 years old and at that time there were two other people with exactly the same name as me living in the same county (I knew because I always checked my new listing in the phone book when it came out so it must have been one of them), and now the collection agency was shopping this old stale debt around trying to pin it on someone and I demanded they should take it off immediately because it was ruining my credit... bawl bawl whine whine sob cry.

They took it off right away, end of story.

Answer 6

Fix it yourself with credit repair. Usually companies charge hundreds of dollars to simply pull your credit and send correctly worded dispute letters—this is the key…..people will tell you that you can do this yourself for free but the truth of the matter is that the credit bureaus will throw your letters away or simply reject them. There is an easy to use online kit that will deliver the results you want available for just $19.95 at the source website. A similar kit is being sold via infomercials and radio talk shows for seventy dollars more but they try to solicit you repeatedly for other services after the fact.

Answer 7

If the debt is unpaid, this is going to happen forever or until you pay them. Just because you've owed the money for seven years doesn't mean that it's just going to go away.

In order for those 12 negatives to not become 24 or 36 - start paying off the debts!!

Answer 8

why should there be "help?" Did you owe it? Did you not only not pay it but ignore it for heaven knows how long? Take your whipping, and try to do better in the future. Pay them off as you can.