how long until charge-off goes to collections?

[Anonymous]

working on paying charge-off accounts, and i dont want them to go to a collection agency to further lower my score. should i contact the companies asap and try to arrange payments or should i hope they dont get sold off within the next 2 months? I plan to have them all paid in full by feb/march. its been about a year and a bit since they were charged-off. Verizon and my university are the 2 im worried about.

thanks

also

my experian score is showing 617 and my credit karma/cap1 credit tracker is showing 570 (says its based off transunion). Idk what my equifax score is. What company is the most accurate and most pulled? thanks

[Anonymous]

I would definitely call them asap and make arrangements with them, they are unpredicitble and you never know when they will start reporting and if you want to keep it that way then most definitely call.  

I had a CA send me a letter 2 months ago about a dentist bill that I honestly forgot to pay, they sent me a bill in late April and my mom died on May 1st, I got so wrapped up in her taking care of everything for her I just forgot about the bill and they never sent another one.  I called the CA and asked them if I were to pay him right away would he not report me to the CB's and he agreed, he even said if I made payment arrangements with him as long as I kept them he would not report me.  They are not all jerks.  

[RobertEG]

A charge-off is usually the first step taken by a creditor in recouping at least part of their loss.  It permits them to write off the debt in their next tax return.

The next step frequently is to recoup a bit more by sale of the debt to another.

At that point, the debt collector is apt to report as a tool to further collection of the debt.

If they have held the debt to be uncollectible, which is what a CO is, and it still remains unpaid after more than a year, I would consider a collection to be imminent, and contact them ASAP.