Rebuilding Your Credit

[George888]

Hello,

I am very new to credit repair; please forgive the possible silly question.  

I am considering sending a PFD letter to a CA that has reported a trade line on my CR.  I would be sending an unsolicited PFD letter, and as such I do not know whether to offer to pay the complete debt (plus fees or interest), or to offer to pay a percentage of the debt (for example, 20%), in exchange for the CR deletion.

Any advice would be most helpful.  Thank you,

[rckstrscott]

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George888 wrote:

Hello,

I am very new to credit repair; please forgive the possible silly question.  

I am considering sending a PFD letter to a CA that has reported a trade line on my CR.  I would be sending an unsolicited PFD letter, and as such I do not know whether to offer to pay the complete debt (plus fees or interest), or to offer to pay a percentage of the debt (for example, 20%), in exchange for the CR deletion.

Any advice would be most helpful.  Thank you,

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There are differeing opiniong... first, how old is the debt? Is it within the SOL?

-scott

[RobertEG]

If its a PFD and the debt collector owns the debt, the end results wont be in your credit file, so paying less than the full amount wont be recorded.

Offering to PIF vs settle for less might impact their decision.  It would be logical to assume that the more your offer, the more incentive for their agreement to delete.

If they dont accept CR deletion as a condition for payment, then whether to PIF does become an issue.  Whether you satisfy the debt by payment in full or by a settlement for less,the end status is the same.  Paid.  However, if paid for less than the full amount, the creditor may report an additional special comment recording that fact.  The degree to which future creditors view your recorded failure to pay all prior obligated debt is an unknown, but certainly not a favorable item to have posted in your CR.

[Familywantsahouse]

Since 2/24 I've gotten 7 baddies deleted.

1 deleted after a DV

1 deleted after a complaint to the BBB about no dunning notice

1 PIF to the original creditor

1 was a tradeline as an AU which I disputed as account "not mine"

1 PFD settled for around 60%

2 PFDs settled for 25%

The one PFD who didn't take my 25% offer sent back a letter with a counter offer. The other one account I'm trying to get deleted I keep resending PFD's to different addresses with higher amounts each time. It does work if you are persistent!

[George888]

It is a four years old debt for $380 to the CA, Professional Collection Consultants (for ATT Wireless), and will fall off of my CR in 3 years.  Yes, it is within the SOL.  In case they deny the PFD letter, I can PIF, if needed.  But, honestly, I wouldn't want to send the letter, or pay any amount, if it doesn't get removed from my CR.  Is that a bad attitude?

[George888]

RobertEG,

Thank you for the info. My only motivation in paying them is to have the trade line deleted from my CR.  If they say that paying the debt is not a condition for the CR deletion, then I just won't pay them.  Is that a bad way of approaching it?

Familywantsahouse,

Wow!  your experience is very encouraging.  I have about 7 baddies to remove as well.  Your experience motivates me to continue forward; and to send the PFD letters.  I like that you were able to send these letters as offers to pay a percentage of the amount due.  I have a few questions.

1. Regarding the deletion after a DV:  Did you request a DV because you knew the debt wasn't yours, or did you know it was yours but sent a DV letter anyway?  Is it a good idea to send a DV letter to a CO knowing that the debt is yours?  What reasons would a person have to send a DV letter knowing that the debt is theirs?

2. What is a dunning notice?

3. Can you please post the PFD lettesr you sent?  This would be very helpful for me as I am trying to form the letters now, but have little experience.

Thank you,

[rckstrscott]

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George888 wrote:

It is a four years old debt for $380 to the CA, Professional Collection Consultants (for ATT Wireless), and will fall off of my CR in 3 years.  Yes, it is within the SOL.  In case they deny the PFD letter, I can PIF, if needed.  But, honestly, I wouldn't want to send the letter, or pay any amount, if it doesn't get removed from my CR.  Is that a bad attitude?

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It's the correct attitude! But sometimes,it just doesnt happen -- when you get to that point, then you must decide what to do..

i wound up paying a lot of my collections in full, because they wouldn't take a PFD -- but since I paid in full, it was MUCH easier to get deletion after the fact with GW

-scott

[llecs]

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George888 wrote:

But, honestly, I wouldn't want to send the letter, or pay any amount, if it doesn't get removed from my CR.  Is that a bad attitude?

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The letter is to initiate the process in getting them to agree in writing they'd delete. Sending them a PFD letter is an essential component in getting it removed. Payment is too, but in the past I never paid unless they accepted my PFD in writing or if I was 100% certain that a GW would work if they denied my PFD.

As far as the amount goes in your PFD offer, it's totally your call. Nobody can decide for you. Now there are some OC/CAs that won't accept a PFD unless at 100%. As demonstrated in a prev. post, you can get some OCs and CAs to accept much less than 100%.

IME and IMO, I'd rather offer 100% because time was more important than money. I didn't want to get in a position where I was backtracking my offer and wasting time in the process. My #1 goal was to get it off and saving money wasn't a concern. Of course all of mine were $1k or less. I guess if I owed tens of thousands on a debt, then I might consider lesser.

[George888]

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rckstrscott wrote: 

i wound up paying a lot of my collections in full, because they wouldn't take a PFD -- but since I paid in full, it was MUCH easier to get deletion after the fact with GW

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If the CAs wouldn't take a PFD, did you pay in full anyway because you knew for sure that a GW letter would work after paying in full?  If so, how did you know that a GW letter would work afterward with the CA you were dealing with?  

Thank you,

[Familywantsahouse]

The one I sent the DV to, I had paid the OC in full, so when they went to "validate", they couldn't.

A dunning notice is the notification they send you to notify you of the debt, and you have 30 days to respond and request validation. One of the CA's never sent us a notice. We've been working to repair my husband's credit since last Spring and they threw a new account on there right after we applied for a mortgage.

I will private mail you my PFD letter.

Good luck!