Creditor agreed by phone to delete, month later still on CR

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

on 4/11 I contacted Credit Collection Services about removing their reporting of a paid collection I had from them from 2015. I spoke with a rep on the phone and explained that since I had paid the collection in full as soon as I had received notice from them in 2015 I was asking for them to delete it. The rep was pretty helpful, I was only on the phone for a minute and a half at the most. She said "absolutely, we can get that removed for you" and said it might take up to 30 days for it to show it removed (only showing on TU). On 5/6 I saw that it was still showing up on my TU report and was getting antsy so I opened a dispute online for it. I put that the account was paid and that the creditor agreed to delete it. It's been a few days since I disputed it and it is still showing on my TU report and I'm worried that I screwed up or that CCS just lied and isn't planning to remove it afterall.  Do I just sit and wait on it now? Did I make a mistake by initiating a dispute last week after CCS agreed to remove it themselves?

[Aduke1122]

It can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days to be removed from your credit report . I would give it a little longer and then if it is still there call them back to see when they sent it in to be removed

[RobertEG]

I presume that the statement was made by the debt collector, and not the creditor, as was implied in the title to the post.

If you obtain an agreement prior to paying that the party will delete their reporting if you submit payment, that is legal contract term that can enforced if you then comply with the offered terms and submit payment that they deposit.

However, if you have already paid the debt collector, there is no longer a negotiation of payment terms for which party can rely comply with and create an actual contract.

Stated differently, after the debt is paid, you no longer are offering anything of concrete value upon which to create a binding legal contract.

While it may be a poor business practice to first promise someone something and then renig, they are not bound by an incorrect statement that may have been made by an underling, and can legally review and change their mind regarding any voluntary action on their part.

I see no breach of contract.

I would suggest a complaint to your local BBB asking for review of their poor business practice.

[cjane1]

I did a dispute with Transunion, it took almost a month to get it removed.

[Anonymous]

Ok thank you for the input! I will sit tight a bit longer and try to be patient. I know that since I already paid the debt in 2015 I have no leverage to have it removed, and I actually felt like it was pointless to make the call asking for removal but I was feeling pretty frisky that day and then I was So surprised at how easy and quick the phone call was, and the rep was really helpful. I don't get the feeling that she was just making empty promises. I don't know how much power she'd have but she seemed confident and willing to help.

RobertEG, I know I've read several times somewhere the difference between a debt collector and a creditor but I think I'm still confused on the differences and how someone could tell if they're dealing with one or the other. The OC is Progressive insurance, and the debt was sold to CCS. Would progressive be the creditor then?

[RobertEG]

FDCPA 803(4)  Definitions

(4) The term "creditor" means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.

FDCPA 803(6)  Definitions

(6) The term "debt collector" means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section 1692f(6) of this title, such term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. The term does not include --

(A) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;

(B) any person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts;

(C) any officer or employee of the United States or any State to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of his official duties;

(D) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;

(E) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists consumers in the liquidation of their debts by receiving payments from such consumers and distributing such amounts to creditors; and

(F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity (i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a debt which was originated by such person; (iii) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that RobertEG! So progressive would be the creditor and CCS is the debt collector. I understood essentially who they were and what their functions were but I get the terms mixed up from time to time. The first year of learning about/repairing my credit has been a bit of a rabbit hole.