New Collection and Disputes

JSS3 · ‎07-31-2017

My mom had ran up credit card debt and decided to put all her cards in a debt consolidation program(GreenPath). The program was for 5 years. During that time, she found that a couple of the payments were not made to Citibank. She argued with both Citibank and the program people; stating her case... that it was not her fault because all her cards were put in the program and it was GreenPath who was supposed to pay. This was to no avail so my mom washed her hands on the situation. Her other cards were paid off through the program after the 5 yrs, but Citibank was dropped and charged off. Out of the blue, Citibank wrote her and said that a new company was taking over the debt. I told her not to acknowledge it because this debt was not on her reports and sometimes it gets reactivated when you try to pay it off. Well this debt of 15,000+ showed up on Creditkarma dropping her Transunion score 115pts. Here is the thing, the company is reporting that it was last "opened" June 23, 2017. It is not new, albeit the collectors are. I feel as if this can be disputed because it's reporting false info. Any tips on how to handle this?

Below is a portion of the letter my mom wrote to Citibank to try and get this matter resolved before just dropping the matter altogether. Leaving the rest of the balance unpaid.

"Back in December 2011, I changed my payments to Greepath from monthly to biweekly. Unfortunately, Greenpath didn’t send my December 2011 and January 2012 payments on time even though they withdrew these amounts from my account. I have evidence to show that they withdrew these amounts from my account on December 19, 2011, January 3rd, and 17th, and February 1 and 13th of 2012.

As a result of this, I was informed via mail that I had been dropped from this program and now have to resume making the high monthly payments to your bank with the sky high interest rate of (29%??)

I am asking that someone look into this situation and reinstate my account back to 9%, which was the prior agreement, and workable solution for me due to my financial hardships, which I'm currently still facing at this time."

RobertEG · ‎07-31-2017

The Opened date for a reported collection is the date the debt collector received their collection authority.

It is totally apart from anything reported by the original creditor or a prior debt collector.

It appears accurate.

It does not affect the exclusion of the collection, which is based only on the DOFD on the OC account.

Any collection, regardless of when reported or opened, must become excluded no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.

RobertEG · ‎07-31-2017

The Opened date for a reported collection is the date the debt collector received their collection authority.

It is totally apart from anything reported by the original creditor or a prior debt collector.

It appears accurate.

It does not affect the exclusion of the collection, which is based only on the DOFD on the OC account.

Any collection, regardless of when reported or opened, must become excluded no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.

JSS3 · ‎07-31-2017

@RobertEG wrote:
The Opened date for a reported collection is the date the debt collector received their collection authority.
It is totally apart from anything reported by the original creditor or a prior debt collector.
It appears accurate.

It does not affect the exclusion of the collection, which is based only on the DOFD on the OC account.
Any collection, regardless of when reported or opened, must become excluded no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.

I'm just so confused. This was in 2011 and this collection shows up out of nowhere. She now has it on her reports for 7 yrs. Yes, it is her debt(even though GreenPath was the one who messed up), but here comes this collection company to kick up dust. I could see if it were on her reports when it happened, then if she decided not to pay it, she had less years until it fell off. Now the clock is reset.

What are her options?

JSS3 · ‎08-01-2017

@RobertEG wrote:
The Opened date for a reported collection is the date the debt collector received their collection authority.
It is totally apart from anything reported by the original creditor or a prior debt collector.
It appears accurate.

It does not affect the exclusion of the collection, which is based only on the DOFD on the OC account.
Any collection, regardless of when reported or opened, must become excluded no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.

Ok I researched some things and came back to re-read what was written here. So I gather you're saying---despite the DOLA(collection agency reporting date) this should only be on her file for 7years and 6 months from the DOFD. That would mean approx 2+ years even though the collection showed up now?

I gather the next step is to ask Transunion when this will be off her file?

Anonymous · ‎08-01-2017

What you need to do is pull your *ACTUAL* credit report. The ones on CK are almost useless.

You can get a report from each of the 3 CRA's each year for free. Don't pay for any "trial memberships" or anything! Going to www.annualcreditreport.com is one way I think.

JSS3 · ‎08-01-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
What you need to do is pull your *ACTUAL* credit report. The ones on CK are almost useless.

You can get a report from each of the 3 CRA's each year for free. Don't pay for any "trial memberships" or anything! Going to www.annualcreditreport.com is one way I think.

I was under the impression that vantage score from credit karma was useless but the reports were spot on. I will have her pull her reports. If there's, indeed, a new collection, I will also have her write to Transunion and gather all info on said collection, specifially when it drops off.

Thank You.

JSS3 · ‎08-01-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
What you need to do is pull your *ACTUAL* credit report. The ones on CK are almost useless.

You can get a report from each of the 3 CRA's each year for free. Don't pay for any "trial memberships" or anything! Going to www.annualcreditreport.com is one way I think.

Ok I pulled 2 out of 3 using the link you provided. Got an error message with Experian. She needs to write into them.

The collection is indeed on there.

Remarks:

>PLACED FOR COLLECTION<

Estimated month and year that this item will be removed:

02/2019

Anonymous · ‎03-08-2018

@JSS3wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
What you need to do is pull your *ACTUAL* credit report. The ones on CK are almost useless.

You can get a report from each of the 3 CRA's each year for free. Don't pay for any "trial memberships" or anything! Going to www.annualcreditreport.com is one way I think.
Ok I pulled 2 out of 3 using the link you provided. Got an error message with Experian. She needs to write into them.

The collection is indeed on there.

Remarks:
>PLACED FOR COLLECTION<
Estimated month and year that this item will be removed:
02/2019

I got the Experian error too, they must do this to punish their products (us as credit consumers) more for their failing at data security since they were hacked.

So the DOFD must be reported as 08/2011?

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2018

Yes, it should be reporting as the original dofd with Original Creditor, not when the collection agency took it. So, regardless of how many years later the CA took it, it still would fall off report 7.5 years from dofd (with OC).