I am trying to repair my credit for the first time and have recently pulled my credit report. I have a delinquent account for a collection Agency that works for Progressive Auto Insurance. They reported this delinquency on TransUnion but NOT on the other 2. Here are the details they have reported: Loan Type: Collection Agency Attorney Remark: Placed for collection Date placed for collection: 12/2007 Estimated date that this item will be removed: 10/2014 Balance: $236 Date updated: 2/2009 Orignal Balance: $236 Account Type: Open Account I called them yesterday hoping to get them to do a Pay For Deletion. The woman said she would try to get approval from a manager but when I called back today they told me they could only do a "paid in full" update on my account if I paid in full. I ended the call at that time without a payment. My question is what should I do next? If I pay it in full and they only mark it as such, that will not help my credit right? If I pay it will it restart the 7 years or still fall off in 10/2014? Should I attempt to send a "pay for delete letter" and just see what they do? I don't fully understand the dispute process with the CRA....can I dispute this or should I just leave this alone and wait for it to fall off my report. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated...I'm sooooo confused. Thanks so much!
A "paid" collection will not help improve your credit scores. It's still a negative mark on your credit reports. I wouldn't give up after the first "no" though. Make your offer in a letter and see what response you receive. For such a small amount, they might bite. Also, paying off the debt should not change the DOFD, so the debt should still fall off your credit reports in 10/2014. The DOFD should never change.
First and foremost, most of us are not attorneys and can't provide specific legal advice. The 7 years starts with the Date of First Delinquency resulting in the charge-off or other adverse action, payment wouldn't reset it, UNLESS the account was never charged off; and that usually happens after 6 months. Take a look at the last time they updated the trade line... 2/2009... The leads me to think that if I would pay, they probably wouldn't follow through with the update (since the account currently isn't flagged to send updates to the CRA) to paid as agreed. Now, I am probably more aggressive than most, but here is what I would do if it was me. If it was me, and if I knew that the insurance services were received, and if I felt I had a moral obligation to pay for the services that were received. I would ask the person to confirm in writing her guarantee to update as "paid in full". Now you have a written agreement, instead of an oral agreement that she can say "I never said that!" I would then wait 45-60 days after the payment has been satisfied, and if (when) it's not updated file a suit in federal court for violating the FDCPA seeking $1,000 in damages for (a) "Communicating or threatening to communicate to any person credit information which is known or which should be known to be false, including the failure to communicate that a disputed debt is disputed." § 807(8) and (b) "The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer." § 807(10). I would also include breach of the WRITTEN contract to mark it as paid (even though that's not what I wanted), seeking the $236 in actual damages for the material breach of the written contract. I've satisfied my moral obligation to pay the account, and could potentially end up at least getting the money back, and possibly more through court or a settlement. I mean, I would probably (if they got me on a good day) be generous enough to offer that if they delete the trade line, and they could save the $1,000, and only pay me the $236 back that I paid them conditional on them marking the account as paid. After all, if they would continue to not update the trade line after the settlement, they'd just be served again, and this time they wouldn't have the easy out of refunding the $236 to save them from the $1,000 FDCPA violation damages, so it's in their best interests to delete, and get rid of the potential liability of accidentally reporting false credit information, after they had been sued for reporting the false credit information the first time.
This forum is amazing! I really appreciate you both taking the time to give me some much needed insight. Im going to start with sending a "pay for delete" letter and see where that gets me...if nowhere then go the route jam mentioned. Any chance either of you know of a good "pay for delete" sample letter? Again, thank you both!!!
Jam I need your help again...I just read one of your replys from 2003 regarding how the DV, then disputing with CRA works...Does that scenario apply for me? Or did I mess that option up when I called and spoke to them? I guess my confusion is when do I do the DV to CA and dispute with CRA(2days later) and when do I just attempt the PFD with the CA??? And do I have to send 3 dispute letters(one to each CRA)? Can I start with the DV & dispute and if they DO validate it then try the PFD letter? If the CRA cant get a validation in time and it is removed form my credit report...cant it just be put back on when CA sends an update? I feel like such a noob LOL
