Should I pay original creditor or collection agency?

[sge760]

I have a collection on my report and the original creditor is willing to accept payment - should I pay original creditor or collection agency?    

Should I do a "pay for delete" through the collection agency, or should I pay the original creditor then do a debt validation of the collection agency through the credit bureaus to have it the line deleted?

[Terrie1977]

If the OC has agreed to a settlement, I would only deal with them.

Is it a Pay for Delete or Pay to close out the account and update the credit reports accordingly?

Is the collection on your credit report under the OC or the CA? The OC should notify the CA once your account with them is settled.I would make this a stipulation to the OC before paying anything as well.

Get all agreed terms in writing before making any payment.

Good luck!

[sge760]

Terrie - Thanks for the response.

The account was is a cellphone account charged off 3 years ago and I don't mind paying this off in full because it is only around $100, so I don't consider it a settlement.  

The collection agency is reporting this collection as 2 different companies with the same contact info (Convergent and WCI). That is what sparked my hesitation with dealing with them, so I contacted the Original Creditor (Sprint) and they are willing to accept payment - (some companies I've dealt with wouldn't accept payment. They would tell me to deal with the collection agency).    The original creditor is not reporting this at all on my credit report.

You're saying I should have the original creditor (Sprint) agree in writing that they will notify the collection agencies once the account is paid?  Will the collection agency have to stop reporting all together, or could they then report that the account was "paid in full"

[Anonymous]

I would see if they could remove it from your credit entirely with full payment, if you are willing to make the payment.

That way it will be completely off your credit and then you do not have to worry about it.  But like others have said, get it in writing.

 - Dan

[RobertEG]

Paying either party will result in satisfaction of the debt, so from that viewpoint, as long as payment is clearly acknowledged as satisfaction of the debt, it doesnt matter which wallet the payment initially goes into.

If you pay the OC, they must then notify their debt collector that the debt is satisfied, requiring the debt collector to update their reporting to paid, $0 balance under collection, and close their collection.  The OC cannot compel the debt collector to delete their own reporting. The OC can request them to do so, but cant compel.

The OC terminates the collection, but that does not make accurate reporting done by the debt collector inaccurate.  To the contrary, CRA reporting guidelines clearly instruct all furnishers that they are not to delete prior, accurate reporting based on payment of the debt.

The OC has not reported, so their is no issue of a PFD to them.  Dealing with the debt collector provides the opportunity to strike a PFD deal with them.

Paying and then requesting debt validation wont get deletion.  First, they have no requirement to respond to a request for debt verification.  Presuming your DV would still be timely, which it would apparently not, it would only impose a cease collection bar on them.  With the debt paid, there will be no further collection activities, so even a timely DV would accomplish nothing.  And even if they did choose to respond, verification would be quite simple.  "We verify that the debt is $0."

I would recommend dealing with the debt collector, not the OC.

[sge760]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Paying either party will result in satisfaction of the debt, so from that viewpoint, as long as payment is clearly acknowledged as satisfaction of the debt, it doesnt matter which wallet the payment initially goes into.

If you pay the OC, they must then notify their debt collector that the debt is satisfied, requiring the debt collector to update their reporting to paid, $0 balance under collection, and close their collection.  The OC cannot compel the debt collector to delete their own reporting. The OC can request them to do so, but cant compel.

The OC terminates the collection, but that does not make accurate reporting done by the debt collector inaccurate.  To the contrary, CRA reporting guidelines clearly instruct all furnishers that they are not to delete prior, accurate reporting based on payment of the debt.

The OC has not reported, so their is no issue of a PFD to them.  Dealing with the debt collector provides the opportunity to strike a PFD deal with them.

Paying and then requesting debt validation wont get deletion.  First, they have no requirement to respond to a request for debt verification.  Presuming your DV would still be timely, which it would apparently not, it would only impose a cease collection bar on them.  With the debt paid, there will be no further collection activities, so even a timely DV would accomplish nothing.  And even if they did choose to respond, verification would be quite simple.  "We verify that the debt is $0."

I would recommend dealing with the debt collector, not the OC.

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Makes perfect sense. You perfectly resolved my issue.  Thanks so much.

[whydoineedaname]

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@sge760 wrote:

...The collection agency is reporting this collection as 2 different companies with the same contact info (Convergent and WCI). ...

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So... Reciently I had the same thing going on with two different companies reporting...  I disputed both of them and one fell off.  In your case if your going to pay off the the original amount due to the collection agency I would make sure you pay the correct person ;-)