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PFD questions

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Anonymous
Not applicable

PFD questions

I am very new to all of this, so, please, bear with me. I want to apply for a mortgage, but I have an old account in collections, probably about 4 years old or so. If I simply settled this account, would it count against me? Or should I pay it in full? Or should I go for the PFD? If I go that route, how do I start? I have read a lot of advice that says to send a DV letter first, but are they even required to validate after this long? And would it be wise to offer the full amount?
I feel I must say that no one is bothering me to pay this account. No letters, no phone calls, nothing.
The debt is for a little over $1000. It is from Procollect.
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PFD questions

I would send the company a PFD letter (there are a bunch of templates online), there is always verbage in the letter about a time frame that the company has to respond to you.  If they don't accept the PFD I would settle the account in full, that looks better than settling and your mortgage company will expect you to have everything taken care of on your report.  The next step would be to dispute the item once it shows paid on your credit report, they company has 30 days to verify the debt and if they don't it will be deleted off of your report.  If that doesn't get the item deleted, you'll be in the same boat as I am with a collection from that long ago and that's waiting out the 7 years....  However an older debt like that isn't impacting your score at this point.  Good Luck!

Message 2 of 7
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: PFD questions


@Anonymous wrote:
I am very new to all of this, so, please, bear with me. I want to apply for a mortgage, but I have an old account in collections, probably about 4 years old or so. If I simply settled this account, would it count against me? Or should I pay it in full? Or should I go for the PFD? If I go that route, how do I start? I have read a lot of advice that says to send a DV letter first, but are they even required to validate after this long? And would it be wise to offer the full amount?
I feel I must say that no one is bothering me to pay this account. No letters, no phone calls, nothing.
The debt is for a little over $1000. It is from Procollect.

As already suggested you would approach them with a PFD offer, if its accepted you pay it and then they delete the TL from your CRs. If they refuse the PFD then if its updating monthly I would settle it and switch to GW letters to ask for its removal. If its not updating monthly you might want to wait till after the mortgage pull especially if it hasnt reported in a while due to the fact that when it updated to report it paid it will cause a Fico score drop.

 

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-PFD-Success-Stories/td-p/2031275

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Example-Letter/td-p/4519

 

 


@Anonymous wrote:

I would send the company a PFD letter (there are a bunch of templates online), there is always verbage in the letter about a time frame that the company has to respond to you.  If they don't accept the PFD I would settle the account in full, that looks better than settling and your mortgage company will expect you to have everything taken care of on your report. 

 

The next step would be to dispute the item once it shows paid on your credit report, they company has 30 days to verify the debt and if they don't it will be deleted off of your report.  If that doesn't get the item deleted, .you'll be in the same boat as I am with a collection from that long ago and that's waiting out the 7 years.... One would not dispute the debt and on My Fico we do not advocate the disputing of valid credit information. With a successful PFD there is no reason to dispute the debt as they will be removing it themselves.

 

However an older debt like that isn't impacting your score at this point. A collection account will impact your Fico score the entire time it is on file however the older it appears to Fico the less of an impact it will have.

 

Good Luck!


Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PFD questions

What percentage should I offer? Or do people usually offer the full amount?
Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PFD questions

I wish you luck. I tried doing PFD for all of my collections and no one would bite. I even offered to pay in full. Finally after numerous attempts I had to just finally pay them to show a zero balance for this job I'm trying to get.

Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PFD questions

Sorry, one question. I do not dispute the fact that i do, in fact, owe money. But the amount that they are claiming is completely ridiculous, which is why i haven't paid it yet. Should I dispute this at all, or should I move forward with the PFD just to get it done quicker?
Message 6 of 7
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: PFD questions


@Anonymous wrote:
What percentage should I offer? Or do people usually offer the full amount?

When trying to get it removed the full amount. If they refuse the PFD then that is the time to make a discounted settlement offer. You want to know if this is past SOL as well since you dont want to poke the bear unless you are able to PIF while inside the SOL.

Message 7 of 7
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