how often can a collections company report negative information on your credit report?
madeline4477 asked:
I owe something. they report it on my credit every week I know this because I have a credit monitoring service. can they just keep re reporting it on my credit every week?
I owe something. they report it on my credit every week I know this because I have a credit monitoring service. can they just keep re reporting it on my credit every week?
no answers about just pay it..I know that.. I will ignore those answers and that wasnt my question
I dont want to know how long it will be on there! I wish people would read the questions.. I am asking how many times can they re report it. they are reporting it once a week its on there once with re reports every week
Jeffery
Bessie
If it is a debt owed it can stay on your credit report for at least 7 years. Check out these websites for further information:
Good luck.
Arthur
The company can update records as often as they choose, I agree with you that it is ridiculous to do it weekly though.
They can only report the actual account once but update as they see fit.
The general rule is monthly however that is the company’s choice not a law / rule.
If they are simply updating the record.., it has no impact on your score if it is already a negative. If it is not a negative as of yet – paying it down or on time will improve your score which if this is the case – they benefit you by updating often. Paying a collections off will have no immediate effect on your score however.
Tammy
Reporting on a weekly basis is rather unusual, but then again there is no law against this.
HOWEVER, as long as they continue to report the true date of last delinquency, this is allowed, if they are re-dating the deb by changing this information then they have violated the FCRA as per the following:
RE-DATING OF THE DEBT IN VIOLATION OF
[CITE: 15USC1681s-2] § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies
a) Duty of furnishers of information to provide accurate information (1) Prohibition (A) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the information is inaccurate. (B) Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors A person shall not furnish information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if– (i) the person has been notified by the consumer, at the address specified by the person for such notices, that specific information is inaccurate; and (ii) the information is, in fact, inaccurate.
Hope this answers your question.
Alvin
Unfortunately, there is no pre-set limit on the number of times a collection may report your debt to the credit bureaus.
In fact, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act has specific exceptions carved into the prohibited activities of a collection agency for reports to the credit bureaus.
However, Section 806 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) says, in part, “A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:…”
Then it goes on to list a number of specifically prohibited activities. Repeated listings with the credit bureaus, unfortunately, is not among the prohibited activities.
Section 808 of the FDCPA also says, in part, “A debt collector may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:…”
Again it goes on to list a number of prohibited acts and again, reports to credit bureaus are not among them.
This being said, however, weekly postings may be a violation of these provisions of the FDCPA.
Each posting results in downward movement of your credit score. To my way of thinking that constitutes harassment, oppresses you by causing a disproportionate drop in your credit score (which can affect you in many ways, including employment) and is abusive.
It also seems to me that this behavior is unfair and unconscionable.
Section 813 of the FDCPA gives you the right to sue the collection and to recover your actual damages, plus up to $1,000 and authorizes the judge to award attorneys fees, if he/she thinks the case justifies that.
To cut all this down to size, you may have a case against the collection agency for what they are doing, but it is not as clear as it would be, if what they were doing is among the specifically prohibited acts.
This means that you need to take it to the next level. You could consult with a “debtor’s rights” attorney to help you. However, in my experience, most attorneys are lazy and want to take on cases that are clear winners. So it may be hard to find a good debtor’s rights attorney at this stage.
It might be better, before going to the attorney, to engage the services of a competent and reputable credit restoration service.
A good service would be familiar with the FDCPA and other laws regarding credit reporting and can help you build the record you will need to get an attorney to take action.
For example, you should demand that the collection agency “validate” the debt as a first step.
This is a technical term that means that the collection agency has to prove that there actually is a debt and that it has the right to collect the debt in the first place.
Remember, you actually owe the obligation to the original creditor, unless there has been a formal assignment.
The collection agency has to show paperwork that transfers the debt, or at least the right to collect it, to the collector.
If the collection agency cannot prove that the right to collect the debt has been legally transferred to it, not only does it have to stop collection efforts, it has to go back to the credit bureaus and remove all those reports it has been making.
Part of “validation,” also requires the collector to prove the original obligation. This means it has to be able to produce the paperwork that you signed creating the original obligation and the accounting for the transactions that created the debt.
Quite often, collection agencies purchase debt in bulk for pennies on the dollar.
Because of the amount of paperwork involved in each obligation and the relatively small amount they actually have invested in the debts they are purchasing, neither the collector nor the original creditor want to go through the time and expense to produce and deliver all that paperwork.
Again, if they cannot show that they have proof of the original debt, they have to stop collection activities and remove the reports they’ve made to the credit bureaus.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that you can demand validation of the debts and take the actions necessary to force removal of inappropriate derogatory comments from your credit reports and you can.
However, the credit bureaus are paid to list items, not to remove them and they are paid by the creditors. They have a bias against removing items from credit reports.
So, even though you are able to do this yourself, in my opinion, you should not try to do that in this case.
Either engage a debtor’s rights attorney you trust or engage the services of a good credit restoration service.
Such a service may very well be able to force the collection agency to stop these and other collection efforts and to remove the items from your credit reports.
It may even be able to force the removal of the underlying obligation and any late payments, delinquencies or charge offs the original creditor may have reported.
One thing is relatively certain. You need to take action, because these weekly reports of the same collection to the credit bureaus are ruining your credit score and, unless stopped will cause you very serious harm.
Good luck!
Debra
Most will report as part of their monthly accounting cycle.
There is no restriction, however. They can report daily, if they want. It doesn’t hurt you because anyone checking the report is going to see on the one most recent status.
Most people complain that collectors don’t report often enough and their payments take a long time to show up. You are lucky; be happy.
Credit monitoring services are a rip off unless you have a specific reason to believe that an identity thief is actively targeting you. If not, they provide no information that you can actually use for anything. Save your money,