How do I pay a collection? How can I find out who to send the money too?

[j_rich12]

My wife has two collections reported on her credit report from 2004 for a total of $300. We want to pay these collections off. How do we go about paying the collection agency? Who do we send money too?

[yoreljm]

Call the original creditor and ask them where the account is. They should be able to give you a phone number. Call the collection agency, agree on a settlement, then tell them to mail the settlement offer to you. DON'T just read off your payment info before getting something in writing.

[Anonymous]

If you're going to pay it off, get the creditor to include that they will report the item as unverifiable in your credit reports.  I have read that even if you pay the collection off, it will still show as a negative item, because they had to take it to collections.  If the creditor reports it as unverifiable, it should not be a negative item.

You should have a written settlement agreement with them that includes them reporting the item as unverifiable.

Also, I have read other places that you should not admit that you owe the amount when you are negotiating with the creditor/collection agency.  I'm not sure how you do this, maybe just say "what will it take to get this item off my credit reports?"  Apparently if you admit the debt, they may start coming after you again, and will have your admission to take to court and get a judgment against you.

Also, if you listen to Suze Orman, she will tell you that paying off really old debts will not raise your FICO score much.  She also recommends that you not close accounts after you have paid them off, because the score is partially based on how much of your available credit limit you have used, and you will have a higher score if you have a lower percent of your total credit limit used.

Message Edited by Marie on 04-05-2007 11:04 PM

[Anonymous]

" I'm not sure how you do this,"

Instead of saying "I want to pay back the amount of money I didn't pay you" you say "I'm writing to request a settlement offer on this alleged debt. This letter is not admission of accuracy of such alleged debt".

Suze Orman - while you can find worse financial counselors, for anything other than very basic money management, you can find quite a few much much better authors.