Unique Situation with credit. Driving me nuts. Help please!

[Anonymous]

@ RobertEg:

Major update.

I spoke to my collections agency. I was nice to them. My att account has a balance of $285 which after CA fees and everything shows up as $337 outstanding. They were willing to take a full payment of $285 to delete the collections account from my report.

Im a little unsure about this, he says that the att account will show up as "Paid in full" on my credit report. Is this a good thing or will it still show up as a "Collections account" paid in full?

I asked him to submit to me in writing that my account will be taken off my report and he sends me a letter that reads verbatim as follows:

Dear xxxx,

This communication is from a debt collector. This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Please be advised that the Beareau of Collections Recovery LLC and AT&T mobile have agreed to a single payment of $284.94 no later than 12/17/2012. This payment will be applied to the above referenced account. Please contact us to make further arrangements for complete account resolution.

As of the date of this letter, you owe a total amount of $337.41.

Sincerely,

Beareau of Collections Recovery.

Note that this letter was not what I asked for as nowhere does it mention my account being taken off the report if the payment was paid in full. He says that once I make the payment and it clears, they will send me a letter saying that the account will be deleted blah blah. I was unhappy with this and told him Ill get back to him on this.

Few questions:

1) Since I have never seen my credit report yet, under normal circumstances,  if I  pay a phone bill normally, does it show as "paid in full"??? Im trying to see if there is a difference between paying a phone bill normally and paying off a CA in full in terms of what gets displayed on my credit report.

2) The CA also mentions that they are the agency responsible for collecting this debt and ATT still owns my account. He says once I make this payment in full, they will report it to ATT and ATT in turn will report it to the CB. Then it will take the CB about 30-60 days to take it completely off my account. Is this information correct? Is this is procedure followed when payments are made in full?

3) Should I call ATT. If yes, what do I ask them?

Long post I know, but Im desperate to get this sorted. I hope you understand my situation. Thank you very much.

[Jutz]

It sounds like you have two different agreements. If they agree to delete, they delete the entire tradeline. Nothing will remain. If they are still saying to will be listed as paid in full, this means it will remain on your report. Even with this status, the presence of a collection account is negative itself. If you have their agreement to delete the account and it is the only tradeline listed regarding this debt, it sounds like you are getting what you're asking for. Many CAs will be hesitant to put it in writing, so there's a certain amount of trust that goes along with it. This is because it's something that's a bit of a gray area as far as FCRA goes. 

[Anonymous]

@ Jutz:

Im a little unclear about this. Kindly bear with my ignorance.

1) The CA says that the words collection agency will not appear on my report at all. But under ATT, it will say Paid-in-full. Is that still a good thing?

2) When a person normally pays off ATT with no CA involved, does it still show as ATT- Paid in Full on their report?

3) What exactly do you mean by an entire tradeline being removed? Does it mean all CA related stuff is removed or all ATT+CA related stuff is removed? Which is better?

[Anonymous]

btw,

By ATT i mean AT&T, the phone company.

[Jutz]

What exactly is listed on your report right now?

Generally with AT&T/Verizon/Other cell companies, if there is an account from the OC, it would be listed as a Charge-Off.  In addition, or instead of, a Collection Agency would have an account listed, in AT&T's case it's normally EOS.

If you are dealing directly with AT&T and there is no collection company with a listing on your report, just a charge off from AT&T, then I would push to have the entire tradeline removed.  Paid in full does not have any bearing if it is still a charge off.  There's a chance that they could remove the charge off status, but I can't say I've seen this happen with a utility company, since the only time they'd report would be for a charge off.

Let us know exactly what is reporting, and who you are dealing with.  It sounds like you are making progress, but it's important to deal with this stuff now, while you have leverage.

[tattooedhusker]

Before you make any payments or agreements, get something in writing.

[Jutz]

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@tattooedhusker wrote:

Before you make any payments or agreements, get something in writing.

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This is not always possible, so while it is best case, it is generally one condition that can be broken.

[Anonymous]

Quick question:

Im abut to make a payment in full to a collections agency,

Whats the best way to do so?

1) Check on phone

2) Credit card

I dont want the CA to know my current address, or if they do, does it even matter?