PRA sent me a letter from their General Counsel on July 20, 2008 and stated that to settle my dispute amicably with them they agreed to delete the trade line from all three credit reporting agencies (Universal Deletion form via E-Oscar). I have it in writing. I pulled my CR's through Myfico.com and sure enough the trade has been deleted. My scores jumped 70 yo 80 points across the board. This was my only 'bad' trade line.
I disputed a debt with these jerks since November 2007. I caught them violating just about every section of the FDCPA and FCRA and I called them on it. I backed it up with a certified letter each and every week for approximately 8 months. I'm sure they were shredding it the moment they received it.
They denied any wrongdoing but I persisted by contacting their local chapter of the Better Business Bureau and filled out the online complaint form. I also filed an online ethics complaint with their trade organization based in Minnesota.
Bottom line is to have a lot of patience and persistence. Never give them an inch. Take a position and stand solid. Even when I was going through this whole dispute process they would poison my credit files with such things as '120 + days past due' or actually report an inflated amount of what they claimed I owed. This is a tactic they use to force you into a compromise and I just hit them back with more letters and pointing out their violations of the FDCPA and FCRA.
Apparently, it works.
