I have a credit card entry on my credit report in the amount of $1640, marked as "charged off" on July 2010. It was with a collection agency for a while, they were on my credit reports as well along with sending me requests for payment in full. However, I'm doing a debt snowball, and I ignored them until about a month ago until their turn came. They stopped sending me notices in Jan, 2011, but I still sent them a pay for delete letter to see if they were alive. They did not respond and I notice they are no longer listed on my credit reports. Now only the original creditor is listed. Should I send the original creditor a pay for delete request? If so, for how much( 50%, 75%, etc )? I think that I should hurry before they sell it to another collection agency, that way I only have one entry to get off of my report instead of two.
Are you certain the debt is back with the OC? Make sure that's the case first, and then I would definitely try to reach an agreement directly with the OC before it ends up back in the hands of another CA. Hopefully they haven't actually sold the debt. Maybe try starting at 60%, but you'll probably have to go higher if the OC is willing to consider a PFD.
Never mind, creditboards, we can start another thread for that. I got a letter from the Original Creditir ( Applied Bank ) yesterday. My pay for delete letter was obviously forwarded to them by the now-defunct collector. They made a counter-offer of $1300 for a "settled in full" entry on my report and removal of any derogatory data entered on my CR in the last 24 months. The suspense date they gave me is short, in fact I can't pay them by that date as I have to ACH funds to the correct checking account. Also, I'm thinking of counter-offering $1000 and stating that "pay for delete" is non-negotiable. What do you guys think?
You definitely don't want a "settled" notation on your credit reports. I would stick to the PFD if they haven't totally shut you down on that yet. I'm not sure what your original offer was, but $1,000 sounds like a good place to start. My guess is you'll have to move closer to 80% if they agree to a PFD. Keep us updated on how it goes.
Thanks. The amount due on my CR is $1679. I offered $782 and Applied Bank came back with $1303. I send them an offer for $1000 requiring PFD, so we'll see what they come back with.
They did. They apparently sent me to an company called Account Services, who made me 2 counter-offers: 1) Settle for less - $1000 2) Pay for Delete - $1640 . Seeing as the account has late's on it in addition to the charge-off, I agreed to pay more for #2, and just sent the cashier's check out a few days ago. I expect they'll get it in about a week, and I'll give them 10 days to notify the CRA's and also make sure they send me a final statement showing the account as paid in full. Also, I'll update the final result here.
