I just got off the phone with a collection agency that i owe money too. I asked if i payed the entire balance if they would remove the listing completely. Well they wouldn't agree with that. So he told me that if i paid the entire balance they would mark it as "paid- closed account" When i asked him if he could send me that in writing before i paid he said "my company doesn't do that." All he could tell me is that they would send me a letter after payment showing the balance was paid in full and that i no longer owe them money. All i seem to read always states to get everything in writing. Are they legally obligated to give me anything in writing since it was a spoken agreement? Another thing he mentioned was that with the letter from them i could try to get the listing removed myself by sending a copy to the CB's. He said they might do it and they might not. He also told me by having the listing as "paid-closed account" it would no longer be a negative on my credit report. Is this guy full of @%$&? If so what do i do next?
Well, no, they're not obligated to send you the agreement in writing, but I would stick to your guns and refuse to pay until they do. Here's how I'd try to make it happen: 1) Get their mailing address. 2) After step #1, never talk to them on the phone again. 3) Send them a very simple letter stating that it is inconvenient for you to receive phone calls on this matter, and that you prefer all communication in writing. On this same letter, propose the settlement offer they offered you. You can say something like "In reference to my telephone conversation with ___ on __/__/__ at 3:55pm, please confirm the amount and 'pay by' date of your settlement offer." 4) Send the letter certified mail with a return receipt. Some people might advocate wording your letter a little differently, maybe telling them that you don't admit the debt but are interested in any settlement offer they can make, or proposing a settlement of your own. That's entirely up to you -- what I put above is what I personally would write. I would think that most CAs would work with this, since they're obviously already willing to accept the settlement. CAs are well-known for using high-pressure tactics to make you feel like some deadline is looming "any day now" and you have to RUSH RUSH RUSH or else the world will end. This is why you should always try to avoid speaking to them on the phone; this is a LOT harder to do by mail. Good luck - let us know how it turns out!
Thank you very much! Was he correct when he said that the "paid-closed account listing" would not be a negative on my report? Ill take your advice though and start going through mail.
It depends on how exactly they report it. As is so often the case, someone with a little more experience reading more reports can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong, but a "paid / account closed at customer request" would be the best thing to have a delinquent account turn into, especially if there's nothing screwy in the "high balance" and "amount" fields (if you show a "high balance" of $1500 and the credit was only for $500, that's gonna hurt a bit). If it shows as "paid" but "account closed by credit grantor", that might be construed as negative. However, there are so many variables in there I can't be sure. I will say that IMHO, having a paid debt (assuming it's valid and all that) is always better than an unpaid. Even if your FICO doesn't move an inch, you've done the right thing. Plus, when you go for a car loan or a mortgage and an actual human looks at your credit report, just about any "paid" delinquency is going to look at least a little better than any "unpaid" delinquency.
A "Paid" collection is no better than an un-paid collection when it comes to computing a FICO score. The older it is, the less damaging it is, but there's no way that a collection entry can become "good." A collection entry (paid or otherwise) indicates that the consumer was VERY late when it came to paying at least one bill (for whatever reason). Now, when an application is reviewed by a loan officer, paid looks better than unpaid in that you don't have any obligation hanging over your head. But, you'd still need to explain why the account went into collections and, more importantly, why that will never happen again.
