Pay Or Negociate For A Delete
If you have a collection on your report and you would like to pay or negociate for a delete do you do this with the original creditor or the collection agency?
Also, if you are successful in negociating a delete, how do you insure they will do what they say they are going to do? We all know that collectors are trained to "say" anything to get the money!
1. If the account is "assigned", you may be able to get the OC to pull it back from the CA, or you may be able to get the CA to agree to the OC changing how it reports, as well as changing or deleting their own TL.
. Here's a good one: "The above account has been paid/cancelled with our office. Reason for deletion: IMPROPER NOTIFICATION. ADDRESS ERROR" Why do this? Because some CRAs are refusing to delete without a reason, even when the CAs have agreed to it! The CA should be cajoled to file a "UDF" or "Universal Data Form" on your behalf.
2. If the account has been sold, there is no leverage for how the OC reports, short of a nutcase letter. You do have leverage in whether or how the CA reports ... that leverage is your payment.
3. After hard negotiations, you may get some kind of agreement from the CA that they will do somethingoruther with the TL upon your payment. Have them memorialize that by signing a "pay for delete" (actually, it should be "delete for pay" but everyone calls is "pay for delete" agreement and faxing or mailing you a copy). Don't expect them to do the work of writing it. You need to draft it.
4. You'll want to try this at the beginning of the last week of the month, so that the settlement will contribute to the collector's month-end statistics. They are a little hungrier at that time, and a little more willing to negotiate. It may take several months to crack them. Sooner or later, they'll be having a weak month, and your offer won't be the easiest money they've gotten, but it's better than no money at all.
5. If you do get them to agree to delete, be sure to get a reason on their signed agreement (which should also, by the way, state that the validity and amount of the debt was "in dispute"
For more details, see http://www.creditinfocenter.com [ Edited by flacorps on Date 03/05/2004 ]
Great answer Flacorps!
Jeffrey Adam
[addsig]
Thank you!
Hope it goes smooth!