Amex charged off - do I pay Nationwide or Amex?

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

When you call back,  try to be adamant about paying AMEX directly---that way you can get back in quickly with them.

Yikes, what a frustrating process this has become. I called Amex and told them I really would rather pay through them, and asked if I could go ahead and pay in full. I was told that they cannot even access my account, and all payments would have to go through Nationwide. I mentioned that I'm still able to pay on Amex's website, and he said that he does not advise this and he would advise I pay through NW. 

I don't know why, but I'm strongly tempted to just make the payment on the Amex website and see where the cards fall. At the end of the day I'm paying my debt in full and that's all I want to do. I've never had so much trouble getting someone to take my money. 

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I would be tempted to do so as well. 

If the Amex website accepts the payment, it's not as if they can later say it never happened - you'll have proof.  If anything it could be a way to force Amex to pull the account back from Nationwide.  The worst-case scenario is that they simply later return the payment to you, at which time you can then submit it to Nationwide.

That's just my opinion, though... YMMV.

Edited to add:  the more contact you have with an Amex CSR, the greater the chance they will restrict your ability to pay via the web. 

[pip3man]

Hey OP listen up, this is my current personal experience. I'll cut a long story short but back in 2012 the Green card I had with AMEX wounded up getting cancelled and charged off with a $579 disputed balance that I refused to pay. Since then up until 2014 they kept sending me the Optima offer which I never paid attention to. The account went through various CA till it was pulled back in house with AMEX in 2014 where it was till date. But anyways I figured I might need an AMEX in the near future so all I simply did was log in to my account and paid the $579 balance and it went through perfectly. The only thing I'm scared about is, Amex had deleted the account from all 3 bureaus in 2013 so I'm not sure if this payment will cause them to reinsert the account back to my credit file but it's whatever.... All I'm trying to say is GO AHEAD, LOGIN ONLINE AND MAKE YOUR PAYMENT. There's absolutely nothing to worry or fear about.

[sjt]

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@Chris679 wrote:
No, you can't pay Amex they don't own the debt. You would be throwing money away because you would still owe the CA.

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That is incorrect. Amex never sells their debt. They sub contract with various collection agencies to collect on their behalf but they still own the debt.

[sjt]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I had an American Express account charged off to the amount of $3,200. I am now in the position to pay it off in full, but I do not know who I need to pay. I notice that I can still go to the Amex website and make a payment, but I'm concerned that Nationwide will continue to hound me if I do so. However, I feel safer doing it through Amex's online portal vs a random person taking my information over the phone.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this? I don't want to pay Amex and still end up burned. 

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Amex still owns the debt but sub-contract the collection efforts to Nationwide. It really doesnt matter who you pay in the long run. Things to consider:

If you pay Amex directly, then your records will update faster. Once the payment has been made and deducted from your account 1) call the global collections department and confirm the payment has been updated in their system, then asked them for an invitation to receive the Optima Card.

After you have contacted Global Collections, call Nationwide anf inform them you paid the balance. If Global Collections does not offer you the Optima Card then ask them for an Optima Card invitation.

When Amex updates their records with the CRAs they tend to erase the previous past due notations but change their notation to paid charge off 0 balance. You will get a score boost. People have reported in the past that Amex will eventually delete the tradeline, but they may have changed that.

[manyquestions]

I agree with the above poster that you can probably pay either way

[UncleB]

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@sjt wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I had an American Express account charged off to the amount of $3,200. I am now in the position to pay it off in full, but I do not know who I need to pay. I notice that I can still go to the Amex website and make a payment, but I'm concerned that Nationwide will continue to hound me if I do so. However, I feel safer doing it through Amex's online portal vs a random person taking my information over the phone.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this? I don't want to pay Amex and still end up burned. 

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Amex still owns the debt but sub-contract the collection efforts to Nationwide. It really doesnt matter who you pay in the long run. Things to consider:

If you pay Amex directly, then your records will update faster. Once the payment has been made and deducted from your account 1) call the global collections department and confirm the payment has been updated in their system, then asked them for an invitation to receive the Optima Card.

After you have contacted Global Collections, call Nationwide anf inform them you paid the balance. If Global Collections does not offer you the Optima Card then ask them for an Optima Card invitation.

When Amex updates their records with the CRAs they tend to erase the previous past due notations but change their notation to paid charge off 0 balance. You will get a score boost. People have reported in the past that Amex will eventually delete the tradeline, but they may have changed that.

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+1

My personal experience years ago with Amex and credit bureau reporting is that if you request an update or correction on a closed account, rather than correct it they simply delete it. 

At least, that's what happened in my case... YMMV.