Apartment complex collection

[Anonymous]

I have an apartment complex showing up as a collection, the debt is from 2013. I believe it's from when I moved on March 1st they are saying my lease was until March 15th. Any advice on how to get rid of this?

[tufa4311]

"They are saying your lease was until March 15" is different from "My lease was until March 15". Was your lease until March 15? If so, one option is to do a pay-for-delete. Just as it sounds, offer to pay the amount you are responsible for, based on your rental agreement, and in exchange they will remove the collection.

Other options:

- do nothing and wait for the 7 yrs +180 days for it to drop off

- file a dispute - either a debt validation dispute which, as it sounds, basically requests a validation of the debt as a whole - such as a lease agreement signed by you. The second is to dispute not the collection as a whole but a piece of information in it, such as the amount owed, or the date of the lease agreement - in this case it is your responsibility to identify what the inaccuracy is. Since you have not said that you are not responsible for the debt a dispute doesn't sound like the way to go. If it is a legit debt, it is a legit debt.

My suggestion is, if it is a legit debt (i.e. there is a lease agreement you signed with March 15 as the end of the lease) then request a pay-for-delete and move on.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response. It's legit, but let me ask you this... would you recommend calling first to see if I can negotiate a PFD at a lower price? And if so, how should I approach that?

[Anonymous]

Actually upon further review this is a CA trying to collect this money. I am new to this so I assume this changes my approach?

[tufa4311]

Offer the CA a PFD - they can go back to the OC and confirm that is acceptable. Or, go straight to the OC, offer them a PFD, if they agree they can pull the debt back from the CA, the CA will no longer have collection authority. Then after you PFD with the OC then that collection should be removed. The CA's collection history will be updated to $0 but they do not have to delete their reporting.

I'd go with the OC but that's just personal.

NOTE: I have never does this before - one thing I do not know for sure is if the CA agreees to a PFD can the CA delete the collection without having the OC list the collection as Payed/Closed. See if someone else on here knows or read up. (or just go to the OC first and request a PFD and ask them to pull the collection back)

Read others history with this - Google:

CA PFD site:ficoforums.myfico.com

[Anonymous]

I did Google it and maybe it's me but from what I read only the OC can authorize a PFD. In my case the OC never put it on my CR, just the CA. So I'm confused.

[tufa4311]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I did Google it and maybe it's me but from what I read only the OC can authorize a PFD. In my case the OC never put it on my CR, just the CA. So I'm confused.

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There are other notes below but I think this pretty much answers it for you:

RobertEG:

"What many refer to as a "recall" of a collection is actually a termnation of their collection authority.

That results in a requirement for the debt collector to then report closing of the collection, and updating the balance under their collection to $0.

Termination of a debt collector's prior authority does not render their prior reporting of that authority inaccuracte, or require them to delete it.

The OC cannot compel another party to delete reporting that they (the OC) did not make.

Deletion is voluntary on their part.

If both an OC and a debt collector have reported, and the OC still owns the debt, you can offer payment to either.

The end result is the same in credit reporting, as the party receving payment must notify the other, and both must update their reporting, with the OC reporting a $0 debt balance owed, and the debt collector reporting $0 remaining under their collection.

A pay for delete offer can be made to either, and if the party accepts, they can agree only to deleteion of their own reporting.

In most cases, the consumer usually considers the collection to be the more serious derog, and thus will atttempt its deletion, which means the PFD offer should go to the debt collector.

If a debt collector declines to accept a PFD offer, a possible backup is then to make the payment offer to the OC, and thus salvage at least deletion of derogatory reporting made by the OC.

In many cases, contract agreement between an OC and their assigned debt collector includes provisions that payments must be received through the debt collector.

One reason OCs hire debt collectors is to free themselves from the collection hassle.  In that event, the OC may be precluded from accepting payment, leaving no option other than to pay through the debt collector."

Above can be found here: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Ask-OC-for-recall-or-try-to-PFD-CA/td-p/2189595

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Notes that the CA agreed to PFD:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/CA-agrees-for-PFD/td-p/4675151

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/CA-PFD-success/td-p/3977031

Some good info from RobertEG:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Medical-collection-for-24-00-and-CA-wont-PFD/td-p/1824955

Also, I think I was incorrect in my prior comment - if the OC pulls the debt back from the CA, the CA does need to update the debt to $0 but does not need to remove the reporting history: "Termination of a debt collector's prior authority does not render their prior reporting of that authority inaccuracte, or require them to delete it.

The OC cannot compel another party to delete reporting that they (the OC) did not make. Deletion is voluntary on their part." -RobertEG

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Ask-OC-for-recall-or-try-to-PFD-CA/td-p/2189595

[Anonymous]

Wow awesome information, I appreciate all the responses and I'll be getting on this Monday!

[tufa4311]

The question that I have is, if the CA has the authority to, and agrees to a PFD, then can the OC still add thier, the OC's, original collection history? You are saying the OC never did that to begin with so I'd assume they wouldn't change that if you did a PFD with the CA.

[Anonymous]

Yes it's possible since it's an apartment complex that they outsource all their reporting.