Anyone settled a CO with PenFed?

[Geordi]

I have a CO with PenFed that will age off in the next 15 months [March 2018].

PenFed is reporting monthly and reporting a balance.

I want to settle so that I can stop the monthly updating and to have the balance to report zero.

I called PenFed this morning regarding my account and was on the phone with Member Services for 20 minutes.  I was never transferred to collections, he just put me on hold and told me that I needed to balance in full if I wanted to apply for membership again.

The balance CO'd is $4964.

Right now I just want to complete my rebuilding phase.  I just want this settled.

Should I call back and ask for collections and ask if I can settle?

[RobertEG]

The debt is apparently only being pursued by their internal collections department, and not a third party debt collector.

Yes, if you wish to settle, the process would be to contact the creditor and make your offer.

The issue that I would consider is whether or not you wish to make any settlement offer also contingent on their agreement to delete the reporting of the charge-off.

It adds another concession on their part, but if agreed to, it would remove the CO from its scoring impact.

Is settling your primary goal, or are you  willing to take a bit more time to also attempt a PFD?

[mysterythemoon]

For an account that's almost six years old (I'm assuming) and for that amount of money, is it worth it to settle at all? Seems to me you'd be better off using that money elsewhere and then calling the 3 CRAs in nine months and start asking for an early exemption. Now if you could settle for pennies on the dollar, sure. But if it's a lot of money, I'm not sure at this point that the best course isn't to just wait it out.

[Anonymous]

The OP said they owe the debt. The OP should pay it if he/she owes it. Sounds to me the OP wants to make good on a debt they created.

[Geordi]

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@Geordi wrote:

I have a CO with PenFed that will age off in the next 15 months [March 2018].

PenFed is reporting monthly and reporting a balance.

I want to settle so that I can stop the monthly updating and to have the balance to report zero.

I called PenFed this morning regarding my account and was on the phone with Member Services for 20 minutes.  I was never transferred to collections, he just put me on hold and told me that I needed to balance in full if I wanted to apply for membership again.

The balance CO'd is $4964.

Right now I just want to complete my rebuilding phase.  I just want this settled.

Should I call back and ask for collections and ask if I can settle?

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Ok,

I called PenFed today and asked to be transferred to the collections department.

After looking up my account, I was told that my account had be sold to Nationwide and that there was nothing that PenFed could do with this account.

I then asked if Nationwide was just collecting for Pentagon Federal and the account was still in the hands of PenFed.  His response was absolutely not.

This account had been sold to Nationwide and there was nothing that PenFed could do regarding this account.

I then asked the gentlemen that if this account had been sold to Nationwide [collection agency] then should not PenFed be reporting this account with a zero balance.  His response was that he did not know how it should be reporting to the credit bureaus.  And with that I wished him a happy holiday season.

Question 1:

Since he gave me the number to Nationwide should I call them and offer to settle for 10%?  Nationwide is not reporting on any of my CRAs

Question 2:

Since I have already disputed with all three CRAs regarding PenFed reporting a balance instead of reporting zero balance and each CRA verified that PenFed is reporting accurately, should I now file a three seperate complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about each CRA reporting a balance on a sold charged off account.

I really appreciate everyone's advise.

[RobertEG]

Question 1:

Since he gave me the number to Nationwide should I call them and offer to settle for 10%?  Nationwide is not reporting on any of my CRAs

 The amount you offer is entirely up to you.  However, I would include in your negotiation the agreement that they not report to the CRAs if paid by a certain date.

Question 2:

Since I have already disputed with all three CRAs regarding PenFed reporting a balance instead of reporting zero balance and each CRA verified that PenFed is reporting accurately, should I now file a three seperate complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about each CRA reporting a balance on a sold charged off account.

If the creditor did actually sell the debt, then their verification back to the CRA was inaccurate.  They no longer have a debt, and were clearly required to have updated the balance to $0. 

I would first call the creditor and attempt informal correction.  Someone missed the boat.

If they dont correct in the next regular reporting cycle, then you have the option either of filing a complaint with the CFPB for clear violation of FCRA 623(a)(2), or bringing your own civil action for their lack of reasonable investigation of your dispute. 

[Geordi]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Question 1:

Since he gave me the number to Nationwide should I call them and offer to settle for 10%?  Nationwide is not reporting on any of my CRAs

 The amount you offer is entirely up to you.  However, I would include in your negotiation the agreement that they not report to the CRAs if paid by a certain date.

Question 2:

Since I have already disputed with all three CRAs regarding PenFed reporting a balance instead of reporting zero balance and each CRA verified that PenFed is reporting accurately, should I now file a three seperate complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about each CRA reporting a balance on a sold charged off account.

If the creditor did actually sell the debt, then their verification back to the CRA was inaccurate.  They no longer have a debt, and were clearly required to have updated the balance to $0. 

I would first call the creditor and attempt informal correction.  Someone missed the boat.

If they dont correct in the next regular reporting cycle, then you have the option either of filing a complaint with the CFPB for clear violation of FCRA 623(a)(2), or bringing your own civil action for their lack of reasonable investigation of your dispute. 

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Excellent points.  Do I really want to poke a sleeping bear?

I am considering allowing it to age off and leave the door open to re-establishing a relationship with PenFed. 

There is lots of information on re-establishing with Navy Fed, USAA, AMEX, and even Citi. But nothing that I could find about PenFed.

Thanks to everyone that replied. It is good to read the opinions of the members of this forum.