PFD= original creditor or Collection Agency

[scottie_mommy]

My spouse and I are working on rebuilding our credit and I have a question regarding a PFD. My hubby's credit report lists a charge off from Kay Jewelers. The charge off amount is $1172. I have letters from 2012 where they offered a settlement of 30% of the debt. Unfortunately, we didn't have the $350 at the time or we would have taken the settlement. 2 years later we both have steady/stable incomes and would like to make right on this debt. We have recently both received multiple phone calls a day from the Huntington Group regarding this debt. They are willing to "settle" for $1080. They say that the debt is now over $2K. My question is this: who should I mail the PFD letter to? Kay Jewelers it the OC and company listed on all 3 reports. However, Huntington Group recently sent me an email stating they would accept $1080 to mark this debt as paid in full. We want this completely deleted if possible. Anyone have experiences with Kay Jewelers similar to this? TIA

[Anonymous]

First things First

Kay Jewelers is listed on Three CRAs. How much do you know your original bill that you defaulted on was for? How did it get to $2k. You must know that first.

PFD with Kay Jewelers if at all possible. get it on KayJewelers letterhead stating what you want them to state. Dial Kay Jewelers until you find Collections Dept of Kay Jewelers.Have Acct# ready so they can verify. They will by all means avoid you and tell you to talk to Huntington. Dont accept no for an answer. Dial them 10 times for 10 different collectors at Kay Jewelers.

Paying a CA/JDB which is  Huntington is worthless/useless becoz they are not on the CRA's. Draft one PFD letter yourself and dont accept Huntington Group's settlement just yet. Since you already have an email from Huntington Group ask them that a Senior VP and/or executive at Hunington/Kay Jewelers sign on to this settlement.

Do not RUSH to pay anyone thinking its all a Done Deal. Until its in writing on your terms (meaning deletion from CRA's is Warranted) nothing is worth a Penny Paid. You still are where you were previously.

Until you tell them what you want out of paying them, they have no idea and will only persuade you to pay. Its their job to make you pay. not exactly chatter/talk with you. In "Collectors" dictionary its called "Getting to a YES ".

[gdale6]

The first thing you want to do is to see if this is still inside your states SOL, its status in relation to the SOL will dictate how you approach this. Your first line of defense against a CA is the DV but you dont want to be poking them if its inside states SOL and you do not have the full account balance to settle. If this is outside states SOL then you are the one with the most power. PFDs go to the entity that is reporting the TL on your CRs. You also need to determine if Kays still owns the debt and the way to do that is look at their TL on your report, if its reporting a balance they most likely still own it, if its at 0 then a JDB would own it (the CA).

[Anonymous]

You are getting good advice. Make the most of it by letting us know you had success in getting to deletion.

[scottie_mommy]

We live in Texas.  I have tried looking up SOL before, and came away very confused.

The credit reporting states: Date update: 02/20/13. Date closed 12/27/2011 Original charge off $1,172.Estimated month and year item will be removed: 04/2019

Account sold to C E Acquisition Group LLC

I do not have anything from Huntington Group other than the recent PDF they attached to an email and numerous phone calls.

I spoke to them recently via phone and told them that I wanted all correspondence to be done in writing.  I told them that I wanted to know how they got to the currently owed amount.  The phone reps response "you will need to appear in court for that information."

My thoughts are to send a letter directly to Kay Jewelers asking for a PFD.  How much should I offer?

[gdale6]

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@scottie_mommy wrote:

We live in Texas.  I have tried looking up SOL before, and came away very confused.

The credit reporting states: Date update: 02/20/13. Date closed 12/27/2011 Original charge off $1,172.Estimated month and year item will be removed: 04/2019

Account sold to C E Acquisition Group LLC

I do not have anything from Huntington Group other than the recent PDF they attached to an email and numerous phone calls.

I spoke to them recently via phone and told them that I wanted all correspondence to be done in writing.  I told them that I wanted to know how they got to the currently owed amount.  The phone reps response "you will need to appear in court for that information."

My thoughts are to send a letter directly to Kay Jewelers asking for a PFD.  How much should I offer?

---

TEXAS SOL

INTEREST RATE*

Legal: 6% with agreement can charge up to 18%. w/o agreement - statutory interest of 6% begins to run 30th day after becoming due

Judgment: 10%

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS (IN YEARS)

Open Acct.: 4

Written Contract: 4

Domestic Judgment: 10 (Renewable)

Foreign Judgment: 10 (Renewable)

The SOL is 4 years on the Kay Jewelers debt and its timed from the DoFD of the Kays account, its still within the SOL and you can be sued for the full amount owed which most likely includes added interest & fees. I would make full offer of the CO amount to Kays jewelers directly. From the response you got from the CA I beileve they may be preparing to sue you..

[Anonymous]

From reading your post, if 4/2019 is 7 years your DOFD (Date of First Deliquency) is sometime in 4/2012. So sometime in 4/2016 is when you are out of SOL.

You have not received a judgement or been served court papers by someone at your house yet right? You are not already in a lawsuit. Lookup naca for lawyers in your area.

Do you have the full amount to pay? can you pay in lumpsum? one payment? if you were to take payment arrangement, what would be affordable to you.

Your account is sold, yet the original creditor Kay Jewelers is on your report, but not the JDB/CA Hungington/CE Acquisition group..

If you paid Hunington/CE Acquisition Group, do not settle for Paid in Full or Paid less than owed amount. Deletion is only goal. CE Acquisition dont have to agree, you have to make them agree. Accepting anything less than a deletion may be injurious to you.

Do you happen to have any correspondences from either Kay Jewelers or any other CA/JDB. Have you ever sent a DV to them? 

Your thoughts are to send directly a PFD letter to Kay Jewelers. I would talk it over first with Kay Jewelers collections dept, and come to sorta agreement/arrangement before committing.

[scottie_mommy]

I have two letters from Kay jeweler offering a 30% settlement then a 40% settlement. Both are from 2012 when the account was first defaulted on. No recent correspondence other than the credit reporting.
Perhaps calling and asking for a settlement first is better than sending a PFD? I thought a PFD so that everything is in writing. Is that not the best option?
Thanks for everyone's input.

[Anonymous]

send in the letter you have for 40% settlement with your version of a PFD certified mail return receipt (CMRRR) then call and ask if its acceptable.? what needs changing?

then NEGOTIATE. make it worthwhile for you. Make sure you know 40% of what?

Know what all you want, have it written on piece of paper and talk to them about it. But discussing with KAY JEWELERS is Ideal.

You never know what might come of it.

You never told us if you are already in a lawsuit or have been threatened with a lawsuit (in writing)

[RobertEG]

It is unclear as to whether the OC still owns the debt.

If not, then no payment may be made to them, PFD or otherwise.

If the OC still owns the debt, then clearly only they can agree to deletion of the reported derogs, and your negotiations should be with them if you are seeking deletion of the reported charge-off.

Unknown is what the debt collector will do regarding reproting.

Nothing would preclude them, should you pay the OC and they still have collection authority, to report their collection.

They may not do so after the debt is paid, as it would no longer serve a debt collection business purpose, but they could still report.

My guess, since they have not yet reported, is that they wont do so, and perhaps they do not even have a credit reporting agreement with the CRAs.