Charge off just showed up!? help!

[Anonymous]

Hi there. Although you got a CA to remove the TL, the OC can still report you account history/status with the CRA's. I'm assuming the utility bill was unpaid for 3 months. Its usually by that time, the OC will recognize this as bad debt and charge it off in accounting standards.

As for the $16 difference, chances are fees might have been added on. 

In future references, always see if you can deal with the OC first rather than the CA. Depending on their contracts, the OC can recall an account from a CA and will retract the CA TL. My advice is talk to the OC and see if you can negotiate a way to remove the TL. Since you settled, you might have to pay the difference from the original amount and CA fees that they accrued. This might give them an incentive to delete. Good luck and keep us updated!

[natasjlp]

alright, I am going to call the OC and see what is going on and what I can do to get the TL removed. I hope the CA didn't take my money and run...

The bill in question was from 2002. Had a 'misunderstanding' with the landlord and paid for someone elses gas bill for a month or 2 - unfortunately it was in my name.

[natasjlp]

update: alright, so I just got off the phone with National Grid and they have no record from the CA that I payed. The CA did report tol the CRs but not the OC!

So now I must contact the CA and attempt to get a receipt number of the payment, call back NG and then they will change the roprt to the CR as PIF. Now is a PIF any better than a Charge Off for credit purposes?

What sort of steps can I take to have this removed? The weird thing is the OC didn't report this until I paid the CA.

[natasjlp]

I just found out another interesting thing. The account number on the CR does not match the account number with the OC - should I perhaps just dispute through EX?

[natasjlp]

Interesting turn of events. I called the CA about not alerting the OC. Turns out they did. Apparently  I have another collection from the same year about the same amount with the same OC but with a different CA!

The OC says they do not report anything to CRAs only the CAs they use do. I have the CA name and number and address I think. Do I Deal with the OC, pay them and have them retract the collection from the CA? Will this remove the TL from the CR?

Or do I DV the CA, then follow up as needed with a possible PFD etc...?