I'm thinking of paying a CA. Need advice/info.

[Anonymous]

So I have this $98 collection only on my TU report from Unique National Collections. It is for an amount owed to a local library. They simply won't budge on a PFD. It is scheduled to fall off the report in September of 2014. They will only update it to show as "paid" if I pay the $98. I actually spoke with the circulation manager at the library and a supervisor at the CA, and they both said that after 12 months the CA will send an update to the credit bureau that it is okay to remove the tradeline. If I could absolutely count on that happening, that would be fine, as I won't have a need to apply for any credit for another 15 months anyway. My concern is this. If I pay that $98 with the hopes that it will be removed after 12 months, but it isn't, will that also have restarted the seven year reporting period from the day I paid it, or will it still drop off the credit report in September 2014, even if I do pay it? If it will drop off in September of 2014, whether I pay it or not, I will go ahead and pay it with the hope that they are going to advise the credit bureau in 12 months that it can be removed. If paying it, say in June of this year, would restart the clock and re-age it until June of 2018, I won't take the chance of that happening by paying it and I'll just let it fall off in 2014. Also, if I pay it and they update it to "paid", will that lower my FICO score? Thanks.

[MBOhio2]

I am sending you a PM with some info on Unique National Collections

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I have this $98 collection only on my TU report from Unique National Collections. It is for an amount owed to a local library. They simply won't budge on a PFD. It is scheduled to fall off the report in September of 2014. They will only update it to show as "paid" if I pay the $98. I actually spoke with the circulation manager at the library and a supervisor at the CA, and they both said that after 12 months the CA will send an update to the credit bureau that it is okay to remove the tradeline. If I could absolutely count on that happening, that would be fine, as I won't have a need to apply for any credit for another 15 months anyway. My concern is this. If I pay that $98 with the hopes that it will be removed after 12 months, but it isn't, will that also have restarted the seven year reporting period from the day I paid it, or will it still drop off the credit report in September 2014, even if I do pay it? If it will drop off in September of 2014, whether I pay it or not, I will go ahead and pay it with the hope that they are going to advise the credit bureau in 12 months that it can be removed. If paying it, say in June of this year, would restart the clock and re-age it until June of 2018, I won't take the chance of that happening by paying it and I'll just let it fall off in 2014. Also, if I pay it and they update it to "paid", will that lower my FICO score? Thanks.

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Hello and welcome to myFICO.

A couple of things. No matter what you do with this account it cannot report past the expiration of the CRTP (Credit Reporting Time Period). For collections this means no longer than 7.5 years from the DoFD (Date of First Delinquency) on the OC (Original Creditor) account that led to the collection.

Also paid and unpaid collections are scored exactly the same.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[RobertEG]

Advising the CRA that it "can be removed" makes no sense to me.  They either report deletion, or they dont.  The CRA needs a firm reporting, not a "could be."

The CRAs dont make independent judgments on removal of information from a consumer's credit file unless mandated as the result of a favorable outcome as resolution of a dispute.  Payment of debt is not an action that ever requires CR deletion, and is not something to which the CRAs are empowered to make determinations.

I think you received double talk from them.

Updating to "paid" wont make a difference in your score.  FICO does not score the payment of debt, and a paid collection is scored the same as an unpaid collection.

The advantage to paying is the termination of the possiblilty of escalation to legal action, the termination of bothersome collection activites, and the entry of paid into your CR, which might be important in a future manual review of your CR.