When a lender sells a charged-off account, the debt can appear twice on your credit report: once from the lender and once from the debt buyer. That’s normal, as long as only one of them shows a balance. When both do, the same debt is counted twice.
In SmartDispute’s data, this happened most often with Credit One Bank. Credit One sells most of its charged-off accounts to debt buyers, mainly LVNV Funding, but its own account often stayed on the report with the old balance after the sale. This article explains what we found, how to check your own reports, and how to dispute a Credit One charge-off that’s still showing a balance.
Key Takeaways
- Once a lender sells a debt, its account should show a $0 balance. Only the new owner should report what you owe.
- In our data, 24 of the 31 Credit One charge-offs belonged to members who also had a Credit One debt with a debt buyer, and 20 of those Credit One accounts still showed a balance.
- In 14 cases, the Credit One balance exactly matched the debt buyer’s balance, most often LVNV Funding’s.
- The leftover Credit One account usually appeared at only one credit bureau, so you may only see it if you check all three reports.
- A balance on a sold account is a specific error you can dispute, with the debt buyer’s account as your proof.
What Is Double Reporting?
A charged-off debt can show up twice for an accurate reason. Equifax notes that when a debt is sold, it “may appear twice on credit reports,” once from the original creditor and once from the debt buyer or collection agency (Equifax).
What makes it accurate is the balance:
- The lender’s charge-off should show $0 and a status that says the account was sold or transferred.
- The debt buyer’s collection account should show the balance and name the lender as the original creditor.
Double reporting is when both accounts show what you owe. Anyone reading your report sees two unpaid debts instead of one, and the total you appear to owe is higher than what you actually owe.
Why Credit One?
Credit One Bank sells almost all of its charged-off accounts. In SmartDispute’s data on the first credit reports of 591 members, 84% of Credit One’s charged-off debts were with a debt buyer, tied with The Bank of Missouri for the highest share of any card issuer. Most went to LVNV Funding, which has been part of the same corporate family as Credit One. Our article on which banks sell charged-off debt compares Credit One with other lenders.
Because Credit One sells so much of its debt, its own accounts should mostly show $0 or disappear after the sale. That’s not what we saw.
What SmartDispute’s Data Shows
We found 31 Credit One charge-offs reported by Credit One itself, belonging to 30 members. Then we looked for collection accounts on the same members’ reports that named Credit One as the original creditor:
- 24 of the 31 Credit One charge-offs belonged to a member who also had a Credit One debt with a debt buyer.
- 20 of those 24 Credit One accounts still showed a balance. Only 4 of all 31 were marked as transferred.
- In 14 cases, the Credit One balance was exactly the same as the debt buyer’s balance: 10 with LVNV Funding, 2 with Midland Credit Management, and 2 with Portfolio Recovery Associates.
- The Credit One account usually appeared at only one bureau, most often Equifax, while the debt buyer’s account appeared at all three.
- The Credit One account’s last activity was typically about two months before the debt buyer’s account opened. It looks like Credit One reported the account up to the sale and then never updated the balance.
A member could have two separate Credit One cards, so not every pairing is necessarily the same debt. But an exact match on the balance, with the buyer’s account opening right after Credit One’s last update, is strong evidence that one debt is being reported twice. In our data, it happened often enough to look like a pattern in how Credit One reports sold accounts, not a one-time mistake.
We saw the same thing with other lenders far less often. Six charge-offs from other lenders were marked as transferred but still showed a balance, including two from Capital One.
How to Check Your Credit Reports
- Pull all three reports. The leftover Credit One account may appear at only one bureau.
- Find each Credit One account and note its balance, status, date opened, and date of first delinquency.
- Look for collection accounts that list Credit One as the original creditor. LVNV Funding is the most likely, but Midland and Portfolio Recovery Associates also buy Credit One debt.
- Compare them. If the Credit One account shows a balance and a debt buyer’s account shows a balance for the same debt, one of them is wrong. Matching balances, and a buyer’s account that opened soon after Credit One’s last activity, point to the same debt.
- Check the dates of first delinquency. Both accounts should use the same date, since a sale doesn’t restart the seven-year reporting period.
How to Dispute a Credit One Charge-Off Reported Twice
The error to dispute is specific: Credit One no longer owns the debt, so its balance should be $0.
- Dispute with each bureau showing the Credit One balance. Say that the account was sold and the balance should be $0. Include a copy of the debt buyer’s account from your report, or the buyer’s validation notice, which names Credit One as the original creditor.
- Dispute directly with Credit One at the address it lists for credit reporting disputes. A direct dispute puts the furnisher on notice and creates its own paper trail.
- Don’t dispute the debt buyer’s account just because of the duplicate. If the buyer owns the debt, its balance may be correct. Check it separately for its own errors, such as a wrong balance or delinquency date.
- Follow up. If the Credit One account comes back “verified” with the balance unchanged, send a second round with any new evidence 35 days after you mailed the first.
Our guide to removing a charge-off without paying covers what a strong dispute includes.
Should You Pay Credit One?
If Credit One sold the debt, no. Credit One no longer owns it, so a payment to Credit One won’t resolve it. Deal with the debt buyer, and confirm the debt and balance first. Our LVNV Funding guide covers how to verify an LVNV debt, how to contact Resurgent, and what to know before paying.
If Credit One still owns the debt, its account will show the balance and there won’t be a buyer’s account for the same debt. Our article on what to check before paying a charge-off walks through that decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Credit One still on my credit report if LVNV has my debt?
A sold account can stay on your report, but it should show a $0 balance. If it still shows what you owe, dispute the balance.
Does Credit One sell its debt to LVNV?
Most of it. In our data, 84% of Credit One’s charged-off debts were with a debt buyer, and LVNV held most of them.
Can the same debt be on my credit report twice?
Yes, once from the original lender and once from the debt buyer. Only one of them should show a balance.
Does double reporting hurt my credit score?
It can make your report look worse than it is. A lender reviewing it sees two unpaid debts and a higher total owed. Correcting the balance removes the duplicate amount.
Will disputing remove the Credit One charge-off?
Not necessarily. A sold charge-off can stay on your report until its seven years are up, but it should show $0. If Credit One can’t verify the account at all, it may be deleted.
What’s the Next Step?
Pull your three credit reports and match every charge-off to any collection account that names the same original creditor. If both show a balance, you’ve found a dispute.
SmartDispute lays out your charge-offs and collections from all three bureaus side by side, flags debts that appear with more than one balance, and drafts suggested disputes for you to review, change, and mail yourself. See how SmartDispute works.
