IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT IF A COLLECTION AGENCY GETS A DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU THAT THEY WILL "possibly" ALLOW THAT ACCOUNT TO EFFECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE IN TWO DIFFERENT CATEGORIES. IE, COLLECTIONS AND PUBLIC RECORDS. THIS IS NOT ALLOWED UNDER FCDPA. PLEASE REVIEW YOUR CREDIT REPORTS IF THEY HAVE A JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU AND IF THEY ARE USING THE SAME ACCOUNT TO LOWER YOUR CREDIT SCORE MORE THAN ONE TIME IE BOTH CATEGORIES (COLLECTIONS AND PUBLIC RECORDS) YOU NEED TO WRITE A COMPLAINT TO THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU . HERE - https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ THE MORE COMPLAINTS FILED THE BETTER CHANCE WE HAVE OF GETTING THIS BUSINESS UNFAIR PRACTICE SHUT DOWN THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME . http://blog.credit.com/.../credit-report-double-jeopardy-mea.../ ALSO YOU SHOULD SUBMIT A COMPLAINT TO THE DFI HERE Maggie Schmelzer, Examiner DFI Licensed Financial Services PO Box 7876 Madison WI 53707 608-261-2310 - phone 608-267-6889 - fax Find us on Facebook! This is the response I got from Maggie Schmelzer via email The division is in receipt of your complaint regarding your credit report and the "double" reporting of the accounts being collected by B*** ******** ***** While this office does not regulate credit reporting activities, we can tell you how this "double reporting" occurs. However, we cannot assist you in getting the double reporting removed. The collection agency has an account or multiple accounts for a debtor and reports those accounts according to their agreement with the original creditor. If the account is not paid, the collection agency may recommend to the client that they secure a judgment on the accounts. A judgment is awarded by the courts and the judgment becomes a public record. The credit bureaus search the public records and retrieve the information on any new judgments filed to include that information in their credit reports, thus, "double reporting" of the same accounts. The reporting of the judgments is not done by the collection agencies. Neither of these activities are illegal, yet the result would appear to violate the FCRA. We will be making contact the Federal Trade Commission to see if I can get a response to what they think about such a situation. If we receive a response, I will certainly provide you with that information. While we are unable to assist you with your immediate complaint, I will forward your complaint to ******** ***** so that they can provide their response. We will contact you again once we have received that response. If you have any questions, please contact me directly. Sincerely, Maggie Schmelzer, Examiner DFI Licensed Financial Services PO Box 7876 Madison WI 53707 608-261-2310 - phone 608-267-6889 - fax Find us on Facebook! Find us on Facebook! http://blog.credit.com/2012/08/credit-report-double-jeopardy-means-double-damage-61199/ BEFORE PAYING ANY COLLECTION AGENCY IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU SEND THEM A VALIDATION REQUEST LETTER VIA CERTIFIED MAIL. YOU CAN ALSO SEND THE LETTER DIRECTLY TO THE CREDIT BUREAUS TO HAVE UNVERIFIED INFORMATION DELETED. You can check what is effecting your credit scores for FREE and with no effect to your score at CreditKarma.com and WalletHub.com read more