I was contacted by NCO Pre legal in regards to a account with Bank of America. The rep for NCO said they do not own the debt but are just acting on bank of Americas behalf. I would like to start the process of settling this account. I figure I will start with the validation process. My questions are 1. Who owns the debt? B of A or NCO and what is the status of the account. How do I find this out 2. Do I send the validation letter to B of A or NCO 3. What is the most favorable outcome after settlement in regards to how this account is reported on my credit (paid- settled- deleted)?
Hmmm...that's interesting. I haven't heard the name "pre-legal" before, so perhaps it's a specific division of NCO that works on behalf of the OC. Does anyone else know? I think it's still likely that BOA charged off your debt, and NCO bought it. So, you'll have to deal directly with NCO. Start by sending your validation request to them and do everything possible to negotiate a complete deletion of the negative listing. That's the most favorable outcome.
If they said they don't own it but are just collecting for BoA, then it has probably just been assigned to them. Contact BoA and see if they still own the debt. They will tell you if they've sold it or just assigned it. Say that you would like to work out a settlement. A validation letter goes only to the CA. There is no requirement for an original creditor to validate a debt. If BoA still owns the debt, you have almost no chance of negotiating how it will report. It will report as settled for less than balance.
