Expert: LEE HORNER - 1/23/2012

Question
Hello Lee, I live in Arizona, and I just found out that a collections agency that was discharged through Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 2005 had just contacted me about that same debt. The creditor is using a collections department to reclaim that discharged debt. When I contacted the original creditor ( Cox Communications ) they said that the debt was indeed discharged in October 2005 and that they do not have a record of them using their collections company ( RGS financial )to collect. When I called the collections agency about this, they said that Cox Communications sent them my acount in December of last year.

I just sent RGS a copy of my discharge documents and they said that after an "investigation of this claim" has been completed, that then and only then can they take the collections off my credit reports. So my question is, can I contact the 3 Credit Reporting Agencies and request this information be removed, or do I have to wait RGS's decision on if they accept and acknowledge that the debt was discharged? I have been negatively impacted credit wise with this collections. Up until January 21 2012 I had zero knowledge of this creditor. While I have been monitoring my credit reports once a year, I have not noticed RGS listed as an active collections. Thank you for your help, Sincerely Jared.

Answer
First off, get a free credit report on yourself from annualcreditreport.com  (the only real free one) and see if it hits the radar.  If it does each bureau has a challenge procedure you should use that should clear it up.  These collection agencies aren't terribly motivated to do the right thing.  BTW are they licensed as a collection agency in AZ?  It's a crime to collect debts here for third parties without being so licensed.

Lee