If I pay before i am reported

[Anonymous]

If I pay before I have been reported by a collection agency,  they would not be able to report me that I paid late can they?  because if i pay they can't pursue further collection activity after a debt has been paid, and reporting someone is seen as collection activity by law.  Am I correct in this line of thinking?

[pizzadude]

This is kind of a grey area.   If you pay the CA then they could still report your collection to the CRAs as paid, this can happen.

Your best bet is to pay the OC, or to negotiate a PFD with a CA if you have to deal with them.

[Anonymous]

they sent me notice, it has just now been turned over to a collection agency, it says

"Please respond to this request for payent on receipt of the notice to avoid further collection activity.

As required by utah law (7-14-3), you are hereby notified that a negative credit report reflecting on your credit record may be submitted to a credit reporting agency if you fail to fulfill the terms of your credit obligations.  We will not submit a negative credit report to a credit reporting agency about this credit obligation until the expiration of the time period described below.

Unless you notify this office withint 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume the debt is valid.  If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt ofr any portion thereof, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of ta judgment and mail you a copy of such judgment or verification.  If you request this office in writing within 30 days after receiving this notice, this office will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor."

so to me it seems like they are saying if i pay within 30 days they aren't going to report me, but i just dont trust collection agencies, i dont want to pay it then get reported anyway, like if they report that i was late, but the obligation is paid in full.   It just says notify us in 30 days if the debt is valid or not.  so i am worried they are trying to trip me up since it doesnt just clearly say  we will not report you if you pay within 30 days.

thoughts?

[Booner72]

The month we fell into that short sale, I got a dunning notice about a medical bill that I was making payments on but what-ever.  I immediately called and had it set up to PIF on payday and the promised it wouldn't report if I did that.  Yet I worried sick and continued to call them every few days "Are you SURE you're not going to report?"

If I were you, I would get it in writing that if you pay within the 30 days that they won't report.

And I've read other cases where if you pay in the initial 30 days, they don't report.  I think that's kinda common practice, but not sure if it's part of the FDCRA.

[Anonymous]

so did they still report you booner?  

also it seems to me they have sent it in writing, the letter they sent me says 'we will not submit a negative credit report to a credit reporting agency about this credit obligation until the expiration of the time period (30 days).

anyone else have experiences with paying collection agencies in the first 30 day notice they send?

[RobertEG]

From the date that a debt collector receives collection authority, either by assignment from the creditor or purchase of the debt, they have a reportable collection.

The FCRA does not impose a time period after occurance of a reportable item of information for reporting it.  The issue is its accuracy.  Technically, in order to promote the completeness of a consumer credit history, the reporting can arguably be asserted to be necessary.

So, yes, they can still report.  However, from a practical point of view, chances are good that they wont.  In order to report after the debt is paid, they would have to simultaneously report their collection along with a current balance of $0 under collection, and a current status of "Closed."  Kinda unnecessary.  Most debt collectors report as a means to enhance their collection activities.  With the debt paid and collection activities terminated, it has no real useful purpose for them.  Additionally, if reported, they would be subject to future FCRA disputes from the consumer should any issues arise.  By not reporting, they face no such disputes, and dont have to do anything to maintain the account.

Possible, but doubtful. 

[Anonymous]

but if the letter they send says if i pay in 30 days they arent gonna report me,  can they still do it?

[proudnavymom]

I think what Robert is saying is that they still can, but the probability of them doing that is pretty low, especially since they said in their notice that they wouldn't until after 30 days.  

[kjm79]

You can pay it now and hope they honor their word that they won't report as stated in their letter.  Or, you can not pay it and have them report and try for pfd's or gw's to get rid of it.  CA's get a bad rep sometimes but there are some good ones out there still.  Or not pay it and be haunted by it for a very long long long long long time.