So, out of my dozen or so collections, I called the CA's for many of them. The BIG things are a ton of small medical bills, all with the same collection agency. The CA is CMRE. They agreed to do a PFD and dropped the total amount owing from $1737.99, to $1180.42. I am happy with that. The lady at CMRE was actually kind of nice, which shocked me. Maybe it was because I was a woman.. The guys I talked to today were pretty rude and abrupt. The other big one was AFNI, with an old sprint bill. The original bill was $1,911. They agreed to a PFD with a 60% payment. Dropping it to $1,147. They are sending me two letters, one with the PFD agreement, and another stating that when the 60% amount is paid, the account will be closed. Both will be dated and have account numbers on them. If this works out, I will be happy! I kinda felt like I could have gotten it lower.. maybe it's worth a try when I make the payment. The bad... I called on a collection with Columbia Collections, only to find out the collection had been withdrawn by the Dr.'s office. They couldn't tell me when it had been withdrawn. When I started saying that it was illegal for them to report false information, he put me on hold and I was then with a manager. She was going to follow up on it, and get back to me. I had had other collections with them, previously. They had been taken off when they couldn't be validated after the dispute process. I stupidly told them that, and she was going to look in to that too, unfortunately. I hope since it wasn't validated before when I disputed it, that she won't be able to do anything about it. I also found out that two more collections for ER visits this year will soon be going up through them, totaling an additional $2800... which SUCKS! I also was told "absolutely not, no way ever" to a request for a PFD for an old Comcast bill, by CPA, which shocked me since I offered to pay the full amount! I also had to argue with the guy at Bonneville Collections about an old PGE bill. They agreed to do a PFD, but then told me it wouldn't be the collection amount of $360, it was plus $100 in interest. I asked for a manager, and he refused to budge on the interest. He threatened to sue me if I didn't pay it right then, to which I said "good luck, you have to have money to BE sued" laughed, and hung up. I was very careful, and never once acknowledged that a single debt was mine with any of them or was my responsibility, I also didn't fall for that "can we validate your identity by having you give us your current address" crap. I refused all the information they asked for, except with the two sending the letters to me for PFD, who I gave my address and phone number to. Everyone else was closed for the day, since I am West coast and a lot of these offices are the mid-West it seems. I am feeling discouraged about the new ER collections. I won't go into a rant about how I feel about not having medical insurance, and how I got these in the first place.. but, it's discouraging. Small steps, though. Thanks for all the great posts and responses. I feel like I am heading the right direction... even if the horizon looks sad right now. I'm making my husband take me out for dinner and ice cream on his dime for a change devon
A question... could I have a charge-off from a closed checking account and credit card removed, because I was under 18 when the accounts were opened? I just read a little something about it and thought I would ask.
It sounds like your first round went pretty well. I'm getting ready to do the same thing with a few collection agencies. Remember, if they refuse to do a PFD, you can always try the NDA approach. Another thing I've learned is to make sure you record the phone calls. Also, do you think it's better for them to send you the PFD contract...or should you send it to them? Maybe one of the Guru's can comment on that? Anyways, keep everyone updated on your progress and good luck! Tim
PFD = Pay in exchange for the deletion of the tradeline in credit report. On the surface or as a single step, this is generally prohibited by federal law and the agreements between creditors and the credit reporting agencies. NDA = "Non disclosure agreement" or what you need to have a chance at a PFD-like transaction. A non-disclosure agreement (or clause in an agreement to pay) generally says that the terms of the payment, and the very fact that you paid, are to be kept confidential between both parties and that these facts may not be disclosed to any third party (to include a CRA, for example). The theory goes that if the CA agrees to keep the terms confidential and you challenge the tradeline through the CRA, the CA will not respond to the inquiry and the CRA will have to delete the tradeline. In essence a PFD, but done in a way that everyone saves face. Now whether or not the NDA is in conflict with whatever legal and contractual obligations the CA might also have is hard to say. I suppose, however, that those obligations are the CA's problem and not yours if they sign the agreement. But those obligations might also prevent a CA from agreeing to an NDA in the first place. Either way, it can't hurt to try as long as you try BEFORE you agree to send any money.
