Settling with Afni

[Anonymous]

So I have an ATT account that was originally with a company called EOS CCA. ATT closed the account with EOS and placed it with Afni. I received a letter from them offering to settle the account (originally for 1202$) for 601.25. I just sent them an email asking for the settlement amount be lowered to 500$. They are not yet reporting the debt. The letter they sent me gives me until July 19. In the email, I also asked them to agree to not report the debt. Hopefully they go for it but even if they don't, I'll still pay it.

I am curious why they took the account away from EOS. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I have an ATT account that was originally with a company called EOS CCA. ATT closed the account with EOS and placed it with Afni. I received a letter from them offering to settle the account (originally for 1202$) for 601.25. I just sent them an email asking for the settlement amount be lowered to 500$. They are not yet reporting the debt. The letter they sent me gives me until July 19. In the email, I also asked them to agree to not report the debt. Hopefully they go for it but even if they don't, I'll still pay it.

I am curious why they took the account away from EOS. Any ideas?

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Its quite common to move the account to another collector when there is no progress on it. Usually if you come to a settlement within that grace period before they report, it will stay off your reports. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Norman. That's kinda what I thought but I wanted to see if there's some other possible reason. I hope it doesn't take them too long to email me back. I want to get this thing settled and over with.

[Anonymous]

I heard back from Afni and they agreed to settle my account for 500$.  However, they didnt address my request to not report the account to the bureaus.  I also asked them to agree not to 1099C the remaining balance or sell it to another agency.  I'm just trying to be careful.  Anyway, so I just emailed them back so we will see what happens.  

When I pay them, I assume its best to mail a check rather than pay it online?  Anything else I should know?

[RobertEG]

$1202 - 500 = $702.

The IRS considers any debt settlement for less than the full amount to be cancelled debt that becomes "income" to the consumer, and if above $600, is taxable.

The owner of the debt is required to report the cancelled debt to the IRS.  They cannot agree not to do so.

That is tax evasion.

[Anonymous]

Hmmmmm. Ok. I didn't know that. Thank you Robert.