Hi All Am new to the place &, a quick background: My Credit used to be in the toilet but over the years I used advice from forums & Agressive Credit Reporting tactics to get back to a decent standing. All is financially well now. There were SOME debts, however, that I just plain ignored because they never turned up on my Credit Reports & now the Statue of Limitaions is probably over. The Bill/Collections in question was from a housing dispute but with my name on the bill. I ended up owing $1200 to a phone company. It eventually went into collections to a companyy called AFNI who, for almost 13 years running now, has sent me quiries & finally settlement offers to square up for 1/2 the amount, 600$. I ignored every one but they kept coming for all those years. Well, today I get a settlement offer from them to close the debt for Just $50.00.... Yes ...50$ My Question is: Will it hurt me in anyway if I pay this? The letter claims everything will be payed upon reciept of the 50 bucks. Is there any trickery here? Why are they offering to setle for so little? Like I said, this was from the early 90's & never on any credit reports. Thanks in advance for any advice
Why would you want to send them 50 cents? At this point, they're just fishing for dollars. It cost them less than a dollar to send you a letter. If you send them $50, that's $49 in their pocket. Not a bad deal. If you don't send them anything, what could happen? They'll send you another letter? Big deal. That's what they make the shredder for. My advice: feed the letter to your shredder.
This has been going on for 13 years? In that case, it's off (or should be off) your credit report. Whether or not to pay is entirely up to you. ccbob's answer about why they want to settle for so little is spot on. One thing to be aware of is that the statute of limitations pertaining to bringing suit on this matter has likely long since expired. If you make a payment now, it will re-start that statute. If you do decide to pay (and I always advocate paying legitimate debts once you make sure that the amount & collector are proper), get everything in writing and keep copies forever. If you settle for $50 now in accordance with their terms and a year from now they sue you for the "remaining" $1150 + legal fees, you would have a very strong defense of accord & satisfaction.
ccbob Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,001 Why would you want to send them 50 cents? At this point, they're just fishing for dollars. It cost them less than a dollar to send you a letter. If you send them $50, that's $49 in their pocket. Not a bad deal. If you don't send them anything, what could happen? They'll send you another letter? Big deal. That's what they make the shredder for. My advice: feed the letter to your shredder. Thank you both for your answers. What I get from ccbob is that this is so far along that these guys are just trying to get whatever they can get & really cant do anything about it, right? What sparq says about re-starting that statute was what I was not sure / wary of. I was thinking the sudden lowball figure might be an attempt to begin some kind of exchange wherein i could be sued for more at a later date. Think I'll Shred.. Thanks
The limitation of reporting the data is 7 years for DOFD...if what your saying is accurate this will not show up on your credit report.
