The taking and reporting of the charge-off is totally separate from any issue of subsequent collection on the debt.
It is simply a reporting by the creditor that they moved the bad debt in their accounting books from a receivable asset over to an loss as a bad debt.
The consumer continues to owe the entire debt, and can continue to collect upon it themselves of via a debt collector.
A charged-off debt can also become a collection if referred to or sold to a debt collector.
An in-house collection can still qualify as a debt collector under the FDCPA, and thus report a collection.
As clearly defined under FDCPA 803(6), "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."
Synchrony is thus considered a debt collector, and subject to all provisions of the FDCPA.
As you pay the debt, you can insist that they promptly update the remaining balance under their collection, and notify the credtior of the current balance.
FCRA 623(a)(2) requires a party who has reported to a CRA to promplty update their reporting so as to maintain its current accuracy.
It is common for creditors and debt collectors not to update the remaining balance after receipt of each payment, but technically you can insist that they do so.
Once the debt is paid, neither the charge-off reported by the OC nor any collection that might also be reported by a debt collector is required to be deleted.
They are required to promplty update the balance to show $0 debt (creditor) and $0 remaining under collection (any debt collector).
