Has anyone had any luck with contacting Sears after they have sold the account to a collector ? The balance we owe sears is only 2k when the collectors (playing the pass the collections account game) want over 4k. I know it wouldn't hurt to contact Sears directly, but wanted to know if anyone else had any experience with this. I just paid off 2 collection accounts with the original creditor tonight, so I assume the 2 debt collectors will go away soon off of my CR. Any thoughts... Oh, and thank you to everyone on these boards for the past 8 months of help. I now have raised my score 100 points on average and now have a no limit amex, among about 15k in other credit cards
They won't go away because you paid them off. They'll be marked as paid collections, which in many ways is just as bad as an unpaid collection. Before you pay or offer to pay any more, read, read, and read some more on this board. Read the essentials thread and search for charge offs. You need to make sure it's reporting correctly, that it's within the SOL (Statute of Limitations) and many other things before offering to pay. Even an offer can restart the SOL. Just because a collection agency says you owe it doesn't mean it's true, or that they have a right to collect. As far as Sears goes, I don't know. But don't contact them yet. You may have shot yourself in the foot.
So even paying the original creditor wont make the collection nazi's disappear? I've done it before - and they removed the collections from my credit report - and they havn't been back since, and it's been a few years now - although from experience I know they can be sneaky about it. I've never read anything about it. Example #1 was 100 bucks owed to Sprint PCS - that was a collection with a debt collector. I paid Sprint PCS (told them I was interested in getting another account with them - which eventually I will) and they took my money - and after disputing the debt with the 3 CRA's with the paid statement from Sprint PCS - it was gone. I was kinda of hoping the same for Sears - although it may have been too long for me to work something out with Sears/Citi. Thanks for the info ... I'll see what other info I can dig up.
