duplicate entries on credit report

i had 1 student loan back in 1994 in the state of florida that is now showing up 2 times on 1 credit report and 3 times on another one shows up as bti services and the other shows up as office student fin ast/fla and the third way it shows up is institution acct**************..is it legal to put the same acct on a persons credit report 3 times under a different compant name?

Can anyone help me with this?

[Ladynred]

Yes, its legal and they are allowed to do it. Each collector or agent that gets that account can report it to the CRA's.

how can this be? I have a large account reported by the original creditor and the collection agency. When purchasing a home the accounts are listed as two separate obligations.

[Ladynred]

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think what happens is that the original creditor reported it and it will stay on your report for 7 years. Once the collection agency got it, they too can report it and it will stay there for 7 years. Both are legit.

Thank you for your response!!! Okay . . . I have found out that as far as collection agencies go, the date of the last activity corresponds with the original creditor's date of last activity. And fact - the dates MUST correspond. You can get the CRA's to correct the last activity dates by disputing. And sometimes the collection agency record drops off because they fail to respond in a "reasonable amount of time". The collection agency most definitely will re-enter the item on your report and it is at this time that you can dispute. Any time an item is re-entered on your report you must be given written notification within 5 days of the posting. CRA's do not do that. Or at least in my experience (I have worked a lot of friends' reports) they have not. This is the only item that I have not been successful with. It hurts to be an over-achiever (haha). Any website suggestions for research? It isn't in the FCRA either.

[bigun]

Try [url]www.creditnet.com[/url]

Thanks! Cannot get in right now - guess everyone is taking your advice.

If a creditor transfers a debt to a collection agency, the original creditor must update the listing to a $0 balance, transferred to collections. Both listings can be on your report, but only one may have a balance listed.

Now that makes sense. Okay . . . I will tackle from that angle. Thanks alot everyone!!! Good luck with your endeavors.

PS...do check out creditnet.com. It is back up now. If you want to increase your "credit IQ" it is definitely the place to do it.