Collection Account

[jmack711]

Ok so I currently have a installment loan that I defaulted on with the total balance left being $1,240. I contacted the attorney handling the case and offered a lump sum settlement of $800 and requested that the account reflect a positive marking such as paid in full as agreed or deleted. The attorney contacted me and stated that the company will accept $1,200 as full payment and will update the account to paid in full. What do you guys think? Should I counter with $1,000 or take the $1,200 offer and run with it?

[guiness56]

$1200 isn't much of a settlement when the entired balance is $1240.  Is this a judgment?

[RobertEG]

How tight is the budget?

I would pay the full amount from a credit reporting perspective.

If satisfied, they are required to report current status of paid, current balance of $0, regardless of whether paid in full or they accepted a lesser amount.

However, if paid for less, they have the option of also reporting a special comment of paid for less.  That is not a favorable comment upon a manual review of your CR.

By paying in full, you avoid that issue.

If you wish to settle for less, they have implied but not stated that they wont report that additional special comment.

I would inquire if their statement that they will report paid in full means they wont report that additional special comment.

If you can get a settlement for less with clear confirmation that they wont report that additional special comment, that would be the best of all worlds, as it will appear in your CR the same as if it were paid in full.

[jmack711]

NO $1,200 is not much of a settlement at all, a whole $40. I do believe it is a judgement. It is been hanging around for 2 years and I just want to address and get it over with. $1,200 is pushing the budget a little more than I would like but if I could break that up into two payments I would be ok with it.

[jmack711]

Also, I emailed the attorney back to ask him to elaborate on exactly what he meant by saying the account would be updated to paid in full. I requested that the negative markings be removed and reflect paid as agreed or to have the account deleted altogether. Technically, I do owe the full $1,240 but it would be wonderful if I could get away with paying about 80% of it.