Impact of Collections Account

[Marc334]

I have a EX PLUS score of 701 with 1 collection account. The only other blemish is missing a few student loan payments 6.5 years ago. Other than that I have 10% utilization, a 10y history (7.5 average). How much is that one $300 Failure To Pay hurting me?

UPDATE: A GW letter on the student loans worked! Increased my score to 728, a 27 point increase.
UPDATE: Paid off two student loans to get down to 3 installment loans. My score went from 728 to 737.
UPDATE: PFD worked. Score went from 737 to 772!

[guiness56]

How old is it?  A collection is a major derogatory and will impact your score for nearly 7 years.  Someone who already has a lot of collections and major derogatories may not see a huge increase when having one removed but someone who has a higher score could.

Same with one hitting your report.  The lower your score the less impact.  The higher your score the more impact.

[Marc334]

It is 2.9 years old and the only collection account.

[guiness56]

IMO, it is greatly impacting your score.  Probably upwards of 50 points.

[Marc334]

I guess that is good news. Hopefully it is an easy PFD. Any suggestions on % of debt I should offer? Does offering 100% in the first offer make them more likely to accept or just signal that I'm very interested in getting it removed?

[guiness56]

You can try a % but in all honesty if it is still within suing SOL and they may not budge for a PFD unless you offer the full amount.

[Marc334]

Do they generally bother for $300?

[Marc334]

I appreciate the advice. I don't really mind the money. I just want to clean it up.

[hopingsoon]

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@Marc334 wrote:
Do they generally bother for $300?

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I've seen one group seek judgement for a $150.00 debt and another let the SOL expired on a $5,00.00 debt. 

[Marc334]

Wow. I guess the CA's like to keep us all guessing.