How often can a collection agency appear on my credit report

Submitted by rnog0701 on Sat, 05/24/2008 - 03:54
Forums

A collection agency appears on my Equifax report once every month for the past 5 months. As a result, my credit score is dropping every month. Is this legal? Is this some form of harrassment? I owe a debt but I cannot pay it at this time.

I assume what you are saying is that every month your CA is updating their listing on you CR and it s hurting you credit score. Well, until you pay them they will keep updating the CBs that your not paying them and it WILL hurt your credit score. You either need to pay them or work some kind of arrnagement out if you want to decrease the hits to your fico.

Sat, 05/24/2008 - 05:05 Permalink

I think that you can ask for a repayment plan from the CA. But make sure that you go for a deletion agreement with the CA on full repayment of the debt and get everything in writing. Only if you come to an agreement with the CA for PFD, your credit score will improve on your full repayment of the debt.

Sat, 05/24/2008 - 05:43 Permalink

I do agree with CMBV that the CA keeps on updating your CR with the credit bureaus until and unless you pay back the debt. You can ask for DV and on getting a reply from your CA send them a PFD agreement letter and agree for a repayment plan which you think will suit you.

Mon, 05/26/2008 - 12:33 Permalink

I think that collection agencies should have to report your payments to the credit reporting agencies as a positive aspects of your trying to get your stuff together. They sure take the time to report the negatives to the credit reporting agencies on a monthly basis.

I think they should be held more accountable to us once we start working with them, the original credit gets the money from them, we could totally ignore them and deal with the letters and phone calls, most of the time the money that one owes is not enough to sue for, the three that I have paid off were like a $300, a $500 and one was for $600, but by the time they added off thier ridiculous fees they were $1300, $1600 and almost $2000 and if they offer you a settlement it is usually about 70% of what they are saying you owe, if they would offer 50% they are only losing out on what the added fees are, not money that you actually spent.

I think that since this is the case, they should be obligated to report a positive payment plan if one is doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Mon, 05/26/2008 - 18:30 Permalink

I think that collection agencies should have to report your payments to the credit reporting agencies as a positive aspects of your trying to get your stuff together. They sure take the time to report the negatives to the credit reporting agencies on a monthly basis.

???
Your argument does not make sense. Fair Issac Co. is who scores your credit...creditors and collection agencies simply report accounts, balances, payments, dates, etc... Your credit score is a number assigned to a level of risk--nothing more, nothing less.

I think they should be held more accountable to us once we start working with them, the original credit gets the money from them, we could totally ignore them and deal with the letters and phone calls, most of the time the money that one owes is not enough to sue for, the three that I have paid off were like a $300, a $500 and one was for $600, but by the time they added off thier ridiculous fees they were $1300, $1600 and almost $2000 and if they offer you a settlement it is usually about 70% of what they are saying you owe, if they would offer 50% they are only losing out on what the added fees are, not money that you actually spent.

If they violate the law, sue them. You can hire an attorney, or you can do it yourself.

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 04:56 Permalink

goodnatured,

I agree with the above info from morningstar but, i will also point out that when you make a repayment plan with a CA you should have it in writing and it should specify how the account will be reported on your CR

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 17:56 Permalink

Actually what happens is that the CAs report your debt to the credit bureaus as soon as you go delinquent and it reflects in your credit report which decreases your credit score. So as morningstar pointer out, the CR represents the level of risk associated with granting loans to you. Now as soon as you come to an agreement with your CA for PFD, and you pay back the full loan amount as per the agreement, they remove their listing from the CB and so your credit score goes up. But for this you need to ensure that the agreement between you and the CA is made in writing else later if the CA does not remove their listing from your CR, you will have nothing to do in spite of paying back the full loan amount.

Wed, 05/28/2008 - 06:56 Permalink

This is illegal. Who is it lvnv collections. They must be listed as a factoring account. Which they are not. Collection agencies cannot report monthly terms since it is not a revolving debt. Dispute it with them and tell them if they do not stop you will report them to the BBB and the Attorney General. YOu may even be able to sue them. Get a hard copy of your report every month showing the are updating it. They only way they can update it is if you dispute, but no matter what the have to come off when the OC comes off your report

Wed, 05/28/2008 - 19:40 Permalink

LVNV Funding

15 S. Main Street, Suite

#900 Greenville, SC 29601

aka/Resurgent Capital Services, LP

aka/Sherman Acquisitions, LP, II, III LP

aka Alegis Corporation, Group, LP

aka/Sherman Financial Group, LLC

aka/Ventus Capital Services

aka/Performance Recovery Group

aka/Ascent Card Services, FNBM

Thu, 05/29/2008 - 04:25 Permalink

My goodness so many different names. Surely this has to be a junk collector. Either that they just like going under different names. I agree with credit they are not revolving so are they actually allowed to report monthly.

Wed, 06/04/2008 - 23:39 Permalink

OH, yes they are a junk buyer.... They are also a bit sue happy. Note, the personal experience here >:/

Thu, 06/05/2008 - 00:44 Permalink

lol, Yeah I paid off a Providian card they sued my husband over a few years back before I knoew about PFDs. *sigh* its now the only blemish on his credit

Wed, 07/30/2008 - 21:16 Permalink

My old Providian account has me really stumped. It is listed on their report that it was 180 as of May 2004 but it lists it to not fall off until July 2010 (in another post I thought it was MAy). So how is it on there a few months after 7 years?

Thu, 07/31/2008 - 13:25 Permalink

I did. I just don't want to start any contact and the badgering begins. When it gets closer to the date of fall off then I will deal with it.

Tue, 08/05/2008 - 01:05 Permalink

Ok...have a question. I live in PA. I think the SOL is 4 years. Now.........is there any kind of debt that would be on your credit for MORE than 4 years? Charge-offs, etc?

Tue, 08/05/2008 - 02:20 Permalink

The main one I know of is a bankrupsy. I had one of these and it took forever. How is a charge off differnet from any other credit that wouldn't be part of SOL. Mainly when you speak of charge offs they pertain to credit card debt so it would have to fall under the 4 year SOL. The only question I have yet to get a definate answer on is when those SOL actually start. I have been around the board on this one and get many differnt answers. One is 6 months after the last payment and the other being 30 days after the last payment.

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 02:15 Permalink

Hi Sdchargers
It is true that the SOL in your state is four years. But it does not necessarily mean that the charge off listing will remain in your report for four years also. Charge off listing remains in the credit report for seven years or till the time the SOL in your state has expired whichever is later. In your case since seven years is more, the charge off listing will stay for seven years.

Fri, 08/08/2008 - 12:15 Permalink

That pretty much stinks but on the bright side my credit isn't all that bad. Most everything falls off by this Sept (only two) and the bankruptsy is long gone. there will only be one left and I can't get them to work with me so I have two years to go on that one. I never have problems getting credit even at a decent rate so I guess I will consider myself lucky and hope life goes alot better for me in the future.

Sat, 08/09/2008 - 01:10 Permalink

Ditto what every one said above, for fireyone:

Pennsylvania Statute of Limitations

Contracts: 4 years, (used to be six).

Contracts under seal: 20 years.

Sale of goods under UCC: 4 years.

Negotiable instruments: 6 years (13 PA C.S.A. .§3118).

Sat, 08/09/2008 - 10:39 Permalink

I think I have this one memorized...Still have that lingering question about when the SOL actually starts 30 or 180 days. Still no concrete answer..Thinking I have a hung jury.LOL

Sun, 08/10/2008 - 03:09 Permalink

I think that it is the DAY of the last activity, I have never heard these time frames before.

Sun, 08/10/2008 - 03:11 Permalink

It was thrown out there at me by a couple people. I am thinking cmbv and she really seems to know her credit stuff. I am just hoping it was the 30 days. It would feel soo good to have that protection. I really haven't heard from them for months but I guess if you don't pick up the phone this can happen.

Sun, 08/10/2008 - 03:15 Permalink

No nothing since probaly last Jan or Feb. and it was a bunch of garbage. Sign here and you are the winner of three huge monthly installments on your past due credit card. Respond in the next ten minutes and we will even keep calling to remind you that your debt is past due. So sign today and make the $500 monthly payment and we will even debit from your checking account.
Blah,blah,blah. Now give me the original debt minus bogus charges and I would make one monthly installment of $300..........

Tue, 08/12/2008 - 17:09 Permalink

I hear you fireyone, I have had one credit card that the debt was originally $500 by the time they ended up adding on all there crap it was it was well over $1500, they did negotiate down to around $1000, still twice the original amount. There should be a limit where they have to stop adding on all the crap, I really wish they would re do these collection laws to put some limits in place. They talk about the payday lenders, well these companies are the same when it comes to fees and charges, may be even worse. I haven't take the time to do the math, but I bet they charge more than the payday lenders.

Wed, 08/13/2008 - 02:00 Permalink

That is so funny...well weird..I was thinking of the same comparrison when talking about payday lenders and cc companies. It really is the same thing. Its all payable by cash in the end so why now do the evryday American a favor and get a little laws and guidelines added to the CC industry.

Wed, 08/13/2008 - 13:18 Permalink

gotcha, lol, Just because they are a well known tax agent does not mean that they should get a break, they would probably say that it is a banking product, not theirs, so they just refer people there, the block has to be getting some type of money for doing these referrals, they don't do it out of the kindniss of their hearts.

Thu, 08/14/2008 - 03:43 Permalink

Nobody usually does. I think they m ake there money by charging so much to get the loan. If I remember right I think if you qualified (yes you had to qualify) for say $1,000 you had to pay like $175 for the advance. We only did this once years and years ago when we had to have the money. I would advice people to go elsewhere.

Thu, 08/14/2008 - 12:41 Permalink

What is it you can do for us? Any advice? We are not bad people here. We are good people caught up in bad times.

Sun, 11/09/2008 - 23:40 Permalink
sharon (not verified)

I just got a summons to go to court for a credit card that I was told was closed. It was opened in 1989 when I was in PA and they are sueing me in MD. What statutes should they go by? PA or MD?

Sun, 01/11/2009 - 07:03 Permalink

The date of first delinquency is the item that starts the obsolescence (7 year) period, per the FCRA. Nothing else matters when determining the true AGE of an account.

DLA is commonly used on mortgage reports and the like, but {technically} that is not the definitive determining factor. The problem with this methodology, is that many loan and credit card underwriters (the people who actually decide on borrowers' credit-worthiness) do not understand this principle, and borrowers are often declined based on DLA rather than true account age(s).

Sun, 01/11/2009 - 18:57 Permalink

Hi sharon
The statute of Limitation for open ended accounts is 4 years and since credit card debts fall under open ended accounts, the SOL will be 4 years. However, SOL starts from the date you have make the first missed payment. Now, Since the credit card was opened in PA, the SOL in PA will be taken into account. If your SOL has expired, you need not bother about the debt, but you must file a reply to a summon, else the creditor can bring a default judgment against you.

Mon, 01/12/2009 - 07:15 Permalink

If and when it does go to court you will be able to use the SOL as your defense as long as you have not made a payment in the last 4 years on this account. Most times these are junk collectors trying to scare you into making a payment so the SOL will start over. Most times they willnot even proceed with the court hearing or will not show. As long as you have not made a payment in the last four years you should be fine.

Mon, 01/12/2009 - 17:30 Permalink
libelula (not verified)

I just saw all the different name's for LVNV Funding... Don't let them get you.. I have been fighting back since 2006! thay keep hiring a third party collection agency which they call "attorney's office" this copanies send you th collection notice on behalf of LVNV Funding or any other names they have.. when you send them a validation of debt, the collection agency closes the account if they don't have prove.. but here's the trick!! the account goes back to LVNV Funding and they look for another collection agency to repeat the same process, because apparently you never dispute the account with them. The address they are reporting on your credit reports I just confirmed with Resurgent Capital that is not LVNV Funding address.. they DON'T have an address! So that way you can't dispute to them. This is a dirty business practice and all consumers that are being tricked by this company should either sue them in small claims court, federal court or aatorney general and FTC.

Mon, 06/28/2010 - 16:37 Permalink