AFNI and declined PFD... what to do next?

[roxxor]

Hello everyone. I've read quite a few posts about AFNI and Pay For Deletes, but still haven't found an answer to my situation, so I figured someone might have some good advice.

AFNI filed on my CR an account in 08/11 from DirecTV, which I did have and went into collections when I cancelled the service. I sent AFNI an email offering 50% settlement in exchange for PFD, to which they replied "Thank you for your inquiry.  Your account will be reported to all 3 major credit reporting agencies as closed and settled in full once a payment of a settlement offer posts; as we do not exchange credit deletions for payments". 

From my research, I know that the opposite is true. So I'm wondering what my next step should be. Should I reply with another email offering full payment in exchange for PFD, or rather than email should I send a hard letter, and since they told me no the first time, what are my chances they would say yes?

Also, since I know that the account was mine and the amount was fairly accurate, would there be any advantage to me requesting DV from them?

Thank you in advance!

[llecs]

Always send a DV before offering a PFD even if you are positive the debt is yours. One reason is to make sure the CA still owns or collects on the debt. You don't want the CA to accept a PFD when they don't own it. Another is to make sure the balance is correct; some CAs have been known to arbitrarily inflate their figures which can be illegal in some situations. And you can use the balance as a basis for your PFD offer. Finally, a DV opens the doors of communications by which to offer a PFD. There are a few rare examples of CAs or OCs coming back with a PFD offer on their own prior to making yours. And if interested in settling, some will retort with an initial settlement offer by which you can base your PFD off of.

I dealt with AFNI twice. The first time they never accepted any PFD offer and I sent many. Their balance was off and I pressed them in terms of DVing. They said they couldn't verify and they deleted. The second time the balance was legit. I sent a DV. They validated properly. I then sent a PFD for 100% via the e-mail recoverteam address and they responded via e-mail saying they are deleting. I never paid them and they never acknowledged my offer in the response. However, they tried to collect again one time after that on the same debt. Be careful.

[pizzadude]

AFNI is much better than other CAs about GW'ing paid collections.   You can probably get them to remove after you pay...