OC agreed to request deletion but.....

[Chrisla2077]

Hi All, 

 As usual, I'd like to thank everyone who has been so helpful in these forums. Here is my question: 

A doctor's office I owed a $100 missed appointment fee too filed a collection a few years ago for the $100 plus a $33 collection fee. About a year and a half ago, I paid the full balance directly to the OC-doctor's office. The CA continues to report the fee as a current and unpaid collection monthly. When  I called the OC to verfy that had recorded PIF, they said that they would contact the CA and agreed to request a deletion, but that the CA informed them that it could take up to 60 Days to be removed from my reports.  When I asked for this in writing, they said that I would need to contact the CA for written verification. 

Is there any harm in calling the CA? What should I do if they tell me something different? Because they agreed to deletion with the OC, I don't want to run the risk of them just updating the account as paid. This is my last  collection and I'm hopng for a small score bump.

[RobertEG]

A creditor cannot agree to deletion of credit reporting that they did not make.

They can informally request that the debt collector report a deletion, but cannot make a commitment that they do so.

Collections are separately reported by debt collectors, and a creditor cannot agree to their deletion.

Paying a debt does not remove a reported collection.  Only a reporting of deletion by the debt collector is basis for deletion of the collection.

CRA policy instructs debt collectors not to delete based on payment of the debt.

Thus, even if paid, there is no basis for compelling deletion of the collection.

If you paid the OC and they agree that it discharged the debt owed to them, then the creditor is required to update their own reporting to show paid, $0 balance.

They must notify their debt collector that the debt is paid.

If the debt collector does not assess any additional amounts, such as a legitimate collection fee, then the debt collector is required to update their reporting to also show paid, $0 balance remaining under collection.

However, if the debt collector asserts an additional amount other than the principal balance owed to the creditor, such as a  collection fee, they can continue to assert an amount still due.

[Chrisla2077]

Thanks Robert, but I am not expecting the OC to delete anything. Only the CA made a report to the CBs. They OC asked the CA to pull the collection back since I paid them directly 

[RobertEG]

I understand.  The point is that only the debt collector can report deletion, and there is no basis for requiring that they do so.

The collection is the reporting by the debt collector that they had legitimate collection authority at some point in time.

Paying the debt does not negate that fact, and thus does not require any reporting of deletion.  It only requries them to update the balance reported that is under collection.

The only provision for deletion of a legitimate collection is if the debt collector had their collection authority terminated with the debt remaining unpaid.

A creditor cannot retroactively terminate collection authority prior to its actual termination date.

If you simply remit payment to the creditor, the collection authority would still have been in effect up to that point in time.

The process after paying the creditor is then to make a good-will request to the debt collector, requesting their voluntary deletion of the collection.

Their credit reporting agreement with the CRA includes the provision that they not report deletions based on payment of the debt, so such good-will deletions are difficult to obtain.