How hard is it to be a debt collector?

How Can You Tell if a Debt Collector Has Bought a Debt or is Working as an Arm of the Original Creditor?

• I’ve gotten conflicting direction on this so I’ve added a lot more detail and am asking the question again. I’m trying to figure out if this debt is still owned by the original Creditor or has been sold to the Debt Collector that contacted me about it. Listings from the three Credit Reports are summarized below. PLEASE NOTE: The name of the Debt Collector does not appear anywhere in any of the 3 reports! Transunion Balance $12,000 Date Updated 1/2010 High Balance $12,000 Credit Limit $11,500 Past Due $3,000 Pay Status Charged Off as Bad Debt Account Type Revolving Responsibility Individual Date Opened 1/1997 Date Closed 7/2009 Equifax (I’ve only listed here what is different from above or is in addition to what is listed above) Date of last Payment 1/2009 Scheduled Payment Amount $0 Date Major Delinquency First Reported 12/2009 Charge Off Amount $0 Baloon Payment Amount $0 Date of First Delinquency 10/2008 Current Status Charge-off Actual payment Amount $0 Date of Last Activity N/A Months Reviewed 1 Activity Description Closed Comments Charged off, closed by creditor Experian (I’ve only listed here what is different from above or is in addition to what is listed above) Status Charged off, $12,000 written off, $3,000 past due as of Nov 2008. Creditor’s Statement Closed at creditor’s request Account History Charge off as of Nov 2008

• Answer:

  Your accounts have been charged off and now a collection agency has it, You'll have to deal with the CA, and with 12-grand on the hook, I'd expect them to be aggressive, I would add, it appears the CA has re-aged the account making it appear you have a recent late of 12/2009 instead of the original DOFD which was 10/2008, If you didn't make any payments after Oct 2008, you can dispute the reported date and get the recent late removed from your reports and set back to the date of your last payment, It'll help you out a little, Good luck,,,