Collections Law/Entry Removal

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Expert: Creditwrench - 1/20/2010


Question
I live in KS.  I had a surgery approximately 10 months ago.  One of my medical bills from the surgery has gone to collections and been reported on my credit report.  I contacted the Collection Agency and proposed I pay the full amount of the bill in four monthly payments, in return, I requested they removed the entry from my credit report.  They responded that State law mandates the entry stays on the report for 7 or 10 years.  Of course, they gladly agreed to being paid the full amount, but stated they would list the account as Paid on the the report.  Does Kansas (or any other law) really mandate that the entry remain for a specific amount of time?  I always believed that they could add or delete their own entries.  If not, should I proceed with the agreement or re-negotiate until they agree to remove?

Answer

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I'd re-negotiate but in a far different way than either of you imagine at the present time. If I were you I would sue them in federal court for being an illegal credit repair organization and for providing false and misleading information to a consumer.

If they state in writing that they will report anything to the credit bureaus upon your payment that is a violation of CROA (Credit Repair Organizations Act) and their statement that state law mandates that the entry stay on the reports for 7 or 10 years is providing false and misleading information to a consumer because no such state law exists in Kansas or any other state. Federal law states that it may be reported for a set period of time but there is no requirement in any law stating that it must remain on credit reports for any set length of time. Federal law sets the maximum amount of time allowable, not the minimum.

Instead of paying them anything I'd make them pay me if I were in your shoes. Doing that is often known as the informal bankruptcy method of resolving debt related problems.  

Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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