Paid CA for Verizon Fios Debt

Anonymous · ‎04-12-2016

I just began the process of refinancing my house when I found a negative item on my wife's cedit.

When we moved into our current home, my wife cancelled the Verizon Fios account under her name and I opened one up at our new location. Unfortunatly, she didn't pay the final partial month bill, due in 8/14, which was sent to collections. She received a collections notice in 9/15 and paid the CA in full w/o telling me. She wasn't aware at the time that it would hit her credit report and she certainly didn't understand she killed leverage.

Her report is showing a collection under Verizon with COL of $105 on 11/14, 12/14, 3/15, and 9/15. It's marked as "Account Paid in Full; was a Collection."

I am dealing with Verizon, not the CA, correct? Other than a goodwill letter, what can I do?

Thanks for the help.

RobertEG · ‎04-13-2016

The collection was reported by the debt collector, not the creditor, and is their reporting of the fact that they had collection authority.

Any request for deletion would be directed at the party who reported the information, which in this case would be to the debt collector.

You can request the creditor to contact their former debt collector and make a request for deletion on your behalf, but ultimately only the reporting party can therafter report deletion to the CRA.

CRAs are in business to sell complete credit histories, and include instructions in their credit reporting agreements that debt collectors are not to delete their reporting baserd on subsequent payment of the debt. Thus, the CRAs will not intervene on the side of deletion.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

Just to be clear, you are saying the account appears under "collections" on the report rather than "accounts"?

I ask because my own experience with Verizon is that they employ a collection agency to pursue you for payment, but retain ownership of the debt. Verizon reports as the OC on your CR and pile on late payment derogs every month until paid/settled.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

Thanks for the reply. I understand that the CRA's will have no interest in altering the reports unless they believe them to be inaccurate. Since Verizon sold the debt they don't have the ability to alter the reports. That leaves me with the collections agency who has nothing to gain other than being nice.

Are there 3rd parties that collect bills for large utilities that aren't collections agencies (ie companies that buy debt then try to collect)? Her old verizon account it showing the exact payment on the exact date that she made it so they were at least in contact with the 3rd party.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I understand that the CRA's will have no interest in altering the reports unless they believe them to be inaccurate. Since Verizon sold the debt they don't have the ability to alter the reports. That leaves me with the collections agency who has nothing to gain other than being nice.

Are there 3rd parties that collect bills for large utilities that aren't collections agencies (ie companies that buy debt then try to collect)? Her old verizon account it showing the exact payment on the exact date that she made it so they were at least in contact with the 3rd party.

Again, lets clarify here - Verizon is one of the few communications companies (Frontier is another) that WILL report as an OC, but only when the account goes delinquent. They do not sell their debt to third parties until its very old. Instead they hire various collectors to do their dirty work. From your original post it appears that your wife paid it before the CA ever reported it and it is Verizon that is reporting it as a delinquent account that went to collections.

In this instance, you would request goodwill deletion from Verizon.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

I'm actually unassure of where it is apearing. I requested the free annual copy from Experian and they break down the sections as Personal Information, Potentially Negative Items, Accounts in Good Standing, and Credit Inquaries. They don't have the Collections/Public Records sections that I'm used to. Credit Karma seems to view it as Late Payments.

I was also under the impression that if it was placed there by a collection agency, then it would name the collection agency as well as give their address so that i can contact them. The only company named is Verizon and it gives their address.

I'm becoming fairly confident that Verizon just paid somebody to go out and get the cash instead of selling the debt. If that is the case, is there any better action than sending GW letters until I get lucky?

Thanks.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm actually unassure of where it is apearing. I requested the free annual copy from Experian and they break down the sections as Personal Information, Potentially Negative Items, Accounts in Good Standing, and Credit Inquaries. They don't have the Collections/Public Records sections that I'm used to. Credit Karma seems to view it as Late Payments.

I was also under the impression that if it was placed there by a collection agency, then it would name the collection agency as well as give their address so that i can contact them. The only company named is Verizon and it gives their address.

I'm becoming fairly confident that Verizon just paid somebody to go out and get the cash instead of selling the debt. If that is the case, is there any better action than sending GW letters until I get lucky?

Thanks.

If it says Verizon is the reporting entity then thats who you would contact. Doesn't matter "where" its showing up on your reports.

Anonymous · ‎04-13-2016

Thanks for the info. I apologize if it seems like I'm ignoring people. I keep responding only to realize that someone had responded to me while I was crafting my post.

I also want to thank the frequent posters. I found this community 3 years ago and built my credit from a 650 to 800 which allowed me to purchase my house. The advice you hand out here changes lives. Keep up the great work.

Anonymous · ‎04-14-2016

I have a collection account and it was listed by Verizon Fios. They have an in house collections department. Unfortunately, they sold ALL of their land and local services in California, Texas and another state to Frontier Communications, but they failed to update my account as paid prior to the switch. Im about to dispute the heck out of it with the CRAs once my other disputes come back.

Anonymous · ‎04-14-2016

When I called Verizon's collection department (I was transferred by the billing dept) they said they didn't even have access to it, so it's in my best interest to dispute it because they cannot validate it anymore.