I have been looking through this forum for information and I was hoping someone could give me some advice on my situation. I am in contract to buy an apartment and am in the process of securing a mortgage committment. I had been pre-approved but now the bank is conditioning the loan upon my paying off a collection that was recently started and getting proof that it was paid. The collection agency is Asset Acceptance and its for two phone bills not paid by my roommates about 5 years ago. I know this only because they had called me at work somehow. The two alleged debt are only about 300 dollars a piece but after reading this board I decided to fight them. I sent a validation letter about 2 weeks ago to them certified/return receipt. The problem is that I need to close my mortgage loan as soon as possible and I do not have the time to wait them out and fight it. Thus, my question is if anyone has any advice on how to settle this as quickly as possible, with the least amount of damage to my credit. From what I can gather, I should try and get them to delete the record or at the least have it marked paid as agreed. Whats the fastest way I can facilitate this? Should I call them? Thanks so much in advance.
I would offer to pay for delete. Since it is most likely out of SOL, but you don't have time to "wait it out" you can always offer 50% on each if they agree in writing to delete the TL.
Thanks for the response. I had thought that utility bills are considered open accounts? In which case for me the SOL is 6 years so it hasn't run yet. Any other ideas on what leverage I might have at this point?
