I have been working on cleaning up my credit for the last year and just recently found this board. Many of the negative items I had on my report fell off because they reached the seven year deadline but I still have a couple items I am trying to work on. The first is a Capital One account that was charged off in October 2005 for a little under $900 - now up to $1200 with their interest tacked on. (At the time, I was unemployed and unable to pay the bill.) Here it is now two years later. Waiting five more years for it to drop off my credit report is too long since I would like to buy a house in the next couple years. About a year ago Capital One made an offer to me to reinstate the account with a credit line that matched the amount I owed. Once I paid it back I could keep the account to rebuild my credit. At the time I wasn't in a financial position to pay them anything. I am in a much better position now and am thinking about calling them and asking if the offer would still be an option for me? One thing I must mention is that received a letter from "collection attorney" Eskanos and Adler for this Capital One account threatening to sue me if I did not pay it. I sent them a verification/cease and desist letter in April and I have not heard back from them since. I am not sure what I should do. Am I doing more harm than good by trying to call Capital One and work out a solution with them? I have read very little about "pay to delete" and not sure how to go about that and if that would even work for me in this case? Any advice is appreciated.
My guess is that the window of opportunity to convert the debt into a new tradline has passed, since you have been contacted by a CA long after that offer was made. I would shoot for PFD and move on. There are lots of threads and sample letters on this board. In light of what you are trying to accomplish (getting a good mortgage), these are the offers I would make: FIRST OFFER (YOU WIN BIG-TIME!!!): PFD for less than owed SECOND OFFER (YOU'RE STILL A WINNER): PFD for entire balance LAST RESORT: settle for less than owed, just to get them off your back
First, Cap1 is well known for NOT working with people on these issues. Bluntly, a Pay For Deletion (PFD) will most likely not work with Cap1. But, you should still try. If you have the available funds, send a letter (certified mail), stating you will pay owed amount (in full) if they will delete the tradeline from reporting to the CRAs. Give them a 30 day response time. Next, be careful about the attorney/CA, just because you didn't hear anything, doesn't mean they went away. A case could be in process of filing. For your situation, your best bet may be to deal w/Cap1 directly, and try to get any Collection Agency tradeline removed from your credit reports. (i.e. cut your losses..)
