HELP: Neg tradeline removed, but then received settlement offer I sent a Pay-For-Delete letter several weeks ago to a CA. Within a couple of weeks the tradeline was mysteriously removed from my CRs. However, now a week later, I received a counter-offer from them for 60% (I had offered 40%). Since they have already removed this from my reports, do I even need to acknowledge receipt of this letter from them? My only concern is that they can re-enter the deleted tradeline onto my reports...is that possible? I'll pay the 60%, but I don't want to if the info is already PERMANENTLY deleted. Thoughts? Also, in their counter-offer letter, they did not mention deleting the tradeline if I pay the 60%. Don't I need to wait until they agree in writing to do so?
You might counter their counter and offer 50% with a non-disclosure clause. The problem with "pay for delete" is that the CAs can't delete a tradeline just because it's been paid. That's against the law. What they can do is: - Not report it in the first place - Not report it again if they've pulled it (e.g. due to a pending validation or some other reason) - Pull it if it's in error (e.g. they posted it to the wrong person's report) and probably some others, but those are the obvious ones. So, if you want to pay it AND make sure they don't report it, add a non-disclosure clause. Something to the effect that "Both parties agree to maintain this agreement in the strictest of confidence and will not disclose the terms of this agreement nor any information about the account to any other parties." Reporting to a third party or responding to a validation request would constitute 3rd-party disclosure and be prohibited by the non-disclosure clause.
