Here's my deal: I started this whole process a little over two years ago. I had a handful of delinquent accounts and I settled all but one for less than half of the balance. My credit score plunged from mid-700's to low 500's. But after two years, that bad payment history appears to be not weighing as hard on my score because I'm now up to a FICO score of 658. I figure in a year to a year and a half I want to be in a position to buy a house. But I've got this one last debt that I can't get rid of. I can't pay off the whole amount but I could come up with a settlement in the same range of all the others. But they took a very hard line with me before, insisting that they wouldn't even entertain a settlement offer for anything less than 75%. I think one of my problems was that I was too eager to negotiate with them. Instead of making them chase me down, I was sending them offers of settlement which they always just ignored. So I backed way off to give them some time to warm up to the idea of getting something from me. But it's been over a year now and they're not even trying to collect it anymore. What do you suppose is going on there? The statute of limitations where I live is 6 years and my first delinquency was only 2 years ago. Are they just going to sit on this debt for 4 more years when they could have a decent settlement now? Any advice here? I want to settle it, but I'm cautious to call them back up again.
Unfortunately you're in a difficult spot. Since the issue is leaning in their favor right now, they have very little inclination to deal with you: 1) It's well within the SOL, so they have plenty of time to wait 2) You might be flagged as "eager to settle" or "easy" 3) Your credit report shows that you're aggressively paying off old debts But you already knew all that How you proceed is up to you. Bear in mind that if the debt is legit, a 25% discount isn't a bad deal at all. You could try waiting, but that could raise your expenses if the debt has compounding interest. You are probably correct in assuming that your account was somehow flagged as "eager to pay" or that you were given a very low "negotiation score". Debt collectors are expert data miners, and use every available piece of information they can get -- including your communication with them -- in order to stack the odds in their favor. But speculating as to the nature of this "scoring" -- let alone how to reset it -- would be fruitless. There are simply too many variables; what if the CRM they use shows your account history in a tabbed column, so that even if your "negotiation score" resets, the next person to look at your account will see that it was set to "desperate" a few years back? You could always try the old "I am paying off several old debts now, and can afford to make a one-time payment of (40%) or three payments of (totaling 50%) over 90 days" approach. However, bear in mind that in some states, even offering a payment can restart the SOL.
Thanks for the reply, sparq. That's sorta what I figured. Seems weird to me that they are willing to let it sit for so long. If they think I can pay more, which I can't, why not just keep harassing me like they were before? I guess its better that I don't have to deal with the calls though.
