I received the following letter... "Dear DC2008, Capital One, the creditor of your account, has assigned the above referenced account to Northland Group, Inc. for collection. Our client is willing to reduce the balance by offering you a settlement. Upon receipt and clearance of $1,200, you account will be satisfied and closed and a release letter will be issued. As of the date of this letter, the current balance on your account is $2,200..." Should I have the debt verified even though I know it to be accurate? Here's how the account appears on Transunion CR: Capital One Balance: $2,132 Pay Status: Charged off as bad debt Remark: Account closed by credit grantor Date updated: 4/2008 Estimated date that this item will be removed: 1/2010 More importantly, how should I respond? I like the offer of not paying the full amount, but I would also like to condition payment on deletion from my CR. Is that possible with this kind of offer? Can I even make such an offer to this group?
Don't know how far this will get you, but I would suggest the following: Dear CA I accept your offer UNDER the following conditions. 1. That you report this matter as "paid in full" to any CRAs that you and Cap One are dealing with, and 2. delete any past negative information concerning this account. Worked for me 2 years ago. A note of caution though: Get a letter from them confirming/agreeing to this before sending them the payment.
I'm not sure Cap One will do that, but I guess you lose nothing by trying. Cap One is a pretty hard creditor. HOWEVER, be aware that by settling for less, you may well receive a 1099 for the difference and have to pay taxes on the forgiven amount.
