Settlement offer by CA, what to do?

[Anonymous]

My Dad had a collection on his account for Verizon from years ago and a third party CA has offered a 40% off offer. They said if he pays it they will notify the credit bureaus that the debt is "Paid in Full." Isn't that sometimes a bad thing because it updates the credit report another 7 years? I think that's what I read. Should I or he call them and ask if they would do a PFD? Thanks. I'm trying to help my Dad clean up his credit and don't want to jump the gun and end up making it worse. The original collection was $156.20 and they are offering to settle for $93.72.

[pizzadude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My Dad had a collection on his account for Verizon from years ago and a third party CA has offered a 40% off offer. They said if he pays it they will notify the credit bureaus that the debt is "Paid in Full." Isn't that sometimes a bad thing because it updates the credit report another 7 years? I think that's what I read. Should I or he call them and ask if they would do a PFD? Thanks. I'm trying to help my Dad clean up his credit and don't want to jump the gun and end up making it worse. The original collection was $156.20 and they are offering to settle for $93.72.

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The best option is to definately try and negotiate a PFD.    But even if you pay them ( or don't ) it won't change the credit reporting time period ( CRTP ), which is 7.5 years from the date of first deliquency ( dofd ) of the original creditor account.

[RobertEG]

+1

As a side note, if he pays, regardless of the amount, and they accept it as satisfaction of the debt, they must report "Paid."

Settling for less permits them to place an additionaly special comment in his credit file recording "paid for less."

I would make sure that, by saying "paid in full," they mean that they agree not to report a "paid for less" special comment.