Additional Details On Creditor From Credit Report?

[Anonymous]

I have an outstanding credit issue, with an account that has gone into collections.  I am not the primary on the account but I would like to settle the balance and the primary is not availible.  I can see on my credit report that the account has gone to collections but I can not fund out who I need to contact to pay the balance.  Is there any way I can drill down into this information or request or find the specific information that will allow me, via my credit report to contact the right creditor to settle this outstanding balance? Any ideas appriciated

[Anonymous]

Hi Murdock

Welcome!

Are you a joint or an AU on the account?

[Anonymous]

Yes,  I am a joint on the account with the primary being this unreachable person.  Based on my credit report it looks to have been sold by the origional credit card company to a collections company but with out any coorespondance etc I have little to do on to figure out who to actually pay.  I have called the companies that i could find listed on various other points of information and they all have assured me that I do not have an account with them.  My thought is that I should go back to the credit card company and see if it can be resolved directly with them.  I would be suprised if I sent them a check for payment and they didnt accept it.  Thats about all I can think of. 

[Anonymous]

That would be my inclination as well - to contact the original creditor.

I have, in the past, sent a check to the OC and they have accepted it - but others have not had the same experience.  And in my case, I didn't call and ask for permission, I just sent the check in.  I don't know if that's generally wise or not, but it worked for me.

Since you're joint, you have the information on where to send payments and the account number?

And, I take it, you are not receiving bills?

At any rate. that's my quickie knee-jerk reaction fwiw.  Hopefully other folks will chime in with their experiences and thoughts.

[Anonymous]

BMU,

Thanks for the feedback, I have the same feeling about this.  Although I am not getting bills currently I do have an old bill and the appropriaste account information to at least reference an incoming payment, but thats about it.  My only concern is that they accept payment and I still have a collections company to deal with who paid money for my recivable and wants to collect.  I am not sure how this would actually work.  I have also considered hiring a credit focused attorney from town to simply figure it out for me.  In the end I think this shouldnt be too difficult as I am not disputing any charges or informaiton and merly want to pay the balance in full with out to much push back, but at month 3 of trying to pay someone its just getting silly. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Best wishes as you work through this.

In my case, IIRC (cuz it was awhile ago), I simply told the CA that the bill had been paid in full, and they disappeared when I sent documentation  Again, this isn't always the case, but in my situation it worked.  I've also heard folks have their checks refused and told they need to contact the CA.  Definitely a YMMV type of thing.

Three months is a long time to try to pay someone - wishing you the best!

[RobertEG]

Congress provided FCRA 609(a)(1) and (2) for just such situations.  It gives the consumer the right to request, directly from the CRA, all information in their credit file.

All you have to do is to send a section 609(a)(1) request to the CRA, making sure to provide three things: 1) specific identification of the information you request, 2) proof of your identity, and 3) the required processing fee, which is currently $11.00.

Section 609(a)(2) specifically entitles you to the identity of the "source of the information," which appears to be what you need.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses.  Since my last post I have seen an update in information from my fico score that shows this limited but possibly helpful information:

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SE (XXXXXXXXX0728) - balance increase

Has anyone seen similar creditor or collector information on thier reports.  I am trying to contact these guys, at this point I am not even sure this is the same issue I had inititally posted about, but am not able to get any additional information.  Thoughts? Thanks!

[Booner72]

Hi Murdock - I think you need to follow RobertEG's advice and get the info directly from the CRA.