Pay for deletion or debt validation

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have a few collection items on my report that are all expiring within the next 14 months. However, I have finally gotten to the point where I can actually pay some of these off. I am not sure what the best thing to do is. They are all medical debts that I incurred a little over 6 years ago.

Here is a list of my accounts:

4 accounts with NCO Financial/35: $305, $151, $561, and $64 (total with NCO = $1081).

1 account with Quantum Collections for $111

1 account with Fresno Credit Bureau for $96

1 account with CBSJ Financial for $596.

My total is $1,884.

I can probably pay off 25%-35% of these amounts. I read that debt validation should be the first step I take with collection agencies. Like I said I would like to pay them off using PFD, but not sure how the CAs responses will be, especially after reading online NCO Financial are ruthless in their collection efforts and that they do not usually honor their agreements. I also have not received a single collection letter from any of these agencies in a long time. And with the exception of Quantum Collections which reports monthly, the last entry on my reports from the other ones was from May 2007.

Any advise on how to proceed, strategies, etc would be greatly appreciated, especially previous experiences with the above CAs. Not sure if this is relevant, but the OC on all of NCO's and on CBSJ is the same.

Thank you.

[guiness56]

Are you outside of your states SOL?

Who owns the debt, the OC or the CA?

If it is the CA, I would normally say to DV.  But, if these are yours and you don't dispute anything about them, just go with the PFD.  Since they are older than 6 years, I'm sure the CA would be happy to get what you offer.  All they can say is no.

[Anonymous]

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@guiness56 wrote:

Are you outside of your states SOL?

Who owns the debt, the OC or the CA?

If it is the CA, I would normally say to DV.  But, if these are yours and you don't dispute anything about them, just go with the PFD.  Since they are older than 6 years, I'm sure the CA would be happy to get what you offer.  All they can say is no.

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They are all outside the SOL in California. And the OC is out of the picture as far as I know. While I do believe that these are all mine, I am not sure if the CAs have the legal standing to collect. Personally, I prefer the PFD since I am looking to buy a home within the next six months and I heard that DV take a while. But I also do not want to pay a CA that is not legally authorized to collect and remove the entry on my CR.

Not sure if I am making much sense here, but help, advice, guidance - all appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Before I did anything with a CA I always called the OC's and verified who owned the debt.  After that I went straight to PFD and since they were all out of SOL I got acceptances on 3 of them within a week of sending them.

[guiness56]

You can always look up the name of the CA and state and see if they are licensed and/or bonded if required.  Or ask the OC who has the account.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your help. I will verify their legal standings to collect and then offer a PFD.