So, Midland Credit Management took over an account of mine from Roger's Jewelry that went into collections in 2006. This was charged off on 5/17/2007. I was dumb, even in 2009, when I received a settlement offer from them on the then $360.00 account to offer me a $212.00 settlement. I just put it in a shoebox with the rest of the bills. Last year I decided that now is the time and if we want to ever become homeowners, we have to pay off everything on our credit reports. I call the company in October and mention the offer in 2009 and told them that while this account is approaching seven years, I would like to see about a settlement offer. The lady did everything but laughed at me. She told me that the account was now up to $411.00 and that no settlement was going to be offered at that time. She did however, want my updated home address and phone number. Sure she did! The next month I received a bill from them. No settlement offer. At the end of the bill it reads: The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it, we will not report it to any credit reporting agency, and payment or non-payment of this debt will not affect your credit score.
So, I thought I would once again forget it. Let it fall off because it's approaching seven years anyway.
Three weeks ago today, I receive a call from Midland from a man informing me of my bill yada yada. I politely told him that the reason he had my current phone number is because I gave it to him to the company in October when I called in and requested a settlement agreement to pay this off. My bill is now at $413. He tells me that he is in management and has the authority to offer me a settlement after putting me on a 1 minute hold. He offered me a settlement of @248.62. He wanted the money then. I told him to put it in writing. I told him that once I received that agreement and on paper, I would mail him the money via a certified money order. He ended up agreeing to this. He gave me a February 28th deadline to mail in the payment.
On February 9th, I go to Credit Karma and pull up my updated credit report. Midland was removed from my credit report in November '14. I call the lady that we are working with at the HomeOwnership Center and explain the settlement offer and that it is nolonger on my report. She said that the fact that I agreed to a settlement with the company means that I am admitting to the debt. She said that even though the debt has since fallen off of my credit report, I am still obligated to pay. She said that if I didn't, they would continue to call and harass me. For obvious reasons, I am not going to tell them that it is nolonger on my report if I talk to them. But if I opted not to pay the agreed settlement, would they end up re-reporting it on my report?
Why do I still have to pay this like she advised?
By the way, my score is now at 630......up 100 points in just a little over a year!
~M
. If they sue it could become a judgment and can be reported.