I just talked to a credit counselor on the phone to help me with this situation I've been having with this collection agency. She advised me that the only reason why the CA agency would refuse to delete the account from my credit reports is because they have future intentions on regrouping the rest of their money that they are losing in a settlement with me (I was able to make a deal for cutting 75% off my debt). She actually informed me that I could be doing more HARM than good by making a payment because it would reset the SOL!!! She advised me because I'm so close to the 7 year term of my SOL (Experian ends in August, Transunion ends on 2/2008, Equifax on 3/2008), NOT to pay. Because this account is so old and I have no negative marks in the past 3 years on my reports, my credit shouldn't be effected much at all. I was very close to sending in the $1200, but now, I am writing a letter to the CA agency stating that I will pay the $1200, but ONLY WITH COMPLETE DELETION of the account on my credit bureaus. I urge anyone who is having difficulties to talk to a credit counselor (I actually found one that is non-profit) because they are extremely helpful.
While it can depend on state law in your state the chances are that paying them would not restart the sol. You would have to check your state laws to find out. But why take the chance? Not worth it. I see you have another problem. You say that (Experian ends in August, Transunion ends on 2/2008, Equifax on 3/2008). That cannot be. They all have to end at the same time unless Equifax actually has the right date. If Experian has the right date then the other two are illegally reaging the debt. If none of them are correct then all of them may be illegally reaging the debt. In order to know that you have to know what date you failed to make your payment to the original creditor. And that is also the date when the SOL started to toll for the filing of a lawsuit.
Cap, thanks for the info. It says on my Transunion that "estimated date that this item will be removed: 02/2008". On my experian, it reads "This account is scheduled to continue on record until Aug.2007". But on equifax, they DELETED THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR (BofA), but kept the collection agency (transunion & experian both kept the original creditor). All 3 credit reports state that the 1st deliquency notice for this account was made on 3/2001. Also, your point brings me back to another account. I disputed an account on all 3 credit bureaus that CHASE had sent to collections. Equifax returned an investigation and showed that they had deleted both the collection agency and the original creditor(CHASE). But when I got back my investigation results from Experian and Transunion, they had verified the collection agency, but REMOVED the original creditor (CHASE). Anything to this?
Ugh...credit "counselors" are idiots. If the agency sent you a settlement letter for xxx.xx due by xx-xx-xxxx then they are legally obligated and bound by that. They cannot legally regroup the rest of their money after you make that settlement. Even if they sell off the rest of the balance the next agency will get their money back from a warranty return as it's been previously settled. That will also open up grounds for a lawsuit against the agency you are paying.
