LVNV Funding - Advice, please

[tinuviel]

I had an account with Walmart that was COd back in 2004. It is well past the SOL in my state and will also be aging off of my report later this year. It was purchased -- as a COd account -- by LVNV.

LVNV was reporting to the CRAs as a Factoring Account and claiming that I was late on my monthly payments to them. I disputed with all three CRAs, as this was NOT a Factoring Account (it was a Collection Account) and I had no payment arrangement in place with them, as my agreement was with the OC, not them. The three CRAs all corrected this and my score improved dramatically.

I received a dunning letter from LVNV a couple of weeks ago. I was waiting until a week  before the 30 day window to expire before sending either a DV or a Direct Dispute letter to them (CMRRR). But, a couple of days ago my TU report showed that LVNV has gone from being an Open CA to a Closed CA. It's currently shown as closed on all three reports.

My question is this... I do not want to change the way that things are currently reporting. I'm not asking that the account be removed, only that it not be reporting as a Factoring Account and that I'm late on payments every month. If I DV them, will I awaken a sleeping dog? If I DON'T DV them, will they go back to reporting as they were originally? If I do respond, should I DV or Direct Dispute?

The account will age off later this year, but I don't want my report to be "posioned" while I'm waiting for it to do so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[llecs]

I would send a DV. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD.

If past SOL, then you don't need to worry if they awoke or not. Anyway, when you dispute, they would be alerted anyway because the CRAs provide your info to them.

The lates shouldn't have impacted your FICO scores. They'd impact a non-FICO score, but FICO scores the worst delinquency and the recentness of that delinquency. In this case, the CA itself is the worst delinquency and is still being scored as such. Open or closed, it has no impact on FICO scoring (per CAs).

[tinuviel]

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@llecs wrote:

I would send a DV. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD.

If past SOL, then you don't need to worry if they awoke or not. Anyway, when you dispute, they would be alerted anyway because the CRAs provide your info to them.

The lates shouldn't have impacted your FICO scores. They'd impact a non-FICO score, but FICO scores the worst delinquency and the recentness of that delinquency. In this case, the CA itself is the worst delinquency and is still being scored as such. Open or closed, it has no impact on FICO scoring (per CAs).

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Please understand, this is why I was disputing in the first place. It was impacting my FICO scores. They were not reporting as a CA, but as a Factoring Account, which is when a debt which was in good standing is purchased by another entity; a Factoring Company is one that buys current Accounts Receivables. Since this was charged-off, this is not that type of debt; this is a charge-off that was sold as a collections account. They were reporting as if I had a payment arrangement in place with them -- which I did not -- and was late on it every month. One of the CRAs had it listed under Installments. Both my FICO scores -- purchased here at myFICO -- as well as any FAKO scores that I pulled were being impacted by this. This clearly showed up on the reports and the understanding your score section provided by myFICO.

I'm not worried about applying for any further credit until after this item ages off on its own later this year, so I'm not looking at a PFD. I just don't want it to go back to reporting the way that it originally was, as it was not correct. I've read that LVNV is nortorious for reporting incorrectly as a Factoring Account so as to "poision" people's reports; most people, not knowing better, will be motivated to settle with them even if it is outside SOL.

Since I did disupte, LVNV has been alerted. Even though it settled in my favor, I'm afraid of them misreporting again. So, DV them and go from there???

[tinuviel]

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@llecs wrote:

I would send a DV. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD.

If past SOL, then you don't need to worry if they awoke or not. Anyway, when you dispute, they would be alerted anyway because the CRAs provide your info to them.

The lates shouldn't have impacted your FICO scores. They'd impact a non-FICO score, but FICO scores the worst delinquency and the recentness of that delinquency. In this case, the CA itself is the worst delinquency and is still being scored as such. Open or closed, it has no impact on FICO scoring (per CAs).

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Oh, just to add... that was one of the key problems. It was reporting as if I were delinquent that very month, every month. So, on the understanding your score portion of the myFico report, it would show that my most recent missed payment was 0 months ago. When I won my dispute, that changed to 7 months ago, which was, indeed, the last time that I was late on one of my credit cards.

[llecs]

I'd DV them.

BTW, "Factoring Company" is another word for JDB. Now some CAs miscode the TL (rarely), and I'm not sure if this is the case here, to code as an OC as opposed to a CA. I also had LVNV at one point and can understand the frustration. Getting them to communicate is like giving a water-intolerent cat a bath. At least the cat communicates via clawing.

When I was deep into the repair phase (R.I.P. 8+ CAs, 1 PR, and a handful of COs), my #1 goal above all else was to get the baddie removed. I didn't care if they reported a newer DOFD. I didn't care if they added 100 lates. I didn't care if the balance was off. My number one goal was to get it off and all else didn't matter. When it goes away, you won't care about the lates, if you know what I mean.

[tinuviel]

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@llecs wrote:

I'd DV them.

BTW, "Factoring Company" is another word for JDB. Now some CAs miscode the TL (rarely), and I'm not sure if this is the case here, to code as an OC as opposed to a CA. I also had LVNV at one point and can understand the frustration. Getting them to communicate is like giving a water-intolerent cat a bath. At least the cat communicates via clawing.

When I was deep into the repair phase (R.I.P. 8+ CAs, 1 PR, and a handful of COs), my #1 goal above all else was to get the baddie removed. I didn't care if they reported a newer DOFD. I didn't care if they added 100 lates. I didn't care if the balance was off. My number one goal was to get it off and all else didn't matter. When it goes away, you won't care about the lates, if you know what I mean.

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Yes, it probably was due to how it was coded. Here's hoping that after I DV them, the coding remains in place the way it is now, as a collections and not as an installment or any other type account with them as the OC.

And yes... I certainly would like to have it off. But, it will be gone all on its own in a few months. All considered, I would rather take the money that I would put into a PFD towards paying down my outstanding, non-COd debt. Either way, at least there's light at the end of the tunnel.