Paid VA Collections Question

[bartoe]

Hello!

My husband is a Navy Vet and he has two paid collections from the VA with his GI Bill (short story: him and his ex moved, he changed address with government, used GI bill, was told they paid too much, they sent a letter to prior address...never found out until he went to use GI bill for next semester afterwards - paid in full)

We have tried to dispute them and remove them because they show active but paid.  Has anyone here had ANY lucky having the VA remove paid collections?  They won't fall off until 2017/2018 and its hurting his FICO score (when he applys for credit it comes back as "several collections on file" when in reality its two paid collections)

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

CRA policy instructs all furnishers not to delete their reported collections based on the debt having been paid.

The CRAs wish to retain as much info as possible in order to increase the value of their product.

You may find a debt collector willing to delete, but is is usually a bit tough.

Sometimes, repeated requests, or requests directed at someone higher in their management chain, will find a sympathetic ear........

[Anonymous]

I had this same instance and call teh VA and they will NOT remove under any circumstances.

[Anonymous]

If I understand the bartoe's post, the reason the bill wasn't paid on time was that they never received the bill. And as soon as they were made aware of the debt, they paid it.

I've wondered about this before, when other posters have had similar stories. Does a creditor have any responsibility make the debtor aware of the debt before reporting to the CRAs?

Or maybe I should ask the question in a different way: If a ceditor has agree to supply a statement and they fail to do so, is that grounds to dispute? (Not to dispute the debt, but to dispute that it was paid late.)

[RobertEG]

If the debt is revolving, then the consumer has benefit of protecttion under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), which, based on the fact that the min payment revolves around the usage by the consumer, and thus the current balance, requires regular monthly billing as a basis for determination of whether a payment is late, and 30-days thereafter as to whether a late becomes reportable to a CRA.

Installment credit has no such statutory requirments, and the loan contract is adequate to establishe due, late, and reportable late dates.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Robert!

Again, if I understand bartoe's post, it sounds like the VA overpaid for her husband's educational expenses and then billed him for the amount that they overpaid. Only he didn't receive that bill in a timely manner. So it's not really revolving or installment (unless one of those categories is broader than I understand it). It was a one-time debt that he wasn't aware of (and paid immediately when he was made aware, according to bartoe).

It seems to me to be akin to if my medical insurance company pays a medical expense and then sends me a bill for the part I'm supposed to cover. Only I never get the bill.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much the same thing happened to my husband.  There are two of these overpayments and both have been paid.  I sent the VA goodwill letter recently.  It's too early to receive a response.  I have read that they are tough to get off.  I hate the way the VA does collections. You could try a goodwill letter as well.  It's a slim chance from what I've read but you may just get lucky.  

[bartoe]

Pilp - You are correct.  According to my husband, each time he wanted to use his GI Bill, he has to go in and update all the necessary information (i.e. address, school he was going to attend etc) and he did so, they paid for his schooling that semester - no big dea.  However they over paid his school for tuition (if I remember) correctly and sent a letter advising of this to an address that was no longer valid (the address prior to the updated one) and since mail was never forwarded he wasn't aware until he attempted to use the GI Bill the next time around and immediately paid off the debt.

Otherwise, his credit is not bad.  Low DTI, payment history is excellent (him and his ex had home that was approved as a short-sale but they continued to make their payments so it didn't harm his credit as much as it could have), years of credit he has established etc.  The only issue is that when he's denied something (which is rare) it states that he has "several" outstanding collections when in reality it's a total of 2 that have been paid IN FULL.  

[bartoe]

I just want to help him get this removed!

[bartoe]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Pretty much the same thing happened to my husband.  There are two of these overpayments and both have been paid.  I sent the VA goodwill letter recently.  It's too early to receive a response.  I have read that they are tough to get off.  I hate the way the VA does collections. You could try a goodwill letter as well.  It's a slim chance from what I've read but you may just get lucky.  

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Do you happen to have a copy of your letter you'd be willing to share with me?  I was thinking about sending a Goodwill Letter as well to just see what would happen.  It's just frustrating becasue when we were mortgage shopping last year every mortgage company asked about the collection and said that htey would have to "consult" to see if they would be able to work with it....and we want to use a VA loan so we are hoping they'll be able to remove it!