To PAY old collection or NOT to pay ??

[Anonymous]

Hey all.  So I have an old Capital One account in collections that defaulted in February 2013 (2.5 years ago) .. However, it was closed and bought by a CA in December 2014 (9 months ago) .. I am told that paying a collection past 24 months old is not beneficial to scores whatsoever, could even hurt score.  So, do I go off the date this card defaulted originally OR the CA account that took over in 12/14?  Its only $300 but every time I get a manual pull, the analyst mentions the unpaid collection.  The CA will NOT do a PFD, i've tried -- BUT they did say if i dispute it AFTER I pay they won't fight me on a removal ?!  To quote them, " We have to update what's legal -- if you PIF, we report PIF, we can;t delete as that would not be legal, as you did have the debt ". .  Confused.  CA is Portfolio Recovery Associates, bought from Cap ONE.

So, do I pay it in full while I have the $300 or let it sit ?  It won't age off until 2019.  IF I pay this off it is the LAST credit card defaulted account on my report, as all my current debt is POSITIVE -- including 4 current credit accounts with Barclay, Cap ONE (again LOL!), Credit One and Western FCU.  All lines are over $1,000.  In fact,my history since 4/2012 is 100% positive and scores went from 490s - high 500s and 600s.  CURRENT:  TU  601  EQ 575  EX  611  as of today!  I dont want to harm my score by paying, of course I'd rather it help the scores..... Thoughts oh credit oracles ?

[Anonymous]

EDIT:  Debt is current from 4/2013 - now!

[RobertEG]

Paying is not all simply about your credit score.

Unpaid, delinquent debt can be a basis for denial of new credit, regardless of your credit score.

When the collection eventually becomes excluded from your credit report, that does not excuse the debt.  It does remove the effect of the collection from scoiring, and also from the easy ability of one to become aware of the unpaid, delinquent debt by a simple pull of your credit report, and seeing an unpaid collection.

There are still ways that a potential creditor could still become aware of the debt, such as by simply requesting disclosure of any unpaid,delinquent debt as part of their credti app process.  It is always preferable to have no unpaid, delinquent debt.

Additionally, the debt collector can still continue collection efforts after exclusion of the collection.

Ultimately, its is of course your choice.  Since you consider the debt to be low, I would recommend paying and then pursuing.

You might decide to postpone until the collection becomes excluded if you wish to pursue a settlement for a much lower percentage of the debt........

[damnedanddetermined]

for me personally....I dont pay them unless they are reporting each month as an OPEN account , becaue that will def tank your score.. Now, if they came screaming after me, I would offer a settlement...Cap One and Pr are the worst for PFD....very stubborn, but some have gotten it done...otherwise I let sleeping bears...sleep!

[Anonymous]

Damned, it says account status CLOSED BUT it also is reported monthly as "Charge Off" .. I'm confused. Is it open or closed ?? I'm just trying to figure out which date this is going off .. The original date or defaulted or the date the CA bought the account which is 12/14? I think it's best to just pay and dispute

[RobertEG]

A charge-off would have been reported by the OC, not the debt collector.  It refers to the status of the OC account.

The OC account will be closed.

However, the collection has its own, separate status of either Open or Closed, separate and apart from th OC account.

A collection is always Open as of the date the debt collector received their collection authority.

A collection will become Closed when either the debt is paid, or the debt collector no longer has assigned collection authority, or if the debt collector owns the debt, they sell it to another.

Any reported charge-off or collection has a credit report exclusion date of no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the dare of your first delinquency on the OC account that occured prior to the charge-off or collection.  The exclusion date is never based on any date of payment, date of collection, etc.  It is always based on the same, date-certain DOFD on the OC account.