I have a situation that I feel needs the advise of an expert. I have been told that the best way to resolve the derogatory accounts is to pay them off in full and then dispute with the credit agencies after. I was told when talking with one of the collectors that after he was paid, I could then file a dispute with the credit agencies and when they began their investigation, they would contact the companies in question. Those companies would look at their records which would reflect a zero balance and would respond to the agencies with that information thereby eliminating the account entirely as opposed to just showing it as paid. Please make an effort today to verify this information. I told him he was making a mistake, but please give me some feedback. I dont want to give the wrong advice....
Once you paid the collections, you are at the mercy of the collector. They lie to get the money, and once they get it, they have no obligation to listen to you. Repeating the oft-repeated advice: please read the first three threads on this board in their entirety. Then formulate a plan of action to catch the collectors in violations of the law, and leverage that to delete derogatory account from the reports. -- lakpr
He's flat out lying. If you are going to settle (which is an action of last resort, IMHO) get a written statement from the CA in advance saying they they will do nothing short of completely deleting the trade-line in question on a permanent basis. Also, if possible, I would send a restricted endorsed check and make sure that the use of such endorsements is legal in your state (see the link below for details). Also, if you feel as though you have to settle, most of the time you can do so for less than the full balance owed. If the debt is beyond the SOL in your state, there really is no reason to settle at all unless you need to do so to buy a house, etc... I would exercise every option available to me before I ever agreed to settle with a CA. Just my two cents... http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42936&highlight=ryder
