I paid the collection agency a fee for PFD, but one year later, still on my credit report??

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone can recommend a course of action. Last year I had some medical bills go into collection (due to high risk pregnancy and no insurance). In one account, the debt collector (Allied Collection Services) agreed to a PFD, I went into their office in April 2010 and paid a $50 fee and in return I received a PIF letter and a PFD letter stating "Deleted from Credit Reporting as of 4/14/10". It also states to give it 30-90 days to complete the process. Today I checked my credit report and the negative item is still there! It does say "Paid, Closed" but it is definitely not deleted! (I know, I should have checked sooner, but I've been in denial, I used to have a FICO of 780 and I'm pretty sure its ruined by all my medical bills).

What is my course of action? Is it too late since its been over a year now? I still have their contact information but they are so rude over there that I want to be prepared on what to say to them when I call. Or is this a moot point by now? What are my alternatives?

Thanks for your help.

[John060675]

I would send a certified letter stating that they need to remove the item as per your written agreement.  Include a copy of the letter that they gave to you showing their written agreement to remove the item.  I would give them a 10 business day time frame in the letter to have it removed.

I would then send a copy of the letter to all 3 reporting agencies along with a dispute letter.  This might speed up the process.

[LIGHTNIN]

Contact the CA again, tell them you had an agreement, that if you paid they would delete. I would try the sweet approach first.

The same thing happen with me a few years ago with a medical debt, the CA tried to delete the first time and it didnt work.

They tried again,Woo Hoo it worked!!   They said something about having to do it the manual way.

Good Luck to you, let us know how it works out.

[RobertEG]

Their letter is most craftily worded.  "Deleted from credit reporting" could arguably just mean that they will no longer continue reporting to a CRA.

It is deceptive, at the least.  It does not say that they agree to deletion of any prior credit reporting they have made.

So you are left with an oral agreement without a clear meeting of the minds. 

You have to argue that they intended to mean the deletion of prior credit reporting, as was your understanding, and go from there.

Send them a direct dispute under FCRA 623(a)(8) for the inclusion of incomplete and/or inaccurate information in your CR, and force their response in writing within the dispute period timeframe.