Charge-off Removed But Collection Remains Under Different Name

[Anonymous]

I have a question about how I should address this issue. I called TU and told them I wanted to request an EE for a charge-off for a car financing company, due to come off my report April 2018. There is also a collection account listed for the account. It shows up as a collection account for the name of the car company, instead of the financing company and has a removal date of September 2018. I explained that to the rep at TU. He said due to the listing being reported under different names, I would have to dispute first. I received the results and they removed the charge-off, but state the collection is accurate. I don't understand how that can be, when the DOFD is supposed to be the same. Is that correct? I don't know what to do here. I don't want to look a gifthorse in the mouth and end up with the charge-off back on my report by disputing further. At the same time, I feel like there is something amis and I don't want them to get away with it if there is. I don't know too much about this stuff, other than I've been cleaning up reports for the past 1.5 years and feel like I'm being screwed on this one. My score didn't budge with the removal of the charge-off, but I'm sure it would go down if reinserted.

[Anonymous]

Can't answer your question but recently one of my charged off that is due to come off beginning of next year got re-updated because I asked for an EE but Equifax submitted it as a dispute to the creditor.  My score dropped around 23 points.  You are correct about the fico not increasing at all when a charged off falls off.  I only saw a one point increase when one of my charged off got EE.   I assume because the negative effect of a charged off nearing seven years is not as much as the beginning but if it got update, then it counts as a 30 and a 60 day late payment.  At least, that was how EQ scored it when the creditor updated the account.

[RobertEG]

You apparently had a charge-off reported by the original creditor, and an additional collection reported by a debt collector.

Under FDCPA 803(6), if a party uses a name to collect on a debt that is different than the name they use to report as the creditor, they are a debt collector and can report a collection to the CRAs.  

Both the creditor and the debt collector are each separately required to report the DOFD on the OC account to the CRA no later than 90 days after reporting of a charge-off or collection.  If the CRA is then using an estimated exclusion date that is different, the first speculation is that the two parties have reported different DOFDs.  The CRAs normally calculate their estimated exclusion date as 7 years from the reported DOFD, even though mandatory exclusion is not required until 7 years plus 180 days from the reported DOFD.

I would begin by obtaining the actual DOFD that was reported for the collection.  If the collection is showing an estimated exclusion date or 9/2018, that likely has a reported DOFD of 9/2011, and the CRA will not grant an additional early exclusion of more than 3 more months.  Under FCRA 623(a)(5), the debt collector was required to have either reported the same DOFD that was reported by the creditor or contact the creditor and obtain the DOFD directly from them.  Ultimately, the same source should provide the same DOFD on the same debt.

Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com or directly from the CRA, and obtain the actual reported DOFD.

If they reported an incorrect DOFD that is later than the one reported by the creditor, you would get that corrected by filing a dispute of the accuracy of the reported DOFD.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the information. I am still terribly confused. I went to the annualcreditreport.com site and obtained my report. The charge-off is completely gone, which showed the DOFD. The one they kept on the report doesn't have one. I copy and pasted below, directly from my report (changing the name of collection agency, address and account number). This is what it looks like:

Collection Agency Name   #D12324****

1132 ANY ROAD ANYTOWN, USA 12345 (555) 555-5555 Placed for collection: 11/30/2016 Responsibility: Individual Account Account Type: Open Account Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY Balance: $4,112 Date Updated: 11/10/2017 Original Amount: $4,112 Original Creditor: JB CARSELLER CO 748 (Automotive) Past Due: >$4,112< Pay Status: >In Collection< Remarks:  >PLACED FOR COLLECTION< Estimated month and year that this item will be removed:  09/2018

[Anonymous]

Wow. About 5 minutes ago, I received a notification from MyFico. BOTH items have been removed from my report, and my score increased 27 points. Can't wait until the day EQ and EX follow suit! I'm about to go update my signature

[Anonymous]

I wanted to come back and clarify, since things are not what they seemed. I was confused from the alerts from MyFico. It looked liked both were removed, but they were not. Only the charge-off was removed. I think I'm going to just let it go and wait for the collection to drop off so I don't end up screwing things up. I did get a cli on a couple of my Synchrony cards (I'm assuming the amounts were based on my new score). I was excited and tried for an increase on my Barclay card, which turned into a denial; not even a counter, so they must've pulled something other than TU. I've had their card since February and was holding out on requesting an increase, due to it being a hard pull. I figured I would be up for something. Oh, well. I might try again at the end of next year. In the meantime, back to the garden for me until at least October 2018. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, RebuildisaPITA. It is greatly appreciated.