I sent out letters to various companies that have pulled inquiries over the last year asking what they were for. Today I got an answer back stating the company had purchased a credit card debt from an OC therefor the inquiry was permissable. Also that company just sent me their first debt collector communication requesting $. My question is... what do I do now? The OC DOFD is 3/2008 with a balance showing (the SOL here is 5 years). The CA isn't on my report (yet). Do I DV? I don't have the funds to request a PFD at this time.
Thank you jam237. I thought I read a post NOT to DV a CA when the SOL isn't up yet?? I've been reading so much over the last 3.5 weeks that it sometimes gets "jumbled".
You probably did. Sending a DV LTR while still within the SOL has its risks -- it could awaken the collection activity of a CA that laid dormant, and depending on the CA, how much the debt is, whether they truly can validate it, and what your ability to pay is, could wind you up in the hot seat. However, as jam pointed out, you're two months away from the SOL expiring, and is very doubtful the CA would take legal action by then. And anyway, you already sent a letter to them, and they sent their first communication/LTR to you, and that initial 30 days is important.
What to do in this case then.... Little bit of what is going on: The house we rent will be for sale in October and we will have to move again. We want to buy a house to make this our last move so, we spoke with a mortgage loan officer today and they said we wouldn't pre-qualify for a loan due to collections on our accounts. He said they all needed to be cleared up, or showing payments for the last 4 months on them. With satisfying those conditions, we would pre-qualify at that time. So, here is our situation.... We were hoping to keep our tax refund and season it for two months for a down payment on a house. One of our collection debts is $30K and that being the largest, it needs to be our first priority to clear up and it looks like our tax refund will have to go towards it. This debt is still within the SOL (along with the other mentioned in this post) and will fall out in April. With that said, our refund will no where be close to that amount! I would like to offer to the CA (CACH, LLC) 10% of the debt to get it off our report. I haven't heard from them in a long time so... *If I contact them now (within the SOL) via a DV letter - I could be opening a can of worms. What else can I do with our situation as stated above? *Once they validate, I will send them a PFD. What are the chances they would accept 10% or anyone heard of them accepting such a small %? *What are the chances this company would delete a TL? *If they won't delete a TL. Would it be considered "OK" to a loan officer if it states "settled" whereas that comment won't actually help or hurt (that I know of) our score, it will just close the collection account? As far as the smaller collection accounts, what is the best plan of attack to take care of them when you don't have a lump sum to satisfy all debts even if they will agree to settle for less than full? Some are due to fall out of the SOL this year but until then, again, am I opening a can of worms? Thanks in advance
Do you know if your state laws dictate that making a payment restarts the SOL? If it does not, can you wait until the SOL runs out before trying to meet the requirements of the mortgage company (4 months of current payments towards outstanding collections) for qualification?
Is the OC of the 30k reporting as well? If so, how are they reporting (assigned to/ sold to CA x)? If it was sold to the CA, you have a better chance of negotiating a better PFD. This could have been purchased for as low as one penny on the dollar. Even at five to ten cents on the dollar a 10% PFD settlement as you suggested, looks good. Plus it's a high dollar account, a CA is motivated by money, and even at 10% of org debt, you'll be waiving a lot of green in their faces and should be easier to prompt for a deletion. Also do you have written proof that SOL expires in April? I suggest waiting till you're closer to this date, it's still 6 months away from the time you'd have to have a mortgage in place. Do not under any circumstance let on to the CA about that, either. What are the chances the CA would delete the trade line? Well that's part of the PFD, if they sign your document and cash your payment they're bound by it. I'm not all that familiar with want mortgage lenders want/have to see on your report. I would guess that as long as the collection account is closed (paid) they would accept it. Same goes for the smaller accounts, if you're that close to the SOL running out, time is your friend. You command a much higher position when the CA knows the debt is time barred, and really your offer is their only chance at seeing any money.
