reporting accurately, question

[heartsflowers2002]

Hi,

I know that OCs and CAs report a little differently, but can anyone tell me if these details are correct in a collection agency's reporting? (this is a collection account from a cable bill almost a couple of years old)

TransUnion reports:

Pay Status: Collection Account
Account Type: Open Account
Past Due: $XXX



Experian reports:

Status: Collection account past due as of ....
Type: Collection
Terms: 1 months

(I don't have Equifax's, but if I was to use my generic collective report, then Equifax doesn't even show an account status. The generic report echoes the Experian Terms and says Closed. And for TransUnion, it echoes the Acct Status as Open)

(I thought I read somewhere that collection accounts were closed accounts, and that, they shouldn't have payment terms unless you agreed to payment terms with the CA?)

Thanks in advance.

[Trish]

Originally Posted by heartsflowers2002

Hi,

I know that OCs and CAs report a little differently, but can anyone tell me if these details are correct in a collection agency's reporting? (this is a collection account from a cable bill almost a couple of years old)

TransUnion reports:

Pay Status: Collection Account
Account Type: Open Account - Violation
Past Due: $XXX - Violation



Experian reports:

Status: Collection account past due as of .... - Violation
Type: Collection
Terms: 1 months - Violation

(I don't have Equifax's, but if I was to use my generic collective report, then Equifax doesn't even show an account status. The generic report echoes the Experian Terms and says Closed. And for TransUnion, it echoes the Acct Status as Open)

(I thought I read somewhere that collection accounts were closed accounts, and that, they shouldn't have payment terms unless you agreed to payment terms with the CA?)

Thanks in advance.

You are correct. A CA cannot report an acct as open. As for the "past due" and "terms: 1 months" you can't be past due or have terms with out a payment arrangement/agreement.

You should do a 1 2 punch on these.....don't worry about listing out violations to the CA just yet (keep those to yourself for now)......but you can always hint in the letter that they are currently in violation of the FDCPA.

[heartsflowers2002]

I have thought about this and thought about this (the best way to confront this, and your thoughts on it) but I don't think I can use the 1-2 punch thing because of my original online dispute. I didn't dispute the debt, but its payment status, and so, I am trying to figure out what kind of letter to draft. I lack any evidence to support my claim, so I thought that it might help if I could find error in the reporting, for some sort of leverage.

Anyway, I have been meaning to thank you, and didn't want you to think I was ungrateful.

Christine

[Trish]

Even though you did an online dispute......you should still be able to do a 1 2 punch.

Have you ever received ANY communication from this CA?

And you're welcome..... I'm just really glad to be able to help. I was there once.....well and still there really. Got my work cut out for me.......so I'm working on it and learning just like everyone else here. Just happy to be able to share my experiences so it helps others too.

[heartsflowers2002]

That is what I was trying to remember and was asking the bf about (he is absolutely no help lol. I am alwys having to tell him not to throw things away.)

(I think he learned his lesson with that one collection tho, that jsut got deleted. Cuz I found the original notice those collections had sent me about having thirty days before they reported the account, and that is why now, they deleted that account rather than updating it as paid, since our agreement satisfied it, in that time).

Anyway we went through a rough patch in that time (that is when the credit cards went late, that is when the bill that led up to that other problem collection originally became delinquent, etc.) and it seems to me that our strategy then had been, "stick head in sand till over." Honestly, I think I remember the original creditor contacting us, but not the collections.

I've got a draft of a letter I have been sitting on for a week or more, that is kind've a combination: Dispute/Offer of PFD. Being a young account, it is still legally collectible if I have no evidence to prove otehrwise, and so, it seemed to me a dispute of owing it, would aid a PFD. Violations of reporting, also helpful.

Dunno. Give myself headaches