Old Aprtment Collections, who do I opay?

[Anonymous]

I am in a situation to pay off two old debts on my credit report pertaining to old apartment leases.  On my Transunion report, they are showing the apartment complexes themselves as the creditor.  On my Experian report, they are showing as being assigned to Hunter Warfield and National Credit Systems respectively.  So...who do I pay?  I want these removed to I can rent an aartment or purchase a home in the next 6-8 months, but I'm confused about who to give my money to.  Please help!

[Anonymous]

Contact the OC (apartment complex) and ask if you pay in full if they will recall it from the CA (Hunter).   If so - pay the apartment direct.  If they have actually SOLD the debt to the CA - then you will have to pay Hunter - as they are the ones that own the debt.   

[RobertEG]

If the OC still owns the debt, they can decide the manner in which they receive payment.

They can still accept, but normally they hire debt collectors to take care of the debt, and their assignment agreement will often stipulate that any payment must be made to and through their debt collector.  Call and ask.

If you wish to get the collection deleted, then the OC must terminate their assignment of collection authoriyt to their debt collector before accepting payment of the debt in order to bring into play the CRA requirment that the debt collector then delete their reporting.

If you simply pay the OC, then CRA policy instructs the debt collector NOT to delete.

Creditors many be reluctant to terminate their business agreement based only on whose hands a payment is first place in.