Did I just get tricked? Is this legal?

Anonymous · ‎12-25-2019

So, over the past year or so I have been working on rebuilding my credit. I came across an account after joining myFICO that shows as being opened July of 2019. I called up Portfolio Recovery and spoke with them, and asked if the debt had been bought from another collector. They said no, that they have owned it since 2017. After getting in writing that they will send a request to delete letter to the 3B’s after receiving payment for the debt, I agreed to pay the debt over 4 months. I already made my first payment.

I made this payment simply because the account is listed as so new and because of that is taking a lot of points off. I was under the impression what they did was legal, as long as it’s not more than 7 years old. However, I read somewhere tonight that it must be reported as the original date, which in this case would be 2017 sometime, the year I originally defaulted. If not, it’s considered re-aging or reinsertion, and is not legal. Am I interpreting this correctly? I’m assuming what they did was a shady tactic in hopes of getting me to call them. Worst case for them is they can say it was an error if I challenged it. Now that I’ve made a payment, is there anything I can do?

Here is a link to a screenshot of it listed on my myFICO. https://imgur.com/gallery/mWT2eCx

Thanks for your input,
wave

Anonymous · ‎12-25-2019

Additionally, here is a snippet of what it shows on the agreement form they sent to me, which obviously contradicts what they are reporting on my credit report.

silver_idle · ‎12-25-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
So, over the past year or so I have been working on rebuilding my credit. I came across an account after joining myFICO that shows as being opened July of 2019. I called up Portfolio Recovery and spoke with them, and asked if the debt had been bought from another collector. They said no, that they have owned it since 2017. After getting in writing that they will send a request to delete letter to the 3B’s after receiving payment for the debt, I agreed to pay the debt over 4 months. I already made my first payment.

I made this payment simply because the account is listed as so new and because of that is taking a lot of points off. I was under the impression what they did was legal, as long as it’s not more than 7 years old. However, I read somewhere tonight that it must be reported as the original date, which in this case would be 2017 sometime, the year I originally defaulted. If not, it’s considered re-aging or reinsertion, and is not legal. Am I interpreting this correctly? I’m assuming what they did was a shady tactic in hopes of getting me to call them. Worst case for them is they can say it was an error if I challenged it. Now that I’ve made a payment, is there anything I can do?

Here is a link to a screenshot of it listed on my myFICO. https://imgur.com/gallery/mWT2eCx

Thanks for your input,
wave

They do not have to report it immediately (or at all), nor is this considered reaging by them reporting it many years later (though any payment made can reset the SOL). The collection reported will go based on the DOFD that was with the OC, so if the DOFD was in 12/2016 and they bought it in 2017 and began reporting it in 2022, it will fall off on or around 12/2023 (7 years from the DOFD, excluding any EE from the CRA). Of course, they will have their own date of when they began reporting on your CR, but is usually separate from the date from the OC. PRA does however has a new rule now that any collection paid (rather in full or settled) will be deleted within 30 days so once you finish paying them as per agreement with them, they will submit a deletion request.

Anonymous · ‎12-25-2019

@silver_idle wrote:

They do not have to report it immediately (or at all), nor is this considered reaging by them reporting it many years later.

Thanks for the explanation.