Debt Validated...Now What

[Anonymous]

So I sent a debt validation letter to a collection agency that has my capital one debt of around 1000 dollars. They responded with a year worth of credit card statements as supporting documents. What do I do now? The agency? Continue communications by  mail? Call Capital one? I want this off my credit report, or at least improve my score...

[Pway]

The debt has been validated by the OC.  I would suggest that you take care of the debt at once, either by payment arrangements or making a one time payment.  I would try and do a PFD if not still pay the balance.  The damage has been done, however if it is still affecting your util you will see your util go down and possible a score increase but it is not guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

^+1

You have had it validated.  This is the same information the creditor/collector will give the CAs if you dispute, so that road will go noplace.

The same reporting limit is still running - 7.5 years from DoFD on the original debt - so it's not going anywhere until then, unless you pay it off.  So if you need to improve your score by eliminating this item, you'll have to pay it off or settle it with the collector for a lesser amount, if they're amenable to that.  PFD is a possibility, but I wouldn't rely on that - it is actually nowhere near as common as you might think from the stories of success on these boards.  Once you pay the debt, whether for the full amount or for a negotiated smaller amount, the bleeding will stop and its effect on your scores will diminish.

[RobertEG]

The legal effect of their validation is that they are now no longer under any cease collection bar, and are free to continue their collection activities as usual.

They are now free to update the collection monthly, which will advise FICO that the debt remains delinquent to date, which will affect scoring.

If deletion of the collection is your primary concern, then the standard next step is to contact them and offer a pay for deletion.

The CRA has no involvment unless you can document some error in their reporting, and thus have basis for a dispute of accuracy under the FCRA.

As for the creditor, who now owns the debt?

If the debt collector has purchased the debt, then the OC is out of the picture.

[RonM21]

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@Pway wrote:

The debt has been validated by the OC.  I would suggest that you take care of the debt at once, either by payment arrangements or making a one time payment.  I would try and do a PFD if not still pay the balance.  The damage has been done, however if it is still affecting your util you will see your util go down and possible a score increase but it is not guaranteed.

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Agree with this.  Do what you can with it so at the least, it drops your utilization.