Creditor Still Owns The Debt

[kalvinc]

Okay, so here's the situation.  I owe my old ISP (Mediacom) about $188.50 for 3 months of unpaid bills.  Mediacom is not reporting anymore, but CCS is.  I called CCS and asked if they owned the debt outright and they told me Mediacom still owns the debt, they are just collecting it for them.  So I give Mediacom a call, and they are all excited and transfer me to their collection office.  I ask the guy if he is going to report it once I pay the debt.  He said "absolutely".  I just asked him for the direct number to his department and told him I would be giving him a call back.  

Here's the question.  Once I pay Mediacom, CCS cannot update their status to "PAID" can they?  I mean.... I'm not paying CCS, I'm paying Mediacom.  CCS will be required to delete their entry and stop reporting, correct?  And if so, can Mediacom now go on there and mark a collection and put as "PAID"?  Obviously, I don't want them reporting ANYTHING!  How do I get them to understand that?  The guy I talked to was just like... oh well we send the collection agency a letter and they update it.  

So flustered... don't know what to do.

[lmfields84]

Typically if you pay an OC (Mediacom) they retract it from collections on the grounds that it was paid.  However, I do not put it past any CA to not just update it to "paid".  I would talk to a supervisor at Mediacom and ask questions/get confirmation before proceeding.

[kalvinc]

If I am paying the OC, does CCS have any legal right to update as paid?  Or are they legally required to delete.

[lmfields84]

No CA is legally required to delete as long as the debt is accurate, because they are collecting on behalf of another creditor does not force them to remove their tradelines.