Many are confused by what appears to be duplicate reporting of the same debt by both an OC and a debt collector.
I would view it this way. They are separate "timelines," to use your descriptive.
The OC reports monthly delinquencies and other derogs, such as a charge-off, that occurs under your account agreement with them.
Their reporting is unrelated to reporting done by a debt collector. The OC can close your account with them in three ways. They can just close it for their own reasons. If they choose to charge-off the debt in their accounting ledger, then the account must also be closed. Third, if they refer a delinquent debt to a debt collector, that also indicates closure of the account. Closure of an OC account means no further monthly delinquencies can accrue, and the only remaining derog they can report is a charge-off. OCs can then either retain ownership of the debt, and hire a debt collector as their agent to pursue collection, or they can sell the debt and be rid of it. The amount of delinquent debt owed to them is reported under the OC account until such time as it is either paid, or the debt is sold to another. Then, the OC must report the debt balance as $0. This does not signify payment of the debt if its balance became $0 due to sale of the debt to another.
Separately comes the reporting done by a debt collector. Any time a debt collector is assigned collection authority, they are entitled to report the collection activity to a CRA. They report the amount of the debt they are assigned to collect on behalf of the OC. It may be the same as the amount of the debt being reported under the OC account, and thus look like duplicate reporting, but it is not, when they dont own the debt, an actual reporting of debt. It is a reporting of the amount they are authorized to collect. If the debt collector then purchases the debt, then the debt itself can show under only one reporting to your credit file. The debt that was just under collection then becomes debt they owe. Your CR wont show this, as there is no code to reflect ownership. They are still authorized to collect it, just as before, but now they own it. So the OC must update their reporting to show a $0 debt balance owed to them. That is the way that sale of a debt is usually realized in your CR.
Items reported by an OC are thus separate from those reported by a debt collector, and deletion of items reported by one does not necessarily result in deletion of items reported by the other. GW letters for deletion of monthly delinquencies or a charge off can only be entertained by the OC, as they are the party who reported them. GW letters relating to deletion of the reporting of collection of the debt, including debt owned by the debt collector, can only be entertained by the debt collector.
So if you want deletion of both the delinquencies and derogs leading up the subsequent reporting of a collection and of the collection itself, separate GW letters must be addressed to each party.
