AT&T Collections - Credence Resource Management

[SoDenied]

Hi Team,

After reading the forum for some time a lot of people advised against ever paying a CA for Verizon, AT&T, Dish, Etc. Trying to follow these instructions, I've been on the phone with AT&T for approx 3 hours with them having a hard time finding my debt. After some sweet talking with a special representative, she was able to pull my account up and genuinenly wanted to help me get this resolved. Here's what I learned from her:

• After 2 years, the account gets sold and purged from their system
• The CRM tool that they use to pull up debts, won't find these old debts and they need to use a different system
  • Because of this, they can't generate a ticket to have the debt recalled from CA
• AT&T is able to take payment, but unable to recall the debt

Which leads me to my question(s):

• I was able to get the number of the team who will be able to pull this debt up and get it paid
  • What happens if I pay this with them not being able to recall it?
  • Can I still dispute Credence Resource Management and have it deleted instead of marked as "paid;closed"

Here's the Debt Information:

Payment Info

Original loan amount $3xx.xx

Balance $3xx.xx

Updated on Aug 1, 2016

Opened on Jun 1, 2016

Thoughts on what I should do?

[FireMedic1]

Think positive and hope AT&T will take payment in lieu of recalling the debt. Good Luck! Keep us updated.

[OmarGB9]

I suppose all you can do is pay AT&T, then wait for the update to your reports. Credence may self delete upon payment.

Alternatively, you can try and negotiate a PFD with Credence, but be sure to get it in writing.

[SoDenied]

What happens if I make the payment to AT&T? Does Credence reserve the right to keep the account open on my credit report?

Should I make payment with AT&T and then Dispute Credence since there's really no longer a balance left?

[FireMedic1]

You say AT&T purge past due accounts. But look on your reports and see who owns the debt. If it was sold to the CA. AT&T cant recall it because they got paid from the CA and now they own it. Ask AT&T if they still own the debt and they are using a CA to collect for them. One clue is AT&T will accept payment so they may still own the debt.

[SoDenied]

FireMedic, thanks so much for being so responsive... it's really appreicated.

AT&T is willing to accept payment but their system won't allow them to recall the debt from CA.

That's where I am at today.

So I figured Pay AT&T then dispute since CA can't verify it anymore - I just don't understand the process anymore

[FireMedic1]

Its whacky. But paid looks a whole lot better than owed and mostly it will quit updating each month.Your score will gradually increase after collection accounts are paid off because updates will stop.  You should not expect to see large and immediate gain from paying collections, that happens over time.

[Shawn19AL]

The same thing happened to me.  AT&T took the payment but CRM held the debt.  I paid AT&T in full and CRM placed a note that I paid less than the full amount.  I disputed it because for one I never paid CRM and I paid the entire amount owed. It eventually deleted off my reports.

[SoDenied]

I went ahead and caved in and paid CRM. They told me policy states that eventually AT&T will recall the debt and it will eventually be deleted. I'll check in two months and dispute the record if it's still there.

[FireMedic1]

Congrats. So it does looks like AT&T still owned it and they were just collecting for them. Keep us updated for future posters who may run across the same scenario.