topic Re: Can CA report OC balance? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:19:26 GMT

Can a ca report OC balance on cra?
I have a balance of 3900 with the ca and last payment of 400. The OC is not on my CRA's. They have never reported. But the OC balance before ca added their fees is 2900

The derog is from the ca and says balance of 2900 and last payment of 281.
I'm assuming thy are reporting the OCs balance and the portion of the payment that went to the OC.
Can they do that? Don't they have to report what they say I owe and why I actually paid??

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:05:16 GMT

anyone? can i dispute this?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

RobertEG — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:33:48 GMT

Yes they can. In fact, they are requried to.

The OC reports the balance owed on the debt itself. When they do a collection referral, the debt collector reports the balance owed on the debt referred to them for collection. This is usually, at least at the time of referral, the same as that reported by the OC. It does not mean that the debt collector owns the debt, or that there are duplicate debts. Both both accounts can report it.

If the debt was just assigned to the debt collector collector, their reporting indicates the amount of debt they are authorized to collect on behalf of the OC.

They are required to report the amount of debt under collection. However, if the OC sells the debt to the debt collector, the OC must update the balance of debt owed on their account to $0, and the debt reported by the debt collector would then indicate the debt actuallly owed to them, and not just the amount they are authorized to collect upon..

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:12:55 GMT

Maybe my original post wasn't very clear. I'm sorry

I'm not asking if bOth the OC and ca can report.

I'm asking if the ca can report the balance that is owed to the OC

What I mean is. Say I owe OC $50
And the ca says I owe them ( with there fees and interest) $150
And I made a payment of $20 to the ca

Whenthe ca reports this can they use the original creditors amount owed?
Can they say mat owed is $50 and last payment was $10

The OC is NOT reporting anything at all

Does the ca have to report What THEY say I owe or what the OC says I owe?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:49:16 GMT

(for some reason I can't edit my massage on my iPhone)

I was asking becuase I thought that they had to report accurate info.

I paid the CA $400 and they are REPORTING that I paid $218.
I have proof of what THEY say I owe and what I paid them.

Can I dispute this as NOT accurate or is a CA allowed to report the ORIGINAL creditors amounts?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

llecs — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:58:22 GMT

If I understand right, and please correct if I'm not getting it, your OC isn't reporting and the CA is. Now there may be a few reasons why the OC isn't reporting. In reality, you wouldn't want them to report because it'll cause your scores to drop even more. But the OC may not be reporting because 1) they no longer own the debt (they can report in that case, but they'd have to report $0 or decide to delete entirely), or 2) they decided to delete early, or 3) they don't subscribe to the CRAs (e.g. virtually all medical OCs won't report, for example). If the debt was bad, you wouldn't want it reporting.

When you make a payment, the CA might own the debt or maybe the debt was assigned to them. You'd have to contact the OC to find out. It really doesn't matter either way because you'd always send a DV to a CA before sending a PFD (all PFDs go to whomever is reporting the debt balance).

If the CA says you owe more than the last known balance of the debt when it was with the OC, then the difference in balance would likely be because of interest. CAs can add interest in most cases. You'd have to check the agreement you had with the OC. State laws, in some cases, allow for a default rate too. The balance the CA is supposed to report is the balance that is currently owed (w/ interest if applicable). If the CA is reporting less than that, then maybe they are misreporting, though in your favor. IMO, the balance is relatively unimportant. It doesn't matter if you owe $0 or $10k, the damage to your credit is the same. Now if the CA is claiming you owe $$$$ far and beyond what you think you owe, then you'd have to figure that out via a DV and ask for an accounting from when the CA took over the debt to present. In short, the CA is supposed to report the balance that is owed.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

llecs — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:05:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I paid the CA $400 and they are REPORTING that I paid $218.
I have proof of what THEY say I owe and what I paid them.

Can I dispute this as NOT accurate or is a CA allowed to report the ORIGINAL creditors amounts?

IMO, keep a copy of your report along with copies of your cashier's checks. You never know. IMO, it isn't disputable. Even if it gets adjusted to $400, it won't help your credit any.

What I would do is do some math. The difference between $400 and $218 is $172. Is it possible that they tacked on $172 in interest since they last updated? You'd have to look at your reports and see when the CA last updated to this recent update. If 2-3 months passed since updating, and with a balance owed of $3900, then $172 in added interest is plausible I believe.

BTW, if you aren't on a written agreement to pay back the balance, you need to get one NOW!!! Otherwise, interest will continue to tack on. Create an agreement and get them to sign off on it that you'd pay $400/mo in exchange for 6 payments, for example, to have the debt settled in full and spell out your payment schedule on your terms. Now that's an example, but you get the idea. Better than that, save up as fast as you can and offer a PFD via a one-payment.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:08:04 GMT

Yes that's correct

The OC is not and never has reported (medical) I didn't go hippa on this because I can't PIF (or even close)
So I chose to deal with the ca. I'm past the dv stage. And I'm sure it would come back verified as it's not that old. ( under a year)
I have a written payment agreement with the ca at this point.

The issue is that they have report to the CRA's ( after I agreed to pay)
I made amount I agreed to pay is $3900 and I made a payment of $400 last month

They are reporting it as Amt owed $2900 and last payment of $218

I thought they had to report THEIR balance due and last payment?

Both are incorrect. Can I dispute this based on reporting incorrect info? Or is the ca allowed to report like that?
The baddie is already there so I doesn't really matter what the Amt due says ( I care more about the last payment amount being incorrect)

I just wanted to know if the CA is allowed to report the OC balance or do they HAVE to report they're own?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:17:40 GMT

Edited because I was typing while the OP was clarifying.

-------

Was the OC balance $2900? Does your state allow them to charge that much ($1k) in collection fees? Have you ever made a payment of $218?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:14:35 GMT

The OP is disputing BOTH the Amt owed and last payment. They are both incorrect

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

llecs — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:19:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The OP is disputing BOTH the Amt owed and last payment. They are both incorrect

You wouldn't want to do that though. They'll increase the balance that's being reported. Your report will appear worse off than before, though it very likely won't impact your FICO any. And yes, they need to report the correct balance owed.

In the end it doesn't matter since you have a written agreement with them. Sound like inside of 10 months at $400/pop, the debt will be PIF. Just keep every cashier's check copy and keep a copy of that agreement.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:25:03 GMT

I thought the amount due had no impact on FICO scores. Just that you have a collection.
The issue is I'd like to get it off my report.
If I dispute the Amt due and last payment it either gets updated and no change to FICO anyway (aside from whatever they do when u dispute) or deleted.

That's why I was asking if they were allowed to report OC balance. If I dispute and they verify incorrect info that's a violation right?

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:25:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The OP is disputing BOTH the Amt owed and last payment. They are both incorrect

See my re-edited questions, LOL! You were reading faster than I was fixing!

Something seems really wrong here, that's why I'm asking about the OC amount, the collection costs added, and if you've ever actually made a payment of $218. I wondering if this is slow reporting/updating, or possibly something fraudulent going on.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:30:28 GMT

(again sorry for double posting. iPhone won't let me edit)

I don't want to get the "ethics committee" up in arms here. But my goal is to have this removed. I'm not disputing "accurate" info. I'm thinking that if I dispute and they verify I am more likely to get this off my report. Worse case sernario is they uPdate the amt. No biggie. Maybe is should be asking in the "other" board.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:35:15 GMT

No. I never made a payment of 218. I've only made one payment and it was 400

I belive they are reporting the OCs balance due and what portion of my payment was given the the OC

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

llecs — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:42:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
(again sorry for double posting. iPhone won't let me edit)

I don't want to get the "ethics committee" up in arms here. But my goal is to have this removed. I'm not disputing "accurate" info. I'm thinking that if I dispute and they verify I am more likely to get this off my report. Worse case sernario is they uPdate the amt. No biggie. Maybe is should be asking in the "other" board.

The only issue that would come into play if you advise another OP to dispute accurate info. In your case you are the OP and you aren't advising others to dispute accurate info. In fact, IMO, your balance and pmt history is disputable because it is inaccurate, though my answer will remain to not do it.

The balance change won't impact the score. However, if the TL had not updated in a long while (months/years), then you could possible see a score drop, but it depends on a number of factors. In your case, the CA is recent. BTW, along those lines and of LilMirth's questions, when was the last status update? If the $218 appeared before your $400 payment, then the payment history wouldn't be incorrectly reporting. OC/sCAs sometimes adjust balances downwards for whatever reason and some record it as a payment (when it isn't).

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:45:58 GMT

The collection act is brand new. Reported first time in march. The last payment is the only Payment that was ever made

The only thing they are reporting correctly is there name

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:49:48 GMT

I'm not looking to get balances changed. I don't really care what they repOrt the balance to be.

I'm looking to get the collection REMOVED.

Like is said before. If I dispute and they change the ants to what they are supposed to be it doesn't really have any effect

What I WANT is for them to just delete it OR to have them verify the INACCURATE info.

They only thing I rely need to know is if they are in fact reporting incorrectly or if they are AlLOWED to report it like that

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:56:13 GMT

I think it's unlikely that you'll get this deleted if you dispute on the basis of the balances.

I think it's more likely the balances will be updated.

Re: Can CA report OC balance?

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:59:03 GMT

Maybe so. But then why not repOrt the balances correctly in the first place?

So am I right in the assumptiOn thet if they verifiy the incorrect balances it's a violation?