CA and OC questions regarding CRAs

[Anonymous]

I'll try to make a long story short. My husband co-signed for a Lowes credit card with his brother. His brother "forgot" my husband was on the credit card and let it get written off without saying a word to us. We found out by pulling our report. We want to purchase a home, and this charge off is holding us back from doing so. We called Lowes to try to take care of the debt, but they told us they no longer owned it. They sent us to someone who sent us to someone else. The odd thing is that there are no new entities on our credit report. Lowes has marked it as a charge off, and keeps dinging our credit each month. If they don't own the debt anymore, can they do that? Also, can another company use Lowes to report through? I'm a bit confused over the whole thing. Thanks!

Lori

[RobertEG]

Yes, they can.  The prior reporting of a CO by the OC is not erased based on their subsequent sale of the charged off debt to another, so I see no fault with their reporting at the time of CO, and its subsequent continued inclusion in your CR.

If they sold the debt, they dont want to talk about it.  So I am not surprised that you have received no satisfaction from them.

Debt is debt until paid.  The obligation may change hands, but does not go away.

You may see a new CA contacting you or posting to your CR if they purchased the debt, and want to collect on it.

If a CA reports, they must identify the OC.

I dont see anything improper.