PFD or Settle?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone

This is my first post.  I just sent of a Pay for Delete letter yesterday via fax.  They called me this morning and said they could not do a PFD but they could send validation of the debt or settle.  If I choose to settle, the collection account would still show on my credit as Paid in Full which doesn't sound like would do much for my score because it is still showing.

Can someone assist me with this approach?  Should I settle or keep trying PFD?

Thanks all!

[Anonymous]

Who is the CA?

[Anonymous]

Stellar Recovery

They said they don't do Pay For Deletes but you read about them all the time.  I am trying to see if I can get Century Link to pull the collection back

[Anonymous]

Is Century Link reporting as well?

[RobertEG]

Paying wont improve your score, but will discharge the debt.

Whenever you settle for less, they have the option of reporting that fact to the CRA by way of a special comment.

If that comment is in  your credit report, it advises others that you have a past history of not paying the full debt that you accrued.

The prior creditor took a loss in having extended credit to you.

If a prospective creditor does a manual reveiw and sees that comment, then it could affect their lending decision.

By agreeing not to report settled for less, your credit report will then look the same as if you paid in full.

That could be significant, but is usually secondary to score improvement that can result from a PFD deletion of the derog.

[Anonymous]

That makes sense.  They did say they would mark it as "Paid in Full" but sounds like you are saying it won't help my score at all.

Would it make sense to call Centurly Link and try to work with them directly?  Have them pull the debt back out of collections?

[RobertEG]

That is an option if you cannot obtain a pay for delete directly from the debt collector.

The creditor presumably assigned collection authority for a business reason, and may be reluctant to terminate that authority before the consumer pays.

CRA policy requiring deletion of a reported collection only applies if the collection authority is teminated prior to payment of the debt.

Thus, dont simply pay the OC without assurance that they have terminated the assignment.

[Anonymous]

That helps!  Century Link actually has a lot of mess ups on my account so I feel like I could even submit something in writing to them as a PFD style committing to the payment if they pull it back or something.

It's on $115 but that, and a 3 late payments are bringing my score WAY down

Transunion -  681

Experian - 615

Equifax -  599

Pretty large spread against the scores