Negotiating debt settlement

[edanib]

I was contacted this morning about a debt owed of 3k. They were willing to settle for $1200. Normally I would have jumped on this settlement, but my readings on the boards have taught me to negotiate!

I told her that my counter offer was to either:

1 - accept the settlement and set up a payment plan to have this reported as settled in full ( I don't want to take this option)
2 - accept the settlement and pay it all in full to have this deleted or reported as paid in full

She said she's never done this before, but would check with her manager and call me back! I will keep you updated.

Any other ideas on counter offers???

[chane]

Is this with a CA or OC? Either way, it's probably best to have it deleted. If it's CA, you for sure want it deleted. If it's an OC and they are reporting it as a charge off, you definitely do not want it to say "charge off, paid in full". You also do not want it to say "settled in full" ever.

Your best bet is probably just to have it completely deleted and you should not pay anything until they agree in writing to do that.

[edanib]

I will give that a try. I see a lot of advice on here to hold our or refuse to pay until they agree to delete, but I haven't had much success with them agreeing to delete. I am going to try to fight this one and will let you know!

[edanib]

I should also mention that I'm working with a collection agency. I tried contacting the original creditor and they told me the debt had already been passed to the collection agency and I would need to deal with them.

[chane]

Yea, if it's a collection account, you want it completely removed. Nothing else short of complete removal will benefit you at all...so why would you pay it if it still stays on your report and hurts your credit scores?

They can remove it. Reporting it in the first place is voluntary. They were not required to report it as they would like you to believe. There policy as a company may be to not remove it, but they have the ability to do it. If that is their policy, then your policy should be not to pay it. Get my drift?

[Lian]

I would just add that reluctance of an OC or a CA to accept a PFD agreement is a bit more than just hard-nosed policy on their part.

In their credit reporting agreements with the CRAs, they agree to comply with the CRA credit reporting manual ("Credit Reporting Resources Guide," (c) CDIA). A firm stipulation, repeated several times in that manual, is that items of information and/or accounts are NOT to be deleted based on subsequent payment of the debt. While not a legal requirement, it is nonetheless a reporting guideline that they have agreed to comply with.

On a practical front, since the CRAs require no statement of reason for any CR deletion, this "guideline" is without any enforcement teeth, and the CRAs have never, to my knowledge, attempted to enforce it. But the CRAs will often state, incorrectly, that this is a legal requirement.

[chane]

I wasn't aware of that. I guess that's the reason why some of them don't accept a PFD, but it's a great tactic for those that do.