How should I attack this sitution OC/CA

[mickey11]

I have a question in regards to attacking a situation where it was a credit charged off that is now in collections. The CA and OC are both negative items (obviously). This is different as opposed to if I didn't pay my cell bill and it goes to collections it is just the CA on my report.

I was thinking of doing a pay for delete letter to the CA however if they agree and it's removed the OC is still on report.

What is a good plan of attack for this situation when it involves an OC/CA? Any insight would be helpful if you have experienced this yourself or you know of a good attack method.

[zyal8trr]

Sorry I can't be of assistance but I'm in the exact same boat and would also like to know how to go about handling this.

I have sent a PFD letter to the CA, offering .50 for every $1.00 about a week ago, so I'll sit tight. If they say yes, the OC reporting negatively is still stuck.

But, since it's showing up as a collections account, getting that removed first would be better than getting the OC removed first. Eventually, would like to get them bot removed.

[Trish]

What I would try first is contacting the OC and seeing if the debt has actually been sold or if it was just assigned to the CA.

If it has only been assigned, then the OC still has the power to take the debt back and work with you directly. If they recall the debt from the CA, the CA no longer has the right to report it on your CRs because it is no longer theirs.
That will at the very least eliminate the CA reporting and you can work on tackling the OC.

If it has been sold, then unfortunately you will have to work on both. Maybe try a PFD with the CA and just dispute the hell out of the OC (and challenge ANY inaccuracies in their reporting).

[mickey11]

Trish,

Thank you for the advice. I didn't even know there was a difference between assigning and selling the debt.


If the debt has been assigned and I do contact the original creditor is there anything I can do that say is the equivalent to a PFD? For instance can I offer an arrangement where if I pay the balance in full in one payment to the OC then they remove it from the negative item section on my report?

I have heard that on CA/OCs showing up in the negative items, once the debt has been paid in full it stays on as a negative for two years. Is this true?

[Trish]

If the debt was only assigned and you end up dealing directly with the OC..... you can try to work out something with them but most of the them can be pretty tough. You want to try and get them to remove ANY negative notation (charge off, late notations if possible) and hopefully either mark it as PAID IN FULL or at the very least just PAID.

I have heard that on CA/OCs showing up in the negative items, once the debt has been paid in full it stays on as a negative for two years. Is this true?

No, this is not true. A negative acct will stay on your CRs for 7 years from DOFD (date of first delinquency). Paying it off doesn't reset or shorten the SOL except for in one state that I know of and that is NY.
In NY once a derog is paid in full, the reporting SOL shortens to 5 years.

HTH

[mickey11]

Trish,

Thank you for the information. I notice on my report that they do have a date of removal. However, I do believe on some of them they have no date of removal. They are CAs and I know they have to be from 2001/2002 or at the very least 2003. They should be coming off this year or next however there is no date next to them?

There is no sense in paying them if they are going to be removed this year or next. I don't want to put a SOL removal request in and the CRA says I have to wait another year and then the CAs renews the debt by selling to another CA.

What do you recommend for find out the last delinquent date so I can gauge the SOL removal?

[Trish]

If you want to know for sure, you can call up one of the CRAs and ask them for the FCRA compliance date. Let them know that you think these are too old to be on file and you want to know when they are due to come off.
By law, they have to have this date in their records.. so they should definitely be able to tell you.

[mickey11]

Thanks once again, your information is really helping me out on how to attack this. I was going to send out a couple of PFDs to CAs that I have a $150 and $250 balance. These were the old ones that I am sure are coming off this year or next but they don't have the date on the CR.

If I get a recent date that they are expected to come off then I am not going to waste the money and pay them and try some PFDs for stuff that is a little more recent.

[Trish]

I think that's a good plan.
On the older ones that are about to fall off......you could still go ahead and try disputing them. You might get lucky and have them deleted a little early.
The debt cannot be "renewed" by passing it on to another CA... the CA still has to go by the DOFD from the OC.. once the original debt is 7 years old....it cannot be reported on your CRs.

[mickey11]

Thanks,

I think this is going to really help me out. I didn't know it was the date of last delinquent from the OC. I thought it was the CA. If it is a situation where the OC is not on the CR such as a cell phone company who reports the DOFD to the CR. Is it the cell phone company or the CA that takes the debt?