Rebuilding Your Credit

[MizzB]

I have a few collections that are not paid that are outside of the SOL in my state. I can PIF but would like them deleted of course. Should I send a DV letter first or is it ok to send a PFD and then DV if not accepted?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[JoeBJay20]

It's really a personal call.  If you want them gone quickly, or if you're already convinced of their validity, then PFD might be the best route to go.  What CAs are you dealing with?

[MizzB]

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JoeBJay20 wrote:
It's really a personal call.  If you want them gone quickly, or if you're already convinced of their validity, then PFD might be the best route to go.  What CAs are you dealing with?

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Unfortunately, they are valid debts. Since I created the debts, I want to do the responsible thing and pay them. Just want to mitigate the damage to my credit report. The collections are as followed:

1. NCO Financial (Express - $654) - actually set to fall off in July 2010, but just wanted to take care of it.
2. Palisades - (Verizon - $300) - SOL has been up for 2 years on this debt
3. IC Systems - (Medical - 2 $75 collections) - SOL has been up for 3 years on this debt

[MizzB]

Actually, a DV may work. I think I'm just confused about DV. If I send DV paperwork and the CA cannot prove that the debt is within the SOL for lawsuit, but they can prove the debt is mine, what happens? I thought that they were still allowed to attempt to collect via reporting on my credit file, et cetera but that I was just shielded from lawsuit over the debt. That is the reason I was opting for a PFD.

[jesslyn]

A DV is not really connected to SOL.

A DV is intended to verify the existence of the debt, who it's with, how much it was for, and that the CA can collect on it.

CAs can try to collect on a legitimate debt into perpetuity.  It's just that they can't sue after SOL, and that they can't report after CRTP.  When CAs try to collect on debts past SOL and past CRTP, then if the person doesn't want to pay, they should send a cease & desist letter.

Sounds like you're outside of SOL, but inside CRTP.  I would suggest DV just to make sure that the same CAs have the debt as you think.  Then when/if they verify, fire off the PFDs.  Like another poster said, if you know who has the debt with a fair degree of certainty, then you can skip the DV.  The danger is paying the wrong CA.  But I think that's pretty rare--to pay the wrong CA, and then have to count that money as a loss . . .

[llecs]

To add, the reason we suggest not doing anything inside SOL is because doing so can lead to a lawsuit. But doing anything can lead to that including a PFD, DV, dispute, a GW to the related OC, etc. IMO, we have an equal shot of getting sued by sending a DV as we do sending a PFD. Therefore, why not send a DV first? Plus OCs/CAs don't have to respond to a PFD. If you send a PFD to a CA first, before a DV, and the CA doesn't answer, then there's no fall back other than to send a PFD. If you send a DV, and you decide not to send another after no response, then at least you can send a PFD.

[MizzB]

I think these all are all valid points. Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm just going to opt to do a DV letter first (as as safeguard) and see what type of confirmation I receive from the CA's involved. Even though I'm not planning to purchase anything soon, I've been in this haste to clean up my credit now that I've regained financial stability. The collections are really primary negative things on my credit report that I feel like I have some ability to impact, so I've been in a hurry to "fix them." I just have to remind myself that I didnt ruin my credit over night and I'm not going to revive my credit over night either.