I am considering doing a PFD on a collection from 11/05. It was not paid because I had a dispute with the OC.
If I contact the CA for a PFD, I'm concerned they'll re-submit it to the CRAs and the date "last reported" (which is now 1/11) will be updated to this month. I'm wondering if they were to do that, how much it would hurt my score. I had read on another post that when you communicate with CAs, they may resubmit your collection, and it can hurt your score because it's more recent. (I don't think "resubmit" is the right word, but I can't remember what it's called.)
Also, since old collections don't affect the score much, I'm wondering if anyone might have some idea how many points it might improve if I were to get a PFD. I know YMMV, but I'm just looking for some idea... 5 pts, 20 ?
I did the myfico score simulator and surprisingly, even though it is saying that it's negatively affecting my score, paying the collection isn't one of the recommended actions to remove my score. It only told me to pay down my CC bal, which is low, but so is my CL. I didn't know anything about utilization until reading on the forum over the last week. So, that's not a biggie because I was planning on paying the balances anyway.
My big decision is whether or not it's worth doing a PFD on a 5.5 yr old collection.
I'd really appreciate your thoughts! 
I think it is called reaffirming an old debt. And I would like to know the answer too. Anyone?
Starting Score: 487
@bichonmom wrote:I am considering doing a PFD on a collection from 11/05. It was not paid because I had a dispute with the OC.
If I contact the CA for a PFD, I'm concerned they'll re-submit it to the CRAs and the date "last reported" (which is now 1/11) will be updated to this month. I'm wondering if they were to do that, how much it would hurt my score. I had read on another post that when you communicate with CAs, they may resubmit your collection, and it can hurt your score because it's more recent. (I don't think "resubmit" is the right word, but I can't remember what it's called.)
Also, since old collections don't affect the score much, I'm wondering if anyone might have some idea how many points it might improve if I were to get a PFD. I know YMMV, but I'm just looking for some idea... 5 pts, 20 ?
I did the myfico score simulator and surprisingly, even though it is saying that it's negatively affecting my score, paying the collection isn't one of the recommended actions to remove my score. It only told me to pay down my CC bal, which is low, but so is my CL. I didn't know anything about utilization until reading on the forum over the last week. So, that's not a biggie because I was planning on paying the balances anyway.
My big decision is whether or not it's worth doing a PFD on a 5.5 yr old collection.
I'd really appreciate your thoughts!
Collections are scored off the date of assignment, not the DOLA or date reported. A change in DOLA shouldn't affect the score. .
This is such a common belief that we're trying to find examples with before-and-after reports where it happened, in order to see what's going on. If either the CA or the CRA is handling the data incorrectly, it needs to be corrected.
Here's a thread discussing this: Settle or Pay in Full?
Again, I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but it's not supposed to, if the CA is reporting correctly and if the CRA is putting the info into the correct data fields.
From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".
@bichonmom wrote:Thank you for the reply. I read through that thread. I've read posts that say that paying off an old collection won't affect the score, but I also read this post:
I'm hoping that you didn't wake a sleeping bear. Depending on the age of ALL of the accounts (OC and CA),the information may be verified and the "reported date" would be updated from like six years ago to a more current date. I think that may bite cha. This doesn't apply to collections. Collections are not scored from the reported date.
On this page: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Can-disputes-drop-Fico-Score/td-p/916344
So, that's what has me concerned about contacting them in case they wouldn't agree to PFD. Also, I guess the issue is, if having it paid or even deleted via PFD won't improve my score (much, if at all), then there's really no benefit to not just waiting it out. Just paying a collection won't help your score but I wonder why you think having a successful PFD won't help. If I was still rebuilding I'd be glad for whatever I could get.
Thank you for your feedback! As much as I would like to see it gone (and know what my scores would be without it), it may just make more sense to wait it out at this point. That will also give me time to age my new CCs before applying for a CC with a decent CL. (I've learned so much from the forum over the last week!)
Thanks so much!