I logged into Credit Karma to see if out accounts that had gone into collections had been closed, and were reported as paid or settled for less than full balance. I noticed one of mine is still showing open. And one of my husbands is also showing open. Each are showing the remainder of full balance that was left after what was agreed upon for the settled amount. Now I had been doing research for paying them off months prior. I was getting several calls a day from each company and waited until I had the full balance for each debt before I called.
I also downloaded a call recording app, so when I called each company I had the calls recording on my side as well. In my state only one party has to consent, and since I did recorded on my end as well. So I have the calls from both of these companies recorded. I also wrote down the information and got the names of the people I spoke to as well as their collector ID-if they had one. I paid from our checking account and asked several times over and over that that's the amount they were taking. And once I paid said amount, the account would be considered closed and satisfied. And them, nor any one else would show up looking for the remaining amount! They all agreed and the payments went through.
I made all payments on 6/25 and was told letters would be sent in the mail. And I got them for most of them. The one of mine that is still reporting is from Portfolio Recovery Associates. It was my walmart account and I stopped making payments on it over a year ago. I owed $843 and paid paid $506 to settle it. They didn't want to settle for less than full balance. I told them we were considering filing for bankruptcy-which we were. The manage told me it was silly because it wasn't even that much debt. I told him he was the first of 7 more calls I had to make today, all of which were in collections. He agreed to $506 and I paid it. But it still shows it's open and last reported July 08,2015 and is showing Open with a balance of $337. And remarks say placed for collections.
My husbands was his Continental Finance Card. It was still with the company and they had called us while we were on our way out of town. We were a few months behind but with the late and over fees that balance was over the credit limit. We told them we wanted to close the account and only wanted to pay the limit amount and a few fees. They told us we could make 2 payments and it would be settled. We told them we wanted to make a one time payment and be done. This call was also recorded. The balance at the time was $700. We settled for $385.27(+10.95) western union fee. We didn't want to risk mailing it in and it being lost and I wanted to be done with them. On my husbands CK it showing as past due AND sent for collections. The company it's showing is MID AMERICA BANK & T. Last reported July 14,2015. Payment status is COLLECTION/CHARGE OFF.Shows last payment as Account Status is OPEN. And shows a balance of $315. I have the western union receipt and the recorded call.
Now my question is how do I approach these companies? I have the recordings of all of these calls. Where I asked repeatedly this amount once taken out will close this account and it will be reported as paid or settled for less than full balance, and I wouldn't have calls looking for the remaining balance? Everyone said yes each time I asked.
I don't like dealing with debt collectors but I am annoyed they are still on our reports!!!!!! Just want to know the best way to go about it and get it done quickly and make sure it doesn't happen again!
