Collection Accounts Being Sold

[Anonymous]

I am still recovering from the bad decisions I made years ago.  My current accounts have been in good standing/never late for the past 5 years.  I have paid or settled my old accounts, but I have a questions about some of those and I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

If I have an old account with "Bank A" that went into collections and was sold to "Collector A" and then paid or settled, should both items be on my credit report?  I have a total of 9 negative items on my credit report, 2 of which are duplicates that were settled, 3 were paid in full and 2 were settled for less than the collection amount.  I can understand the settled items remaining on my report for a certain lenght of time, but it doesn't make sense for items to appear twice on my report.  And then can I request that the items that were paid in full to be removed?

My husband and I would like to purchase a new home in the next couple of years, and I would like to make sure my credit history is just as good as his when we do.

Thank you for your help!

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, both the OC and the CA can report at the same time, even if the account is paid off. However, both cannot report a balance at the same time. If a CA is reporting an account, the OC must be at $0.

You'd want all CAs off before applying for a loan. And you'd need to fix the OCs. With both you can send GW letters. But be careful with the OCs as the history is helping your score. GWs can be amended to get the "settled" reference deleted (it is hurting your score) or any remaining lates. But if these accounts are your oldest, then be careful as some OCs opt to delete after receiving a GW.