Paying on a charge-off(s) *newbie*

[singingshay]

I am a newbie & have a question.  At one time I had an account through Dell Financial Services and it was charged off.  They offered me a settlement and payment arrangements that I have been paying religiously every month for quite a while.  Well my LAST payment is due next month.  So, I called the collection agency and asked them if this would be deleted from my credit report or what would happen once I paid it.  They told me to contact Dell Financial Services 30 days after I make the last payment. They said that Dell reports to the credit bureau, not them.  Is this correct?

Also - I am finally in a financial situation where I can pay off my old debt and want to work toward improving/rebuilding my credit.  I barely have any new credit at all, everything has been in my husband's name.  I do have a couple of old positive accounts - Honda Financial Services & Chase (but I was dumb and closed the account) I also have some charge offs with zero balances affecting my credit. I have been googling what to do and am coming up w/ mixed information.  Then when i visited myfico.com I learned of PFD letters.. so I assuming that this is my next step.

[aces33]

PFD letters. Make 100% sure you get the letter before you pay it.  But yeah start paying them all off. Also what they told you was a lie. They have nothing to do with what Dell financial reports. Dell does not have the debt anymore. You need to write them a Good will letter. Even if you finish paying off the debt dell can report what they have been. They sold they debt so they are going to report it was purchased by another debt buyer. You were better off paying dell. In the future never make arrangements with Collections agency. They pay maybe 0.03 cents on the dollar for the debt they bought. 212.00 can you a 7k debt. Idk how much yours was but ALWAYS PFD a portion of the debt, CO just need to make a profit.

[guiness56]

Just because a debt is charged off does not mean the OC sold the account.  They could have just assigned the debt to the CA for collection and would still own it,

In some cases the OC will use a pre-collection service and if you pay them the CA will not report to the CRAs.

It may be true that the CA does not report but rather Dell does,.