topic Re: Pay for deletion in Rebuilding Your Credit

Pay for deletion

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 22:02:44 GMT

Hello

I have recently been fixing up my credit and found out I have 2 medical bills in collection. I called the collection agency and asked for a pfd. Operator had no problem with agreeing to it and said once payment is received I would be able to email the manager with a receipt number and they would proceed with removing. I kindly asked for the email before payment so that I may have something in writing that they would remove it. Operator refused to give me the email so I ended the call and found an email online. I sent the email a typical pfd template and received a response back after 1 hour. This is the response

I’m sorry. We’re not going to do this agreement you have sent. I will tell you in an email, as President of Merchants’ Credit Guide Company, if you send us the $1,098 for these two Emergency Medical Associates of Palos, we will delete the collection items from your credit bureau reports. As soon as we receive the funds and the check clears, we will remove them and send you a letter confirming the deletions. Or, of course, you may pay on-line. Let me know when you have made payment and I will see to it that these items get removed as soon as possible.

Thank you. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Daniel F. Burtis

President & CEO

Merchants' Credit Guide Co.

223 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 700

Chicago, IL 60606

www.merchantscreditguide.com

This communication is from a debt collector

Merchants' Credit Guide Company
223 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 700
Chicago, IL 60606

Would that be a sufficient letter or should I keep on insisting on something in writing.

Re: Pay for deletion

FireMedic1 — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 22:13:20 GMT

Its against CRA's agreements with creditors not to delete accurate info. But they do it anyways. So they wont send letters in most cases to cover themselves so you dont send it in as a dispute. Sounds like they dont own the debt and are collecting for the med provider. Pay it and be done with it.

Their responce was a slip of the typing per say anyways:

"We will delete the collection items from your credit bureau reports."

Re: Pay for deletion

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 22:34:27 GMT

Do you think it will be removed from my credit report? I don't want to pay it and then lose my chances of having it removed.

Re: Pay for deletion

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 10:37:04 GMT

I can't imagine a reason for a creditor to put any effort into deceiving a consumer. Right? But, if there is a possibility that the CA does not own the debt, then that letter does nothing. Whomever owns it has the power to change it. Maybe call original creditor for more info, prior to payment? Just a thought.

Re: Pay for deletion

stonedog23 — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 11:00:23 GMT

I always thought once a collection agency has your account, the original creditor has sold it to them and the original creditor can't help you anymore. I find it easier to deal with a collection agency, they don't have a personal relationship with that name on a file, while the original creditor is always butt hurt and won't delete that entry on your credit report.

It seems the OP has a pay for delete agreement in writing via that email.

Re: Pay for deletion

gdale6 — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 22:42:51 GMT

@stonedog23 wrote:
I always thought once a collection agency has your account, the original creditor has sold it to them and the original creditor can't help you anymore.

Nope, they can collect on behalf of the owner or be collecting for themselves if they are a JDB.

Re: Pay for deletion

gdale6 — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 22:43:11 GMT

Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:

1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.

Re: Pay for deletion

missji — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 07:46:55 GMT

They gave you exactly what you asked for. The email says they will delete it once you pay. I think you're all good here.

Re: Pay for deletion

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 09:01:58 GMT

@missji wrote:
They gave you exactly what you asked for. The email says they will delete it once you pay. I think you're all good here.

I agree. They basically gave you what they said the would not anyway lol they spelled it out!

They will not give you the deletion paper in advace because couldn't you just run to the 3Bs and say they agreed to delete without even paying?

The spelled it out, go for it! There are also verbal agreements that can hold and you got that as well

Good luck!

Re: Pay for deletion

rckstrscott — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:45:20 GMT

Merchants Credit Guide will absolutely delete if you pay them.

They generally ONLY work assigned debt, not purchasing debt. They also work almost exclusively in medical. They are common for medical collections in and around Chicago.

Ironically, Merchants Credit Guide was the first thing I posted here, in 2011!

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Paid-original-creditor-can-CA-tradeline-be-disputed/m-p/903756

-scott