Bill Already Paid - Sent to CA

[Anonymous]

I have a garbage removal bill from a large private company that was due 12/24, paid/"posted" 1/24, sent to CA on 1/25 (date on CA letter).  I say "posted" because that is the term they use when looking at the payment history on their website, although it most likely didn't actually post for another 1-2 days.  I have not yet contacted the OC or CA due to concern about self-validating the debt.  The collection notice requests payment online/mail/phone, all of which are the OC's contact points.  So I'm wondering if this has truly been sent to collections in the traditional sense, or the OC has just outsourced what would have otherwise been their "first-round" in-house collections to generate higher compliance.  I would like to keep this off my CR, as I otherwise now have solid credit after a long road back from a difficult time in my late 20's/early 30's.  I'm concerned about the possibility of this getting reported as paid/closed/$0 due, when in fact, it was paid before even being sent to CA.  Any thoughts on next steps/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. 

[Anonymous]

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wrote:

I have a garbage removal bill from a large private company that was due 12/24, paid/"posted" 1/24, sent to CA on 1/25 (date on CA letter).  I say "posted" because that is the term they use when looking at the payment history on their website, although it most likely didn't actually post for another 1-2 days.  I have not yet contacted the OC or CA due to concern about self-validating the debt.  The collection notice requests payment online/mail/phone, all of which are the OC's contact points.  So I'm wondering if this has truly been sent to collections in the traditional sense, or the OC has just outsourced what would have otherwise been their "first-round" in-house collections to generate higher compliance.  I would like to keep this off my CR, as I otherwise now have solid credit after a long road back from a difficult time in my late 20's/early 30's.  I'm concerned about the possibility of this getting reported as paid/closed/$0 due, when in fact, it was paid before even being sent to CA.  Any thoughts on next steps/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. 

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Hi, How do you use make your payments for the garbage removal, via mail in check? online? what method is used. The company might just record it as paid because the debt is sold to a collection, easier for the bookkeeping. I would find proof that the payment was made to the correct company and the company has received the money and dispute it with the company. 

I had experienced a similar situation, one day I was driving by acura dealership and thought I will just go make a payment on my lease. They took the money but for some reason the payment was never applied to my account, so the money just sits in their general account for over an month before I noticed the next month when I tried to setup auto-pay online it says I have a late payment, I contacted acura financial and emailed them proof of my payment to acura financial they later removed the late payment from my report and refunded all late fees. 

So I would get the proof first, call the garbage removal company. 

Hope it helps. 

[gdtobefree]

Send the CA a copy of the receipt showing that the account was paid through the OC.

Then contact the OC and find out why it was sent to a CA. Was it sold or simply assigned to the CA?

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing based on the quick transfer to the CA and the fact that the CA letter was seeking payment be sent directly to the OC that at most the debt was assigned, not sold. 

Wouldn't sending the CA a copy of the receipt showing the account was paid likely generate a paid/closed/$0 balance line on CR?  That's what I'm trying to avoid.

[Kree]

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@Anonymouswrote:

I'm guessing based on the quick transfer to the CA and the fact that the CA letter was seeking payment be sent directly to the OC that at most the debt was assigned, not sold. 

Wouldn't sending the CA a copy of the receipt showing the account was paid likely generate a paid/closed/$0 balance line on CR?  That's what I'm trying to avoid.

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If it does, you then dispute with the CRAs.  They won't bother validating the tradeline as that is unneeded work for them. (probably).

[RobertEG]

The relevant determination is whether or not the debt was paid before it was referred/assigned to the CRA, and not whether it was paid prior to reporting date.

A debt must be delinquent for any assignment of collection authority to be valid.

Stated differently, a creditor cannot assign and a debt collector cannot report a collection if the debt was paid prior to the date they received their collection authority.

The debt collector will usually report the date they received collection authority as the Open Date when they report their collection.

The date they report their collection is usually after the Open Date, and is not evidence of when they received collection authority.

If they do report and you have proof that you paid the debt prior to the Open Date reported by the debt collector, then file a dispute with the CRA contesting the accuracy of the collection based on no delinquency at time of receipt of collection authority.

[Anonymous]

I'm within my 30 days -- should I send a DV letter?  Or do I risk stirring the pot and generating ill will when they weren't intending to report in the first place?  Is there anything wrong with contacting the OC to see if they have instructed the CA to report?  The debt letter came from Transworld Systems, and it appears as though they have a "Profit Recovery" and "Profit Accelerator" product that will send dunning letters from them, but which are not their "Collections" products, that would more likely report. 

Thanks everyone, especially RobertEG, for your time.

[Kree]

I believe this is exactly what a DV letter is for. Asking them to doublecheck that you owe money.

[Anonymous]

Since we're talking literally the difference of a day (paid OC on 1/24, letter from CA dated 1/25), how do I determine the Open Date, since it would presumably appear in month/year (01/18) format on CR?  Based on your experience, would the Open Date, and in turn the date they received collection authority, be the date on the demand letter?  How do I prove to CRA the CA's collection authority date?  Should I seek the date in a DV letter?

[RobertEG]

You can make a logical assertion that they did not have collection authority prior to sending their collection notice, and thus file a dispute on the basis that they did not have collection authority when you paid.  It is rather flimsy, but may be enough to support requriing investigation of your dispute.

The CRA will then forward the dispute to the debt collector, who must then make a reasonable investigation and report back to the CRA.

If they verify, then they are stating that they did have valid collection authority prior to the date paid.  They would not have to submit proofs with their verification.

You could then bring civil action for review by the courts, at which time you could compel production of their internal records.

However, your case would only be based on a rather flimsy assumption that their collection authority was not obtained befor they sent the collection notice.  If they verified, then they likely have proof of a prior date, so civil action would likely not be my recommendation unless you have in pocket additional evidence to make your case.

The more prudent path may be to avoid continued confrontation, with its inherent ill-will, and purse a request for good-will deletion with their upper management.