Questions about PFD

[Shellie]

I have a new collection from Online Collections.  It's for $271.  The DoFD is 10/2011.  However I was making small payments to the OC since then.  I would like to attempt the PFD process with them.  I am in OK so this  is still within the SOL.

Should I start out at 20% and go up from there pending the denial? Do you go up say an additional 10% there after?  Or try the 20% a few times before offering more? 

I think they are hired so I can still pay the OC (I think).

Any help is greatly appreciated.  I have talked to them to see if they would recall but they won't.  I haven't been able to talk to a higher up.   

[madmann26]

You can try. All they can say is no.

[Shellie]

I can only find one phone number for AEP/PSO and its the regular customer sevice line.

[RobertEG]

That is certainly an option.

However, many debt collectors will respond to any PFD request by rote regurgitation of their standard policy that they do not do PFDs as a matter of policy.

That is usually based on directives from upper management who do not want to delegate to underlings the subjective decision to delete based on payment, as such deletions are clearly stated in both the CRA credit reporting manual and their reporting agreements to be contrary to CRA policy.

Perhaps management concern that standard grant of such deletions may jeopardize their reporting agreements with the CRAs.

I would thus suggest that, more important than how much you offer may be who the contact the offer is being addressed.  Sending to their vanilla mailing address is apt to get a vanilla response.  Thus, the reason for the many requests on the site for names of management officials who have shown prior tendency to grant exceptions to their standard policy.  Getting such a person on the phone might also eliminate a lot of the back and forth with different offers and counter offfers, and thus produce a more effective negotiation.

[Shellie]

I have posted several times asking for info about this CA and even sent private msgs to the very few who have mentioned them in a post.  No one can give me any info and no one has returned any of my msgs.  I have googled them and can only find the vanilla info.  If you have any suggestions on other ways to find the info I would appreciated it!

[Shellie]

Contacted the OC  The lady who called back sounded half dead.  All monotone and emotionless.  But anyways she said she didn't know how I was even forwarded on to her that I should have been referred to the CA that was handling this.  She also told me that this was the 3rd CA to have this account.  I knew about one from pulling my reports but I never got any letters or anything from the other two.  But none the less she said there was nothing they could do.  She also said that even if they recalled it that it would still show on my reports, so she doesn't seem to know what she's talking about.  I guess I should go ahead and contact the CA.

I would really like to bring it to their attention that they reported this after receiving the DV letter and before they validated.  And the fact that I did no send them a dispute but they marked it as disputed.  But I know I have no hard evidence.