paying off a collection

[Anonymous]

i will be paying off a collection this week and asking for  a reciept to be faxed to me. Do you guys think it would be beneficial to copy and send this reciept into the bureaus myself to get it cleared off my credit faster or will they only accept stuff from the company that posted it? I'm sure the company that posted it will never tell them the debt is clear.

[llecs]

Did you PFD?

Message Edited by llecs on 11-14-2007 03:19 AM

[Anonymous]

Simply paying off a collection, will not necessarily get it deleted from your credit reports. It will remain on your cr for 7 years, but show as paid. Still a major baddie.

UNLESS, you negotiated with the collection agency to have it deleted from cr.

I suggest you talk a little more about it here before you go ahead and pay them.

[Anonymous]

a/ i dont know what pfd is

b/ I have not paid them yet. Was waiting on responses here first.I was planning on paying the original company the money not the collection agency. Then calling the collection agency and paying them their $8 dollar interest charge only if they clear it on my credit report. Unfortuanately i'm sure what they say and what they do will be two different things.

[PayYouNever]

PFD is Pay For Delete, you write a letter stating that you'll pay off the collection (in full or partial) and in return you want the Creditor or Collection Agency to discontinuing reporting to the 3 CRAs or delete the account from your records altogether.

it's the best piece of leverage you have in paying off any day, especially a collection.

[Anonymous]

After sending them such a letter , how do i actually get them to do it? I can send the letter with a phone number, then they will call me , i'll give them what they need for payment over the phone and i don t know what i can do from that point on.

[llecs]

If you send a PFD, they will respond (hopefully) in kind to your letter. Don't ever give them a phone number and don't ever tell them to call you. The PFD requests them to respond in writing, on their letterhead, that they will delete any reference to your debt in exchange for a prompt payment by you. If I'm a CA, I will tell you anything and everything over the phone to get you to pay. If it's in writing, then typically you have a legal recourse against them if they don't follow through with their promise to delete. A letter by the CA is added insurance.

Now, they don't have to accept your PFD (you can always send multiple requests). But if they send you a letter back agreeing to your terms, then you do your part and make your payment. Typically, based on how people are responding on this and other forums, the CA will delete this debt off your CR. The CA will send notice to the CRAs that the item(s) need to be removed and you would usually see it removed within 30 days. CAs don't necessarily update with the CRAs everyday, so be a little patient.

Message Edited by llecs on 11-25-2007 10:01 PM