NCO doesn't show on my credit report but...

[FrysGIRL]

I owe my college a little over a thousand dollar which I intend on paying next month. I wasn't aware that I even had a balance due until I got a call from NCO Financial. Thing is, I had TrueCredit (for the past four months until recently) and just got MyFICO with EX and EQ, but none of them reported this at all. I told NCO that I wouldn't make payment until I figure out which is the source I have to make payment to. I talked with the school directly and they are wanting me to pay THEM and made no mention of NCO Financial. So, I'm a little confused. Apparently I've already been reported yet "not reported". How do I protect myself once I start paying off this balance? Thanks.

[SmartCookie]

Do not speak with them or any other CA on the phone again.  

Did your school mention that they are using NCO?  You need to make sure this is the same debt. 

If you receive anything in the mail from NCO or see anything reporting from them, send them a DV letter CMRRR.

I would try to pay off the OC sooner rather than later to avoid any further complications with the CA.  Once you have the money together, modify the PFD letter example in the Frequently Requested Thread sticky to suit this situation and wait for them to respond to it in writing before you pay them.  You'll need that to ensure that the confusion with NCO does not progress.

[FrysGIRL]

Thanks. I called the school and they finally got somebody higher up to confirm that I have to go through the collection agency after all. Although it doesn't currently show on my CR, I'm going to get that PFD just in case they decide to add it at any point. Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

FYI, I defaulted on my student loans and was eventually sent to NCO. I set up payment arrangements with them and they told me that after 9 consecutive on time payments that my SL would be rehabilitated and re-reported by the US Dept of Ed with the CRA's. I have one payment to go and got a letter from NCO stating such, and that all kinds of good things were going to happen once that last payment came in. NCO HAS NEVER REPORTED ME TO ANY CRA! I think the Feds use NCO to collect on these loans by making them offer this rehab stuff. Either way, so far it has been working out just great for me, and I'm interested to see what changes are made to my CR's once this rehab is finished. Obviously you will want to pay this ASAP, but from my experience working with NCO (on this particular issue anyway) has not been all that bad. You may not have to worry about them reporting to CRA's.