I was wondering if anyone has ever negotiated with a CA. I want to pay off 2 charge offs, but I want to try to negotiate with the CA, meaning: â??Iâ??ll pay the full amount if you take it off my CRâ? Does anyone think this ~might~ work? Thanks in advance for your input!
Thanks George, They are very small amounts that I can take care of now... I was hoping that they would go for it if I paid them off in full. And you betcha..I'm going to get it in writing!
I settled most of my accounts with an agreement to delete. Most people would say go to validation instead of settlement first, which always your choice. But I had a lot of luck with settlement for deletion. Anyways here is my 2 schillings on settle for deletion: When talking to the CA, I would just tell them that I would like to settle the account the CA claims "I owe", because it isn't worth the hassle of tracking the debt down via validation and the damage to your credit it's doing. You know this is true to, I would much rather pay off a small debt for deletion, even if I questioned things like if it is even my account, billing errors, unfair interest charges, and balances. Explain you just want to settle the debt the CA claims you owe in exchange for $XXX and the CA agreeing to delete the account from the CRA's. Can't tell you what the CA will say. Some CA's will take the offer right away and others will say no. If they say no, just call back and ask again, you never know. Also, if the CA will NOT AGREE to delete for full payment after a few tries, ask the CA if they "own the account", i.e. bought the account from the OC or if they are just contracted by the OC to collect on the account. If they are contracted, that means they don't own the debt and the OC will usually have authority over the debt and be able to tell the CA what to accept. I have used the OC to get the CA to agree to the terms before, if the CA won't agree over the phone, OC might be worth a shot. OC's often refuse to deal with a debt once in collections, it took a few calls to get the OC to agree to discuss the debt with me. Also, you can always send a random letter if you can't get the OC or CA to agree. I have had several CA's sign the letter with the terms of the settlement and mail it back to me, in which I forwarded the full payment I had agreed to send in the offer within a day. CRA's don't like it when CA's or creditors in general agree to delete accounts for consumers. CRA's often put it in the contracts of ca's to agree not to delete as a condition of payment, unless of course there is something inaccurate about the account. Some CA's will stick to this rule like glue, others won't. Personally, I don't think it is fair for CRA's to do this.......if I am willing to PAY MORE than I think I owe, or even could afford to pay, in exchange for deletion, who is the CRA to tell the CA to not accept??? CA's need money and we need our credit, seems like a deal between a debtor and a creditor that the CRA should not have a strict control over. Also, agree to NOTHING and PAY NOTHING that is not in writing. Many people have been burned by being promised deletion from the CA via telephone and that the CA never followed through with and denied later. If the CA agrees to the terms over the phone, make the fax or mail you a copy of the terms. Or, make your own letter and fax/mail to them. Make sure if you talk on the phone to them, ADMIT NOTHING. Just that you are looking for a mutually agreeble settlement on the ALLEGED DEBT. If you still can't get anywhere, there is always validation, checking ca's state licensing requirements, removing addy from cra and disputing, or even nutso lawsuits!
