topic Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove in Rebuilding Your Credit

Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 03:50:02 GMT

I hear lots of people upset with the collection agencies...I'll admit I can only comment on my personal situation, but i've found that collection agencies are far more willing to make deals, delete info from the CRA, and grant goodwills, then the original creditors.

I have almost all of the collection agencies off my reports, the only one remaining is CACH, and I cannot get definitive information as to whether or not they are a debt collector or not.

Spoke to a woman with fingerhut today regarding a paid in full account that is reporting negatively, and was treated like absolute garbage, insulted, and made to feel worthless. Is the BBB complaint process a viable avenue to just complain about how poorly I was treated by them?

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:15:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I hear lots of people upset with the collection agencies...I'll admit I can only comment on my personal situation, but i've found that collection agencies are far more willing to make deals, delete info from the CRA, and grant goodwills, then the original creditors.

I have almost all of the collection agencies off my reports, the only one remaining is CACH, and I cannot get definitive information as to whether or not they are a debt collector or not.

Spoke to a woman with fingerhut today regarding a paid in full account that is reporting negatively, and was treated like absolute garbage, insulted, and made to feel worthless. Is the BBB complaint process a viable avenue to just complain about how poorly I was treated by them?

Well;; It really depends on the types of debt, the age of the accounts, how many you have and which bad seeds you get..

In general; I tend to agree with you.. I had, uhm... 21 different agencies I had to work with and most of them were removed via goodwill pretty easily.

However ; there are those that just don't want to work with you or don't seem to care.. there are story after story on this forum about people who got down to one or two negative accounts after reparing and just cant seem to get the last of the accounts removed; for whatever reason. I am one of them, and I had great success removing pretty much everything..

but talk to me about Fair Collections and Outsourcing, and I will write you a novel about the things I have done and tried to remove this listing...

So yeah; in general I think you statement is valid, but just because you had a pretty easy go of it doesn't mean everyone does...

-scott

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:10:36 GMT

I've worked for three different collection agencies in 2 states and can tell you they none of them will remove something once it is on your credit unless the OC tells them to do so, and their OCs will only agree to remove if there was a genuine error in reporting. These are all small agencies, though, run by single owners. They gain nothing by taking something off your credit and so they don't do it. Because of that experience, I find it odd that so many agencies do actually remove things for others. CAs aren't exactly known for being tender-hearted.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:16:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've worked for three different collection agencies in 2 states and can tell you they none of them will remove something once it is on your credit unless the OC tells them to do so, and their OCs will only agree to remove if there was a genuine error in reporting. These are all small agencies, though, run by single owners. They gain nothing by taking something off your credit and so they don't do it. Because of that experience, I find it odd that so many agencies do actually remove things for others. CAs aren't exactly known for being tender-hearted.

Well, many collection agencies don't communicate with the OC -- they purchase the debts and own it outright. Sometimes debt could be on its 3rd, 4th, 5th collection agency... they don't communicate with each other on these debts really/

IF they are in communication with the OC, that is because they are likely working FOR the OC to collect the debt.

Even in that case, the OC has no standing to dictate to the collection company to remove or not remove the listing. The ultimate decretion lies with the reporting party. Although, you are correct, in order to maintain a happy relationship with THIER client (aka the OC) they may not remove the file.

And I disagree with they gain nothing. Everytime you dispute, send a letter, call, on an account, someone who is being paid money has to handle that. Therefor, they lose money the more you push them on something. So, they do have something to gain, and that is you leaving them alone haha

-scott

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:27:10 GMT

I understand the difference between bought debt and contract work.

And in the case you outlined where the agency has a contract with the OC as a client, you are correct that they want to keep those clients happy. They don't give a crumb about the debtors themselves. Many of these agencies do feel as if the OC can dictate how the account is handled and that includes reporting. If your client is giving you $2 mil per month to collect, you aren't going to risk that money to delete a $2k debt for a debtor that your company makes $160 from.

And the agencies usually have someone who handles these disputes in addition to another job - client relations, sales, bankruptcy desk, data entry, receptionist, etc. So no, in the cases of OC owned debt being collected by an agency, they really don't care. Once they have verified the debt, etc, they just throw subsequent letters in the shredder or scan them to the account. The collector assigned to the account might get them, and since they work on commission, it's basically the same effect, scan, shred, ignore and keep on going.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:32:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

And the agencies usually have someone who handles these disputes in addition to another job - client relations, sales, bankruptcy desk, data entry, receptionist, etc. So no, in the cases of OC owned debt being collected by an agency, they really don't care. Once they have verified the debt, etc, they just throw subsequent letters in the shredder or scan them to the account. The collector assigned to the account might get them, and since they work on commission, it's basically the same effect, scan, shred, ignore and keep on going.

Well; it takes manpower and effort to handle an issue.. and I am talking post payment, not pre-payment..

In regards to ignore and keep going, if you make a form dispute, such as a direct dispute to the CA in regards to information being inaccurate, they cannot just choose to ignore the dispute. They have to legally process the claim.

I am not advocating frvilous disputing, but merely countering that someone has to do work to process anything you send to them, and that is money. Even if it is just cents on the transaction. For the smaller agencies; I can see what you are saying but for larger ones who handle thousands of accounts, a persistant GWer is someone they would rather just go away, as opposed to simply ignoring. At least my experience has taught me this. I have had to deal with small ones and large ones, assigned and not.

-scott

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:42:53 GMT

A lot of times, what we got at the agencies I worked for were silly form letters that were obviously pulled off the Internet insisting that accounts didn't belong to them (and mostly medical bills, where signatures matched the dispute letter). In that case the agency gets signature proof from the hospital, sends it to the debtor and continues collections in the legally appropriate way. (2 of the three agencies I worked for were VERY HIPPA/FDCPA compliant and followed ALL the rules to the letter). What happens is then a lot of these debtors send another letter stating the exact same thing or sends a DNC letter. If the account is in statute and verified, it then just immediately goes to the legal department for a lawsuit if the debtor is gainfully employed. This is what I mean when I say the process continues. And smaller agencies handle 1000s of accounts. The agency I last worked for had 10-13 collectors and 5 in the legal department and we were actively suing 500 accounts a month. I'd guesstimate the larger agencies get hundreds of thousands of accounts at a time. (We represented about 40 hospitals in 3 states).

I'm not saying GW won't work, as experience here clearly suggests otherwise, but it's certainly not always "easy". I would say luck of placement has a lot to do with it.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:46:08 GMT

I guess the heart of what i'm trying to get at is....almost NONE of the OC who are reporting, even if paid, can I get off my reports. And in MY (and I stress its been MY experience) not only are the collection agencies willing to delete, but they actually treat me with more respect. So again, i'm not saying thats a rule, just saying that is my personal experience.

I even had the lawyer for a JDB who got a judgement against me petition the court to vacate the judgement (at not cost), and the court allowed it.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:47:08 GMT

Maybe I just have the monster of OC.s. Capital one, HSBC, Fingerhut, Dept of Education, and First premier. .......

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 20:40:47 GMT

It is definitely not what most people believe - all collectors are not pond scum. I always took the approach that each debtor I dealt with was someone that wanted to do the right thing until they showed me otherwise. I was always polite and upfront with my debtors, even with the 90 year old man that called me a "Mod Edit" for even daring to call and tell him that he had a balance due from his bill.

In MY experience, there are good, honest collectors and terrible, corrupt collectors in nearly every agency. In MY experience, once the OC turns over the bill, they don't want to talk to the debtor at all anymore. They're already unhappy that they are losing 7-20% of whatever is collected to the CA. Or they just want to deal with people who want to pay before it gets that far. The collector on the other hand sees that person calling in as a potential part of their income for the month and they DO want to talk to you. If they're allowed to delete, OF COURSE they will if it means money in their pocket on commission day.

Please keep the forums G-rated.

Thank you Lightnin,myFICO moderator

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 20:45:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It is definitely not what most people believe - all collectors are not pond scum. I always took the approach that each debtor I dealt with was someone that wanted to do the right thing until they showed me otherwise. I was always polite and upfront with my debtors, even with the 90 year old man that called me a "Mod Edit" for even daring to call and tell him that he had a balance due from his bill.

In MY experience, there are good, honest collectors and terrible, corrupt collectors in nearly every agency. In MY experience, once the OC turns over the bill, they don't want to talk to the debtor at all anymore. They're already unhappy that they are losing 7-20% of whatever is collected to the CA. Or they just want to deal with people who want to pay before it gets that far. The collector on the other hand sees that person calling in as a potential part of their income for the month and they DO want to talk to you. If they're allowed to delete, OF COURSE they will if it means money in their pocket on commission day.

I agree 100 percent with what you are saying above. I have never felt debt collectors were scum, if it regarded to collecting on legitmate debt. All of my debt, less for 3 accounts, were legitimate debt I paid in full, and either negotiated a PFD or a GW attempt. More than a dozen collection accounts. Nearly all reps I spoke with (offshore or USA based) were cordial, followed the rules; weren't beligerent. MY personal experience

But there are extremely unethical AGENCIES, not just agents, where their whole business is buying old debt, 4 times over and resold, for pennies on the dollars and spend their whole days violating FDCPA and FCRA in extortion attempts by harrasing, by making legal threats they can't possibly back up, by threatening your livelyhood. This isn't me trying to sound dramatic, this is fact. And I delt with THREE of these agencies

I just don't agree with your intial response on this thread to begin with; whcih indicated that CAs won't delete unless the OC states to, because I promise you that a couple of the OCs who took me to court, won a judgment (which subsquently I paid off) and still try to do things to impact my future would have a seizure if they knew the CA removed the account after payment. And several other of my accounts were sold, for example, the HSBC charge off, and there is no way Portfolio Recovery was talking to them when I was negotiating my PFD.They bought they debt. The owned it. They did what they needed to do to make money and HSBC was not in this loop.

As for working for three agencies, your internal experience and knowledge is clearly superior towards mine. But having spent the last 3 years repairing, and rebuilding my credit, my experience has taught me otherwise.

-scott

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 07:26:08 GMT

I don't always remember to specify , but my initial response definitely was meant to apply to debts which are contracted, not sold. And I agree, most of those OCs would lose their minds if they knew CAs were deleting debts. They want that mark on your credit as long as possible. They don't want to be seen as soft - they want you to pay future bills to them before it goes to a CA. They don't want to lose any money to a CA that isn't necessary.

And there are ABSOLUTELY corrupt agencies. I left the one I worked for in Houston, TX because I didn't want to be associated with that type of crap, much less end up named in a lawsuit because of the practices others at the agency engaged in.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 07:31:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't always remember to specify , but my initial response definitely was meant to apply to debts which are contracted, not sold. And I agree, most of those OCs would lose their minds if they knew CAs were deleting debts. They want that mark on your credit as long as possible. They don't want to be seen as soft - they want you to pay future bills to them before it goes to a CA. They don't want to lose any money to a CA that isn't necessary.

And there are ABSOLUTELY corrupt agencies. I left the one I worked for in Houston, TX because I didn't want to be associated with that type of crap, much less end up named in a lawsuit because of the practices others at the agency engaged in.

Okay. So after 3 hours and 1500 words, we esseintially have the exact same opinion hehe

-scott

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:25:28 GMT

I had a collection agency pay for delete with no hesitation, ive had another tell me its against the FCRA regulations. both were small debts. im going to sit down and write up some letters and mail them off. i have 3 agencies that could help me out if they deleted GW.

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 15:01:54 GMT

If you have a long term relationship with the creditor are they ever willing to take off negative credit reporting as good will?

Re: Collection agencies seem easy to remove

Shogun — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:55:02 GMT

It's pure luck I believe. I had an easier time with the OCs than the CAs. I agree that not all CAs are pond scum, for some though, I would think comparing them to pond scum is insulting the pond scum.