Rebuilding Your Credit

[Linr]

I am new to myFICO, and started the credit repair process before finding this website.  Fortunately, I only paid off one issue (my largest) before reading up on the process.

Here is where the fun begins:

I paid my former University, the OC, as they still owned the debt.  This was when I was still young and scared and didn't know about PFDs.  Two months later it is still showing up on my CR as a debt unpaid to the CA.  I contacted the OC to ask for them to remove it, or at least get the CA to update as paid on my CR.  The person handling collections for the University was not particularly credit savvy, as she told me that this was "not ususally the way it was done"--as in done in the world, not just for the University.  So now I am at the mercy of a not-so-knowlegeble University Employee.

Should I send a DV to the CA?

I am also learning, and this is a tough one for me, that this is a slow, steady burn of a process.  I can't get mad, or worked up over one phone call.  It is just the first of many.   You have to press on and you can't give up.  This is a really good lesson for me as a person.

Thanks so much, this site is truly life-changing.

[RobertEG]

If you paid the OC, they were required to promptly notify their debt collector that the debt had been satisfied, as payment of the debt legally terminated any ability on the part of the debt collector to continue collection on the debt.  They cannot refuse to do so.  It is their obligation to notify their agent that they can no longer pursue the debt.

Once notified by the OC that the debt was satisfied, the debt collector then has an immediate legal obligation under FCRA 623(a)(2) to promptly update their reporting so as to make it accurate. 

Not knowing whether the OC notified the debt collector, it is difficult to say who is at fault.  But one fact is indisputable.  You have inaccurate reporting of a collection balance in your CR.  I would suggest not getting into the middle of a he-said, she said, and simply file a direct dispute with the debt collector, notifying them that the debt is satisfied, and thus of their statutory obligation under section 623(a)(2) to promptly update their reporting to show $0 collection balance.  Let them work out the issue with the OC.

They are required to either verify the accuracy of a continued collection, which if paid would be improper on their part, or update their reporting so as to make it accurate.

I would not use the DV process, which has no statutory period for their reply. 

[Linr]

I do know that as of today, the debt collector has not been notified, and it was paid at the end of September, is there any leverage for me there?

Thanks!