NCO Misapplied settlement...disputed...

[sphinx313]

I settled a Capital One account with NCO for them to report $0.00 to Capital One. I updated my credit karma and it showed that my debt decreased by $258...the exact amount of my settlement. I pulled my new report and Capital One updated the balance to show I made a $258 PAYMENT on the $518 debt. I called NCO this morning before I was aware of this and the manager told me that someone submit it wrong and that he would send me a new letter showing it was paid in full. I disputed it with all 3 agencies about 5 minutes ago...Why do I have a feeling I am going to be pulled through hoops on this one and end up losing $258 that I used to settle on it just being a payment? Can NCO just re-report that it was supposed to be zero? I am so frustrated right now and I am getting a headache. I am sick and tired of the quickness to report a problem accurately but the moment you do something positive for your reports there is an issue.

[xqti254]

I was told the same thing by Northland Group for CAP1. When I called they said it would update correctly in 30 days. I'm still waiting.... We will see.

[Anonymous]

We had the  same thing happen w/ Bell, LLC collecting for NCO on an old AT& T bill. They had applied the settlement amount to the bill and reported the balance for 2 years. Long story short, I pulled the husband's credit and noticed what they had done.

This is the letter I sent. It was received on 11/13 and deleted by 11/19.

Re: Acct #12345

Dear Sir or Ma'am,


In July of 2010 I spoke to an agent of Bell, LLC, a Mr. Guy in a Cubicle at extension # xxx.  We agreed on a settlement amount of $450 on the above referenced account number to be sent by certified funds and he emailed the (enclosed) letter.  The certified funds for the settlement were shipped via UPS Next Day Air the following morning.  Copy of cashier's check stub is enclosed.  

In July of 2012 my wife received a phone call from Receivable Management Services trying to collect on the same settled account.  I sent Other Guy (the agent she spoke to) the same documents I'm sending to you in addition to a cease and desist letter.

Upon pulling my credit reports I see that although the $450 was credited to the account, it is reporting incorrectly as open with a $502 balance.

I'm willing to assume that this was a simple oversight and not a deliberate breach of the agreement made in 2010, or worse, that Bell, LLC and NCO had no intention of honoring the settlement in the first place. Regardless, this error has affected my credit negatively and I request that you contact the reporting agencies who have been furnished with this information and have it deleted.

Written confirmation of your actions can be sent to the address above.  I appreciate your attention to this issue and look forward to a quick resolution.

Best regards,

the husband

HIs reports don't show any sign of the account anymore. Whether it remains banished, time will tell. Hope this helps.

[madmann26]

My settlement did the same thing. It took about 3 weeks after the first update to zero out. It's a Cap1 thing.

[RobertEG]

Based on your dispute via the CRAs, they have a statutory requrement to respond back to the CRA, either verifying the accuracy of the information, corrrecting it so as to make it accurate, or deleting their reporting.  The CRA must conclude the dispute within 30 days, and send written notification of the results of their reinvestigation to you within 5 days thereafter.  So you have set firm requirements in motion, and should have resolution within 30 days from date of dispute plus five days to mail the noticem plus mailing time.

In the highly unlikely event that they verify back to the CRA that their reporting was accurate, you would most likely get a verification from the CRA as the conclusion of the dispute.  Next step is to file civil action for improper verification, thus requiring them to produce their supporting evident of asserted accuracy.

I doubt they would be so foolish if the facts are as asserted.

[sphinx313]

I called the very friendly manager I have been dealing with at NCO this morning from my office. He told me that 5 years ago, he was in on a meeting where they were discussing someone that requested a settlement letter, paid, and then as soon as it updated on the CRA's, he disputed the payment with his credit card company and got it back, so now they have this thing where they hold the funds as a payment for x amount of time and then they report as $0. Whether or not the story he told me has any relevance to how this is done, it appears to be the norm and hopefully it just fixes itself. This may sound strange, but if this account gets deleted it may hurt me more than help me because it's my oldest account ever. My AAoA would take a dive because the next "oldest" account is 3 years newer than this one.

[sphinx313]

---

@RobertEG wrote:

Based on your dispute via the CRAs, they have a statutory requrement to respond back to the CRA, either verifying the accuracy of the information, corrrecting it so as to make it accurate, or deleting their reporting.  The CRA must conclude the dispute within 30 days, and send written notification of the results of their reinvestigation to you within 5 days thereafter.  So you have set firm requirements in motion, and should have resolution within 30 days from date of dispute plus five days to mail the noticem plus mailing time.

In the highly unlikely event that they verify back to the CRA that their reporting was accurate, you would most likely get a verification from the CRA as the conclusion of the dispute.  Next step is to file civil action for improper verification, thus requiring them to produce their supporting evident of asserted accuracy.

I doubt they would be so foolish if the facts are as asserted.

---

Thank you Robert for your always well-informed posts, I appreciate them.