topic Pay For Delete Success!!!! in Rebuilding Your Credit

Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 06:30:29 GMT

Hey Everyone,

So this is my first time on this forum. I am 29 years old and have never taken Credit seriously in my life. In my college year I made some stupid decisions. I took out a motorcycle loan which I defaulted on, maxed out credit cards and went deliquent, and so on. It has been 7 years, and finally the Judgement against me for the Motorcycle loan, and credit card stuff has come off COMPLETELY. I am less than $2,000 in debt. $1700 of which is medical bills over 3 collection Agencies, $200 for Progressive Auto Insurance, and $50 in another medical bill.

I have recently started a family, and will be needing a better car and purchase my first home in the next few years. I checked Credit Karma and saw that I am a 555 (transunion), and also used another app called Credit Sesame (Experian) which was 605. I tried getting an auto loan for a $12k used car with nothing down and the offer I recieved was 24%APR with at least $6k down. I have never felt so low before. They also said my Credit Score was 555.

I decided to do some research on what I can do MYSELF to help my situation. I opened up 3 secured Credit Cards, and researched Pay For Delete (Good Will Letters) and have heard so many horror stories. I figured why not try anyway. I found a template, tweaked it a bit and this is what I came up with.

(Sent the letter out on November 4th, 2014)

Pay For Delete Template:

Collection Agency Name

Collection Agency Address

Collection Agency City, State Zip

Account #: xxxxxx (your account number) as stated on credit report

Amount: $___________ (amount you owe)

To Collection Manager:

This letter is to inform you that the validity of this debt is disputed. I am unaware of this account and have no verification this debt is mine. I only know of this account based on it being reported in my credit report(s). As we both know, I have the right to dispute this account, request for verification, and/or request for validation of this debt. However, in order to quickly resolve this account, I am willing to pay $________, if you agree to delete this account from any and all credit reporting agencies. Please do not quote to me that you are unable to do this, I am aware of both your rights as well as my own. We both know you are the source reporting this account and have the absolute right to report it, not report it, or delete it from all reporting agencies. The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from all reporting agencies. We are both aware that paying this unverified debt is no benefit to me unless we can agree on the terms. I am sure you are aware that paying a collection account does not bode well on a credit report and that merely having a collection on a credit report will have a negative impact whether paid or unpaid.

Please Note: This is not an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any way or form. If there is any confusion about my position on this alleged debt, please refer back to the first paragraph of this letter in which I state: "I am unaware of this account..." That being said, let me be clear, this is NOT: a promise to pay, a renewal, an admittance to this debt, or in any way me agreeing this debt is mine. This is a restricted offer only.

If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, I will send you certified funds immediately after I receive this signed agreement. The funds will be sent only if in exchange for it, you are agreeing to the terms set forth in this agreement and will be deleting this account from all reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). This debt will be considered satisfied, there will be nothing more owed, nothing further to collect, and you will consider this a closed, satisfied account. Again, ALL references regarding this account must be deleted from ALL reporting agencies. Since certified funds will be used for payment, ALL information about this account WILL be removed from all reporting agencies within 15 calendar days of receiving the funds.

(Collection Agency Name) agrees to delete ALL information regarding this account from ALL credit reporting agencies WITHIN FIFTEEN (15) CALENDAR DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, for any reason, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit reporting agencies, (Collection Agency Name) will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted, offered, or executed and will deny knowledge of any such account.

If you agree to the above terms, please sign (by an authorized representative of (Collection Agency Name) this agreement below, print (clearly) the name of that signature, and provide the position held by the one signing this agreement. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under federal, state, and local laws. Please also include with this signed agreement a company letterhead stating you received and agree to this restricted offer and the terms set forth within it.

Your response must be postmarked no later then 15 Days from your receipt of this settlement/agreement offer OR this offer will be withdrawn and I will request full validation of this alleged debt, as allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If you decide to decline this offer, and begin calling about this alleged debt, expect the next letter from me to be a Cease and Desist letter, attached with it, a request for Full Validation. Thank you for your time.

______________________________

Signature

______________________________

Print Name of the above signature

______________________________

Title or Position held

______________________________

Date

Please send this agreement, your company letterhead agreement and all other correspondence regarding this account to:

Your Name

Your Address

End of Template

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Response? (Arrived in mail November 20, 2014)

Dear My Name,

We have reviewed and investigated your request. We have not received validation information within our policy guidelines, therefore we have closed you account back to our client. If your account was earlier placed with a credit bureau we have sent a request for deletion of this information. Please keep in mind that this may take up to 30 days under FCRA guidelines.

Best wishes for a successful year!

Sincerely,

Admin Staff

North American Credit Services

End of Response

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this gives hope to people. I will be reviewing my credit report at the end of December to see if the account has been removed.

Any tips or advice from any of the Pros out there would be greatly appreciated. I live paycheck to paycheck and dont really have a savings. So far been keeping my credit utilization at under 20%. I have noticed my credit score has gone up about 11pts in the past 30 days.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

SunriseEarth — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 08:44:08 GMT

Welcome to the community! Congrats on taking some steps to help you meet your credit goals of getting an auto loan with a good rate.

And congrats on your success. It appears they treated your PFD offer more like a DV, but it worked. As you are able to settle on collections, definitely keep trying PFD. If that is unsucessful, paying/settling and asking for GW removal later is also an option worth considering.

You may want to read through the "Understanding FICO Scoring" section of the site to help you optimize your UTIL of your three CCs. Keeping <20% UTIL is good, but you may want to optimize even more before you app for a car loan. Ideal UTIL is <10% overall and <10% on each CC. Less than half of your revolving accounts should have a balance. In other words, let one CC post a balance of <10% and zero the other CCs out.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 11:18:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey Everyone,

So this is my first time on this forum. I am 29 years old and have never taken Credit seriously in my life. In my college year I made some stupid decisions. I took out a motorcycle loan which I defaulted on, maxed out credit cards and went deliquent, and so on. It has been 7 years, and finally the Judgement against me for the Motorcycle loan, and credit card stuff has come off COMPLETELY. I am less than $2,000 in debt. $1700 of which is medical bills over 3 collection Agencies, $200 for Progressive Auto Insurance, and $50 in another medical bill.

I have recently started a family, and will be needing a better car and purchase my first home in the next few years. I checked Credit Karma and saw that I am a 555 (transunion), and also used another app called Credit Sesame (Experian) which was 605. I tried getting an auto loan for a $12k used car with nothing down and the offer I recieved was 24%APR with at least $6k down. I have never felt so low before. They also said my Credit Score was 555.

I decided to do some research on what I can do MYSELF to help my situation. I opened up 3 secured Credit Cards, and researched Pay For Delete (Good Will Letters) and have heard so many horror stories. I figured why not try anyway. I found a template, tweaked it a bit and this is what I came up with.

(Sent the letter out on November 4th, 2014)

Pay For Delete Template:

Collection Agency Name

Collection Agency Address

Collection Agency City, State Zip

Account #: xxxxxx (your account number) as stated on credit report

Amount: $___________ (amount you owe)

To Collection Manager:

This letter is to inform you that the validity of this debt is disputed. I am unaware of this account and have no verification this debt is mine. I only know of this account based on it being reported in my credit report(s). As we both know, I have the right to dispute this account, request for verification, and/or request for validation of this debt. However, in order to quickly resolve this account, I am willing to pay $________, if you agree to delete this account from any and all credit reporting agencies. Please do not quote to me that you are unable to do this, I am aware of both your rights as well as my own. We both know you are the source reporting this account and have the absolute right to report it, not report it, or delete it from all reporting agencies. The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from all reporting agencies. We are both aware that paying this unverified debt is no benefit to me unless we can agree on the terms. I am sure you are aware that paying a collection account does not bode well on a credit report and that merely having a collection on a credit report will have a negative impact whether paid or unpaid.

Please Note: This is not an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any way or form. If there is any confusion about my position on this alleged debt, please refer back to the first paragraph of this letter in which I state: "I am unaware of this account..." That being said, let me be clear, this is NOT: a promise to pay, a renewal, an admittance to this debt, or in any way me agreeing this debt is mine. This is a restricted offer only.

If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, I will send you certified funds immediately after I receive this signed agreement. The funds will be sent only if in exchange for it, you are agreeing to the terms set forth in this agreement and will be deleting this account from all reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). This debt will be considered satisfied, there will be nothing more owed, nothing further to collect, and you will consider this a closed, satisfied account. Again, ALL references regarding this account must be deleted from ALL reporting agencies. Since certified funds will be used for payment, ALL information about this account WILL be removed from all reporting agencies within 15 calendar days of receiving the funds.

(Collection Agency Name) agrees to delete ALL information regarding this account from ALL credit reporting agencies WITHIN FIFTEEN (15) CALENDAR DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, for any reason, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit reporting agencies, (Collection Agency Name) will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted, offered, or executed and will deny knowledge of any such account.

If you agree to the above terms, please sign (by an authorized representative of (Collection Agency Name) this agreement below, print (clearly) the name of that signature, and provide the position held by the one signing this agreement. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under federal, state, and local laws. Please also include with this signed agreement a company letterhead stating you received and agree to this restricted offer and the terms set forth within it.

Your response must be postmarked no later then 15 Days from your receipt of this settlement/agreement offer OR this offer will be withdrawn and I will request full validation of this alleged debt, as allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If you decide to decline this offer, and begin calling about this alleged debt, expect the next letter from me to be a Cease and Desist letter, attached with it, a request for Full Validation. Thank you for your time.

______________________________

Signature

______________________________

Print Name of the above signature

______________________________

Title or Position held

______________________________

Date

Please send this agreement, your company letterhead agreement and all other correspondence regarding this account to:

Your Name

Your Address

End of Template
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Response? (Arrived in mail November 20, 2014)

Dear My Name,

We have reviewed and investigated your request. We have not received validation information within our policy guidelines, therefore we have closed you account back to our client. If your account was earlier placed with a credit bureau we have sent a request for deletion of this information. Please keep in mind that this may take up to 30 days under FCRA guidelines.

Best wishes for a successful year!

Sincerely,

Admin Staff
North American Credit Services

End of Response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this gives hope to people. I will be reviewing my credit report at the end of December to see if the account has been removed.

Any tips or advice from any of the Pros out there would be greatly appreciated. I live paycheck to paycheck and dont really have a savings. So far been keeping my credit utilization at under 20%. I have noticed my credit score has gone up about 11pts in the past 30 days.

Congratulations!...Thanks For Sharing.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 11:43:40 GMT

Congrats. Keep up the good work. We all start someplace including myself.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:57:55 GMT

Thank You for your response. I have definitely read quite a bit since. I am up 48pts in less than 2months. Started at 566 and as of last week 614. Just sent my 2nd PFD letter out. Seems like the last removal boosted my scorer 20+ PTs. Can't wait for a response for this one.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:03:46 GMT

Thanks for the update! Definately moving in the right direction!!

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:22:45 GMT

cONGRATS!!!!!!

I am thinking of doing the same for Midlands but i understand that midland dont do PFD and would rather a debt thats >SOL stay than PFD..

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 22:28:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
cONGRATS!!!!!!

I am thinking of doing the same for Midlands but i understand that midland dont do PFD and would rather a debt thats >SOL stay than PFD..

Oh, they will do it, but they just have to be convinced it in their best interest. The request has to get seen by someone there with more than a shoe size IQ equivalent.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:05:18 GMT

Thank You for the tips. I have been keeping my utilization down to 10% or less and also added more funds to my secured credit card limit to help with my credit to debt ratio. Thankfully I am down to just under $2k in debt (all medical bills).

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:51:20 GMT

That is awesome!

I've only gotten one PFD, but it does feel good!

Congrats on the PFD, and your hourney to credit health!

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 16:41:10 GMT

I just started checking credit also. I have a lot of unpaid medical bills and some I have no idea where they came from. Some where from (during my pregnancy) when my step father had my birthday wrong on the insurance, therefore when I presented my license at the hospital, I automatically got billed a few days later because the birthdays didn't match and they are about $10,000. Am I asked to negotiate a smaller amount? They are different accounts but to the same company. Other medical bills are like $500 on other accounts.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:06:37 GMT

I'm not exactly sure about that. I know for medical debts they are willing to settle for alot less. My girlfriend has a collection from a hosptial and even before it went to collections the hospital offered a settlement of more than 50% off. Not sure if this helps. Hopefully someone else will have more input.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:14:11 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I have received a response from my second PFD letter. The debt collector was Credit Collection Services

"Please be advised, your account has been closed by this office and returned to your creditor.

We have instructed the credit bureau(s) to delete the account. Should you wish to confirm the deletion, we recommend checking back with the bureaus in approximately thirty (30) days. Please note that this reponse is limited to the account number referenced above.

Thank You for your cooperation."

Thankfully that is another bad debt that will be removed off of my credit report. I'm hoping for another 20pt boost to my credit score in which the last deletion gave me.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:37:50 GMT

Just a bit of advice. They stated they are returning debt to the original creditor. Do yourself a favor, and contact OC immediately and negotiate a settlement. Otherwise, they send it to another CA and the process starts over.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 20:49:00 GMT

Thank you for the tip. I figured that much as well. Will be calling them tomorrow. Don't need another negative mark on my credit.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 14:55:08 GMT

Oh and when you get a letter for the same account from a new CA, just send them a DV.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:26:28 GMT

So I called Progressive Auto Insurance to settle the debt before it goes to another Collection Agency. I spoke with billing and collections and they were unable to find my account. They put me on hold and had a supervisor/manager search for my account as well and no luck. Per the manager she stated if the collection agency closed the account and sent it back to Progressive in which they do not have a record, she advised to dispute the debt with the credit bureaus and since there is no record of my debt with them it will be erased from my credit report.

My Question:

Should I even bother disputing with the credit bureaus, since the Collection Agency has already agreed to delete the negative mark?

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 16:29:15 GMT

So today i am VERY ANGRY with Credit Karma. I check weekly on the app website and noticed there were changes today. First and Foremost, it shows that I took a -24pt hit from 614 to 590. I very quickly ran to my computer to check the website and the website says i have a +3pts this update of a credit score 587. So not only are the app and website giving me different scores for transunion, they are reporting different +/- scores from previous update.

A new feauture is they are using the Vanguard 3.0 credit scoring system and now you can access your Equifax score as well for free (mine shows 591,

Good news, my second pay for delete letter i sent out already wiped from my collections on the credit report.

But WHY THE HECK is my score so different?? No changes have been made or updates to accounts. My credit score history on the app shows i have been going up steadily for the past 3 months from 566 to 614, and on the website it shows totally different from 560-590 in the past few months. THIS IS CRAZY. Can I even trust credit karma anymore???

I sent an email to Credit Karma statiing my experience. Waiting on a reply

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 17:27:40 GMT

The difference is likely because of the change from Vantage New Account score to the current Vantage 3.0.

Its possible the mobile app hasn't been configured with the new data source yet.

Re: Pay For Delete Success!!!!

gdale6 — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 19:25:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just started checking credit also. I have a lot of unpaid medical bills and some I have no idea where they came from. Some where from (during my pregnancy) when my step father had my birthday wrong on the insurance, therefore when I presented my license at the hospital, I automatically got billed a few days later because the birthdays didn't match and they are about $10,000. Am I asked to negotiate a smaller amount? They are different accounts but to the same company. Other medical bills are like $500 on other accounts.

For medical collections I recommend you Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help with these. We cannot discuss it in detail on this board.