Paid Collection/Dispute Comment

[Anonymous]

I plan to pay a $207 collection to Equidata (CA) for a previous Cox Communications account that is 2.3 years old. I don't agree that I owe, but Equidata has not budged in dispute, so I will pay so that it does not come back to haunt me next year when I begin to shop for a mortgage. My question is: If I pay the collection, will that erase my dispute comments? If so, how much will my score drop because of it? 

It is only on my Experian report, which is my lowest score.

[RobertEG]

If you have a prior resolved dispute to which you elected to then post comments disagreeing with the determination, they are independent of subsequent actions, and will remain unless you reach some independent agreement with the CRA to remove your comments.

You were simply permitted under the FCRA to voice your disagreement. 

I have no prior experience with what criteria the CRA might use to determine whether or not to remove those comments.

However, if the dispute was concluded, then there is no longer a pending dispute flag that will impact scoring, so I dont see any scoring implications of those comments.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your response!

[Anonymous]

Call cox and pay them dirrctly. As them to recall from CA. They will. If they don't remove after that. Dispute because CA has no authority to collect. That's what I did. They were removed form 2 CR in a week. TU was a little slower. Cox was super awesome about it when I called.

[Anonymous]

I will do that first thing Monday morning! Thanks!

[RobertEG]

Paying the OC does not require the debt collector to delete their reporting of their collection.

They had legitimate collection authority when they reported, and payment of the debt does not negate that fact.

CRA policy requires that the collection authroity be terminated prior to payment of the debt, with the termiation of an open and active collection then beomg basos fpr  deletin of the co llection.  If you pay the OC while the collection remains open, the requiremnt is that it not be delted, and thus there would be no basis for disute.

Request the OC to first termiante their collection assignment.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE: I called Cox today and was assured that they would recall the debt and ask that Equidata remove the collection from my report once I pay the bill. The CSR stated that she could not provide me with a receipt if I made the payment over the phone, but that I could go into a Cox location and make the payment and get a receipt for my records. I made the payment at lunch time and the collection was removed before the close of business today. 

That was my one and only collection! Hopefully, my Experian score will catch up to the others.