Hi, newbie here. just saw my credit report for the first time a few days ago - I have about 12 negative remarks on experian and a total of about $7000 in debt. I'm in a position where I could pay this off in just a few months, assuming I can settle for %30-50 of my total debt. I've taken a look at my report and everything seems to be accurate and in order. I'd like to start sending settlement letters in, but it seems most of the advice being advocated is to dispute and debt validate first. My question is, if all the information seems to match up, do I have anything to gain by doing this first? It's not too much work and I may be being impatient, but I'm afraid it would just be a waste of time. Thanks for any input.
Like anything else in life, the decision to send a validation letter or not is a personal choice. I think I understand where you're coming from and are worried that sending a DV letter may make CA's less receptive to settlement offers, but do remember that you are legally entitled to ask the CA to validate any debt, regardless of whether or not it's yours. If a CA or their attorney ever asked me why I requested validation of a debt that I know is mine, I'd state my reasons for doing so as follows: 1) "It keeps you honest." 2) "It's my right under Federal law." 3) "I just don't trust you."
Ya, I was worried about them being less receptive, but I guess I'll send some DV letters out. If I haven't received a letter from a collection agency in the mail, whats the best way to find out my case # for reference to put in my letter?
In my experience, doing a copy/paste of whatever is on your credit report is sufficient. To carry this out to an extreme, a CA would have a hard time explaining to a federal judge why your name, address, and partial account number is insufficient to search their database for your entry -- since it's obviously enough to list said entry on your credit report. Also, remember that yours isn't the only DV letter they receive today. Especially with the larger agencies, DVs happen en masse.
That's entirely your choice. Just to be on the safe side, I'll advise that you keep them simple, to the point, and civil but "professional." There's a nice template of one made by Sparq that you can find right on this very forum. I was going to say what Sparq said, but he beat me to it. He is correct that your name, address, and "account ending in XXXX" should be sufficient. By the way, one very important thing I forgot to ask you is this: How long have these CA(s) been attempting to collect these debts from you? If this is very, very recent (we're talking within the last few days), and assuming that the CA(s) in question have started calling you but haven't mailed the obligatory "sent within 5 days of the initial communication" written notice to you yet, then of course you can send DV letters. But if you're doing this after the fact (i.e. long after the 30 day period that transpired after they first contacted you), then it's highly unlikely they'll comply with your requests, and then of course your original concerns come back into play. I apologize for not asking sooner, but I was under the assumption that the former situation applied.
Half of them I haven't even received letters from because I've moved around so much, but incurred almost all of my debt pretty close to three years ago. The last letter I got from a creditor was probably October last year. However, when I check my credit report, the only dates it gives are for when the collection agency picked up the account. Where can I find the original past due date? Isn't this important for statue of limitations purposes? I live in Arizona, SOL here is 3 years I believe...
Hmmm... If that's the case, then a DV letter may not be a viable option, especially since you don't have points of reference to establish when the dates of "initial contact" were. Old statements for your accounts (if you still have them), transaction records of bank accounts you used to pay your creditors, copies of cashed checks, etc. And yes, to the best of my knowledge the SOL begins from the date of the last payment you made and is quite crucial.
In your moving, did you happen to move out of state? If so, bear in mind that that changes your SOL; the home state's SOL is tolled (paused) until you return. This only becomes an issue if you ever move back, but it's something to be aware of. Of course, if you haven't moved out of state, then this is a non-issue.
Ok, so I looked over my report again and noticed that although the collection agency only reports the date they picked up the account, the remarks from the original creditors show the date of the first 30-day late late mark. The dates for the three biggest accounts I have are all three years past due as of this month. What does this change? Thanks for the heads up sparq, but I haven't moved out of state in that time.
I t is always a good practice to validate your debt and take receipts on any transaction you are ever in at the time of payment or accreditation.If you took no notice then there is no piety around here at this time in the world.Everyone is cutting others legs and try to get money by hooks or by crooks.
Thanks for the reply - not sure that answered my question though. Question is - since some of my largest debts are past the three year open ended statute of limitations for my state, what is the best way to proceed? Does this give me more negotiating power since they no longer are legally entitled to my debt?
If the SOL has run, I'm sure you're aware that they can continue to reports the debts on your credit reports and damage your credit. That's their leverage. They just can't use the courts to collect any longer because if they tried to sue you the case would be dismissed when you brought up the fact that the SOL has expired. I guess this gives you a bit more leverage since they should know the only way to get some money is to reach an agreement directly with you, but I'm sure every CA will approach this situation differently depending upon what kind of offer you put on the table.
I sent my first settlement letters out last weeking using the pay for delete template posted by lisa in the sample letter section. Today I got my first letter in reply, the most important paragraph reading: "Upon receipt of the balance of ***** in our office on or before 3-31-11, we will close this account as "paid in full." In addition, we agree to send notification to the bureau(s) immediately, instructing them to delete our tradeline(s) referencing this matter from your credit profile." I'm not clear on whether or not this means it will show on my credit report as "paid in full" (which I don't want) or be deleted all together. Anybody have some insight?
Their wording is a bit confusing, but it sounds to me like they will close the account and their internal records will show that you have paid in full ( 0 balance on your account); however, they will delete the tradeline from your credit reports.
Just got another letter back from a creditor whom I contacted using the same pay for delete letter. This time, however, I offered about a quarter of what was owed. Probably unrealistic, but thats ok. At any rate, the letter sent me a counter offer of about 1/3 of the amount, which is fantastic. But the letter also states that, "If you complete this payment plan and our company is reporting our company's trade line for this account to the three major credit reporting agencies, our company will report this account as settled." Definitely not what I want. At the very least I'd like to get this marked as paid in full. Whats the best way to proceed with the goal being to settle at the dollar amount they countered with, with modified terms terms of full deletion?
Every situation will be different depending upon the CA, but it's probably unlikely they'll agree to a full deletion at their current offer. You may want to counter a little higher and request the full deletion in return.
Sent a counter at the same price but asked for full deletion. I figure this sets me up for them to counter at a higher price to compensate for getting it removed. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky.
I got a letter back regarding one of my accounts from a Resurgent Capital Services L.P., claiming my account has been placeed with them. I'm assuming this is in response to a pay for delete I sent, however, it was not to this company. It was LNVN Funding LLC I sent the letter to. Resurgent Capital attached a copy of what they're calling validation of the debt, but I'm confused. The attached copy reads" (Not verbatim) Validation of debt March 20, 2011 Matt ***** LNVN Funding LLc currently owns account number ***. This account was previously sold by GE Capital on or about 4-27-2009 and at that time the balance on the account was ****. As of the date of this communication, the account balance is *** (higher amount). Because interest, payments, credits, fees, and/or other permissible charges can continue to cause the account balance to vary from day to day, you should contast us at blah blah blah to determine the exact balance. Soooo, I'm confused, because I didn't request validation of the debt in the first place, and secondly, because the so called validation of debt claims the company I sent the pay for delete letter to owns the account, not this Resurgent Capital that sent me the letter. How to proceed?
