Paid Collection Account --Debt Validation?

[Anonymous]

I am working on the removal of a collection acount, that was paid in full and is being reports as a $0 balance. Nonetheless, I know that a paid collection does have a negative impact on a FICO score (although not as severe as an unpaid collection). Has anyone tried to send a sort of modified debt validation letter attempting to validate ownership?

After reading the FCRA further and looking at some case law in Florida, it appears that since the FCRA mandates accurate reporting,  one could contend the paid account does not belong to them. Whether paid or unpaid, proof of ownership would be essential to reporting any account, it seems, under the FCRA.

In other words, if you contend that the account is not yours, and the collection agency can not prove financial responsibility, what is the relevance of the balance?

Has anyone had any success with this type of approach?

[Anonymous]

You can try that method but I would think simply requesting a goodwill removal would get you farther. You can simply dispute with the CRAs as not mine and hope the CA doesn't update because they got paid and don't care anymore. This works for some places and doesn't on others.

[Anonymous]

DV them.

I had three paid collections that I DV'd.  All came off...pretty quickly.

I think the GW's should be used when there is a continuing relationship with the OC.  Otherwise, what incentive does the OC have to remove the negative information?

I don't think that under the FCRA, a OC or CA has to DV a paid collection.  However, the DV letter tells them, "look Mr. CS person making $10 an hour, are you going to make this a loooong process, with possible legal ramifications, or are you going to make this easy on yourself and hit the red delete button?"