Debt is separate from balances reported, and exists with some party until paid. It is possible for no debt at all to show on your CR if neither the OC or debt collector has reported to a CRA. It is also possilbe for the debt to show under the OC account alone if only the OC has reported. If the OC has assigned the debt to a debt collector, but retains ownership, then the debt is shown under the OC account. If the debt collector then reports their collection to the CRA, what they report does not reflect ownership of the debt, but merely the amount they have been authorized to collect upon. Thus, the "debt" will appear to have been reported twice, but in fact the debt itself is reported under the OC account balance, and the amount authorized to collect is reported on the debt collector account with the CRA. If the OC has merely assigned collection of the debt, they dont update their balance to $0.
Should the OC sell the debt to the debt collector, the debt thereafter constitutes the reporting done by the debt collector, and not the OC. Since the OC no longer owns the debt, they must, in their next reporting to the CRA, update the debt balance on their account to $0. Again, the fact of the prior bookeeping CO done by the OC is not relevant to the reporting of the debt. The OC account will still show the amount of the original debt charged-off in a separate field, but the current balance must then reflect $0.
As far as two debt collectors showing collection activity in your CR, that is not per se improper. Two debt collectors cannot simultaneously be collecting on the same debt, but that does not necessarily mean that two collections cannot appear in your CR on the same debt. If a frist debt collector has their debt collection authority terminated, either by the OC, or if the debt collector owns the debt, by their sale or assingment to a second debt collector, that does not make the credit reporting that they did at the time they did have collector authority inaccurate. No provision of the FDCPA or FCRA requires a debt collector to delete their prior reporting upon termination of their collection authority. If the new debt collector then reports to a CRA, their reporting is also accurate, and can co-exist on your CR with the prior reporting done by debt collector one. I know of no basis for disputing the occurance of two collections based on the same debt. They are not "duplicate reporting." Each reflects their own, separate and legitimate activities.
Many debt collectors, upon termination of their collection authority, may choose to delete their account with the CRA, but there is no reqquirement of statute or regulation that requires them to do so. I dont see a basis for a dispute.
Starting Score: 574 (3/29/11)
