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.
