Hi John, If a collection account has been paid in full for a credit card, can either the credit card or the collection be removed from a credit report? It seems that is a double whammy. If I didn’t pay the issuer and they sent me to collections, my card account record shows a charge-off, but I actually did pay it to a collection agency. To me that sounds unfair because I did repay the debt.
Answer, I don’t disagree that it seems a little unfair for one debt to be showing up twice on the credit report. But, the issuer isn’t breaking any law and neither is the collection agency. As long as the original account shows that you don’t owe them anything it’s being correctly reported. It can even get worse. If the collection agency sues and wins in court your credit file could also show a judgment.