Received counter offer, how should I go about addressing it?

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I received a collection notice from Northland group about 2 weeks ago. They were trying to collect on an amount of 11k on behalf of an OC. Northland was assigned the debt, not sold. 

After request debt validation, which they did prove, I offered a settlement of 2200. It took them a little over a week and a half to get back to me and just responded with a counter offer of 2800. 

I can pay this now but just wondering how I should go about it. Should I keep it at this offer? I received the letter showing the amount via email with a due date of today. Should I request a letter via mail before paying? What all should I have them include in the settlement offer to make sure this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. 

I am assuming validation from the OC that this debt will be considered paid as well as a guarantee to stop reporting to the credit agencies will be two of the requests in the letter that I need to ask for, just wanted to verify as well as get the correct wording.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

So I sent the following - Would anyone say anything different or add anything?

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Hello Support,

Would you be able to provide a signed letter with your companies letterhead as well as confirmation from Carmax that this debt will be settled on their end as well? I will also need information regarding if this generate a 1099 tax document and if that will come from Northland or Carmax. 

Regards,

Chris simpson

[Anonymous]

I presume the debt is recent or within the statute of limiitation for collection? I would add to the letter that if you pay this debt that it WILL BE REMOVED from your credit files completly. Just because you pay the debt does not remove it from your credit and it will still show charged of settled for less which is better than a full charge off however still bad. See if they will remove for payment and get that on letterhead so you can send to the bureaus if then do not. 

[Anonymous]

Yes it is both fairly recent and within my states SOL. I will request for it to be removed, hopefully they will. The only thing that sucks here is that the CA is assigned the debt and has to go back to the OC for every update. I tried contacting the OC directly but they referred me to the CA for any questions. 

Thanks!

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@Anonymous wrote:

I presume the debt is recent or within the statute of limiitation for collection? I would add to the letter that if you pay this debt that it WILL BE REMOVED from your credit files completly. Just because you pay the debt does not remove it from your credit and it will still show charged of settled for less which is better than a full charge off however still bad. See if they will remove for payment and get that on letterhead so you can send to the bureaus if then do not. 

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[RobertEG]

Obtaining both a settlement for less and an agreement to delete their collection may become a show-stopper.

Pay for deletion is usually denied.

If they balk at the addred limitation, you no longer have any agreement, and negotiations will continue.

Is credti report deletion a must?

The next best thing to a PFD is their acceptance of a settlement along with their agreement not to report settled/paid for less to a CRA.

Regardless of whether you pay the entire debt or they accept less, if it is clear that it satisifies the debt, then they must upate the collection balance to $0 and close the collection.  If they agree not to report paid/settled for less, then your credit report will appear the same as if you had paid in full,

That may be important in future reviews of your credit report, as posting that you did not fully pay an prior, obligatied debt is never a favorable consideration when you are seeking new credit.

You may wish to counter with only there agreement not to report settled/paid for less.