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I should have been more adamant about this issue. Early 2012, I knew EOS was going to contact me, and I intended to fix the issue, but I never got around to it. Unlike some of you, I actually did owe ATT a payment for their internet service. I moved to a different place and never got the letter. It was the whole out of sight, out of mind thing. When my schedule slowed down a bit, I received a collection letter from them on December 20, 2012. Is it too late for me to write to them and say that I do not claim ownership to the debt, but will PFD? Or do I just have to send payment and deal with this negative on my credit report for the next few years?
Well, I just turned to the back of the letter and Federal Law says:
Unless you dispute the validity of this debt, or any portion thereof, within thirty days after receipt of this notice, we shall assume the debt to be valid. If you notify us in writing of your dispute within this thirty-day period, we will obtain verification of the debt, or a copy of a judgment against you, and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to you. Upon your written request within the thirty-day periods, we will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.
It says I can dispute it, but they can dig up the record and use it. Does anyone have any advice or should I just bite the bullet?
Is the debt a large amount? Is it on your CR?
If it isn't on your CR, I'd just pay it. Otherwise, a PFD may be in order. They seem to be real easy to work with.
If it is on your CR, they sold mine off within a few months. I paid the new Collector and asked EOS to delete, which they did...immediately.
If it isn't on your CR, I would offer to pay for them not reporting. Nothing more irrating than paying something then they report it.
The total due is $43.94 but they have a settlement offer saying, "Our client has authorized the following resolution to your balance as noted above: 60% Lump Sum Settlement in 1 payment of $26.36." The letter continues, "We may report information about your account to credit bureaus."
I recently checked all 3 of my credit reports and saw nothing on them regarding collections.
I'd send a pay for not reporting letter. Kind of like a PFD, but they agree not to report if you pay.
I did some searching and couldn't exactly find an example of a pay for not reporting letter. However, I did find the PFD example letter in Freqently Requested Threads. Do I tell them that I admit owning the debt (since I really do owe the debt) or no?
Since the letter they sent says, "If you notify us in writing of your dispute within this thirty-day period, we will obtain verification of the debt, or a copy of a judgment against you, and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to you," I assume that I don't use the part of the PFD example letter that says, "Your response must be postmarked no later than 15 days from your receipt of this settlement offer or this offer will be withdrawn and I will request full validation of this alleged debt, as provided for by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."?
@Anonymous wrote:I did some searching and couldn't exactly find an example of a pay for not reporting letter. However, I did find the PFD example letter in Freqently Requested Threads. Do I tell them that I admit owning the debt (since I really do owe the debt) or no?
Since the letter they sent says, "If you notify us in writing of your dispute within this thirty-day period, we will obtain verification of the debt, or a copy of a judgment against you, and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to you," I assume that I don't use the part of the PFD example letter that says, "Your response must be postmarked no later than 15 days from your receipt of this settlement offer or this offer will be withdrawn and I will request full validation of this alleged debt, as provided for by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."?
a pay for no report, just like a PFD, is a essentially a GW attempt..
I wouldn't word it like that personally; however.. in my opinion, i would just pay it.. Any collection account that has sent a dunning, that I knew I owed and paid before reporting, never reported.
I think it is very very common for these debts not to report if you respond to a dunning where they state 'if you don't pay we will report' kind of thing.. I think you might be over thinking it. But that is just my opinon..
I am sure someone will chime in about how its wrong to think the way I do; but as a person with a fairly roubust history of collection debt, and dozens of dunnings, I feel confident in my assesment.
-scott
The letter said, "We may report information about your account to credit bureaus." However, I think you might be right. I tend to overthink things, which in turn wastes more of my time, causes stress, and eventually leads me to situations like this one. The deadline is coming soon and I'll take your word Scott since I read your EOS thread more than a year ago and I believe I sent you a pm for some advice before and you sent me to your website haha.
Thanks everyone for your help. It definitely means a lot. Take care and happy new year!