Hey all, I'm hoping someone can help me clarify how I should handle this. I've read through the forums and still feel a little lost. Basically, I had a phone account with Verizon this year and instead of calling to cancel, I was lazy and just let it cancel itself. The ending balance was about 170$. So then I kept saying "oh I'll deal with it later" and then I find a letter from a CA dated in May... of course my response is "oh, I'll deal with it later." They have a 30$ collection fee added to the balance. And now its August and I pulled one of my free credit reports and its on there as a charge off. (*facepalm*) My fiance and I are planning on purchasing a house, and so I'd like to get this taken off if possible instead of just paying it. So, I guess my question is (sorry for the rambling), should this be my action plan: 1 - send a verification letter to the CA (United Collection Bureau, Inc) via certified mail with return receipt. 2 - when they verify it, send them a payment by deletion letter to ask them to remove it from my credit in return to my paying the balance in full. 3 - if they agree, pay it... if they don't agree? should i just keep asking for the next best thing? Is this overkill? Should I just send a payment by deletion letter since this is legit? Is negotiating not going to do anything since its such a small amount (comparatively)? Thanks to any and all advice!
It won't hurt to try to negotiate, but Verizon Wireless is pretty good at validating post-2000 accounts. And given the relative "new" status of the debt, it's my humble opinion that such negotiation will likely be unsuccessful. For that reason, I personally -- if I were in your shoes, which I am not -- would simply pay it. Still, if you only have a 0.0001% of successfully negotiating, and you're willing to spend the time on it, why not try? If you don't, you have a 100% chance of not gaining any special treatment. Who knows, a nicely-worded letter may even get them to drop the $30 fee. Never hurts to try, right? I say go for it, but if you're getting ready to buy that house, be prepared to wind up paying it in full.
FWIW, on older debts I've had some success by sending letters saying I've just come across some money, am "attempting to resolve prior financial obligations", and am willing to "immediately pay (40%) as full satisfaction of this matter". I then point out that I have sent similar offers to numerous creditors, and while "I wish I could resolve all outstanding matters promptly", "I can only afford to pay one". Two critical things about doing this: 1) This was on ancient debts that weren't yet outside the SOL. 2) I had done my homework. These debts were legit and so were the CAs. This is a hail-mary last-ditch effort. Think of it as the "nice guy" alternative to the nutcase letters. It has the potential to backfire (wake a sleeping dog, etc), so use with caution. May not work for all debts but it worked for me.
Thanks Sparg. I was afraid I'd just have to pay it and deal with the credit hit, but was hoping to avoid the consequences of my inaction. Part of my confusion comes from reading so many people asking how to remove "paid collections" from their credit, and there seems to be alot of advice that they should never have paid the creditor directly to begin with (or am I reading that wrong?). I'll go ahead and send a negotiation letter and just hope someone is having a very good day over there.
