topic Re: Communication From OC in Rebuilding Your Credit

Communication From OC

800goal800 — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:07:34 GMT

I have two charge off accounts both with American First Finance. Neither has been reported by a CA. I recently received the below email for one of the accounts :

"Your account with American First Finance remains unpaid. We recognize that you may have experienced a financial hardship that prevented you from paying this balance. We may be able to work with you to pay off the account for less than the full amount owed. American First Finance is willing to accept only 35% of the total amount due and we will consider this account paid.

Please note that law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you on the debt. We will not treat your agreement to any payment option as an affirmation or acknowledgment of the debt. Please see additional disclosures below regarding rights you may have under state law. Please call a Payment Solutions Specialist at 877-766-8445 to discuss the options that may be available to you. ".

I would like to do a PFD for both accounts which were opened on same day. My concern is believing the SOL. My DOFD is 8/2016 and date of last payment is 1/2018. I live in MO and know I'm still within SOL.

Thoughts ?

Re: Communication From OC

RobertEG — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 03:48:36 GMT

A handful of states, incluing NY and CA, but not MO, have enacted enhanced debt collection practices state statutes that REQUIRE that any letter regarding collection on a delinquent debt MUST include and advisory notice to the consumer if the creditor/debt collector reasonably believes that the debt has reached the state statute of limitations for the type of debt at issue.

The CFPB was in the process of proposing similar requirements at the federal level, and thus required in alll states, but that proposed rulemaking was placed on hold by the current administration based on their crackdown on new federal regulations.

That requirment was directed to avoid deceptive collection practices that made many consumers believe that if they failed to pay time-barred debts, they would be sued.

My recollection of the SOL in MO is that it is five years for credit card debt. While their advisory notice may be a bit premature, and even not required for residents of your state, they may have nonetheless included such an advisory statement in their collection letter as an abundance of caution or a premature conclusion that the SOL has been exceeded. Either way, such a statement is only helpful to the consumer.

If neither has been reported by a debt collector, and thus you have no reported collection, then you would not have any reporting upon which to base a pay for deletion offer.

As an alternative, you could first obtain their agreement not to report as a condition for your payment of the debt.

A pay-for-not-reporting offer is similar to a pay for deletion offer, and would cover you from any chance of their subsequent reporting of a collection.

Re: Communication From OC

800goal800 — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 11:01:54 GMT

Regarding PFD, I was hoping I could do that with the original creditor.

You mentioned separately a payment for non-reporting. Are you saying that if I pay the OC in full then it could still be reported?

Re: Communication From OC

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:02:17 GMT

@800goal800 wrote:
Regarding PFD, I was hoping I could do that with the original creditor.

You mentioned separately a payment for non-reporting. Are you saying that if I pay the OC in full then it could still be reported?

It is next to impossible to get an OC to agree to PFD. That is usually a thing CAs do so that you don't have the double whammy of having both the original TL and the CA on your CRs, but even they do not have to offer it. Of vourse you could always ask, but it is highly unlikely.

Re: Communication From OC

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:24:17 GMT

@800goal800 wrote:
Regarding PFD, I was hoping I could do that with the original creditor.

You mentioned separately a payment for non-reporting. Are you saying that if I pay the OC in full then it could still be reported?

A lender is required to report accurately if they choose to report, so yes. A payment for non-report would keep them from reporting if you paid them as agreed.

Re: Communication From OC

800goal800 — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:29:14 GMT

What I meant to say is once I pay the OC for an account that's been charged off, it could still be reported as a collection even if the collection hasn't already been reported ? That's what I inferred from one of the responses

Re: Communication From OC

OmarGB9 — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:00:28 GMT

@800goal800 wrote:
What I meant to say is once I pay the OC for an account that's been charged off, it could still be reported as a collection even if the collection hasn't already been reported ? That's what I inferred from one of the responses

If the collection was initially reported prior to your paying them off, and the CA is one of those known to not PFD, then yes, it is possible to still keep reporting as a collection, but with zero balance along with the OC charge off at zero balance. If, however, you paid the OC prior to the account being assigned to a CA, OR it was assigned/sold to a CA, but you made arrangements with them (the CA) before they began reporting, then no, no collection would be reported.

Re: Communication From OC

RobertEG — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 21:30:41 GMT

A debt collector can, but is not likely to, initially report their collection at any time after they have received collection authority. That includes after the debt is paid. It records the fact that a debt was assigned or sold for collection activities.

If reported for the first time after payment, it would have to show a current status, of closed and paid, $0 balance. Most debt collectors using credit reporting as a collection tool, and wont take the time or effort to report after the debt is no longer due or collectible, but are not precluded from doing so.

Re: Communication From OC

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 02:40:39 GMT

You might want to take their offer before they realize it’s still within the SOL! No reason not to ask for the stars though, the worst they can say is no. 😉