topic Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:56:16 GMT

Hello everyone:

New here and have learned alot in the few weeks I have been reading the forums. I burned Citi for about 5K back in 2016. They charged off the account in 2017. (From late 2016 until 2019 I was severely under-employed even while working 2 jobs.) Citi is still reporting the chargeoff every month. I called in 2020 when my financial situatio had gotten better by me obtaining a job with a liveable wage to see if I could pay back the balance. Is there anything else I can do or will it just stay on there for 7-10 years? (Still in the rebuilding process but was able to pay off a few things most notably my student loan.)

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

SoCalGardener — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 01:16:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone:

New here and have learned alot in the few weeks I have been reading the forums. I burned Citi for about 5K back in 2016. They charged off the account in 2017. (From late 2016 until 2019 I was severely under-employed even while working 2 jobs.) Citi is still reporting the chargeoff every month. I called in 2020 when my financial situatio had gotten better by me obtaining a job with a liveable wage to see if I could pay back the balance. Is there anything else I can do or will it just stay on there for 7-10 years? (Still in the rebuilding process but was able to pay off a few things most notably my student loan.)

Welcome to the forums! And congratulations on working on your financial situation, paying off your student loan, etc.

What did Citi say when you called last year? Did you come to any agreement about paying off the balance? Was anything in writing?

I don't have experience exactly like this scenario, but I think it may be possible to get Citi to remove/revise what they're reporting *if* you agree to terms with them, and then follow the agreement to the letter. You absolutely MUST get anything offered in writing. I did that with medical bills that had already gone to collections while I was still in the hospital; each agency sent me, in writing, what we agreed on (payment in full immediately, followed by their removing the ding on my credit reports), and then I paid off each account (and they cleared my CRs). See if Citi will agree to something similar. Please tell us what you've already discussed with Citi so we can offer better suggestions for what to do next.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 01:43:29 GMT

Thank you so much for responding. At first I was told I could pay something but the convo was sketchy and the rep said there would be nothing in writing. I then called again and the rep said that since the account was charged off there was nothing they can do. I really do want to pay it off and I am not sure if it is a matter of speaking to someone in a different department. Although I am rebuilding, the charge off is really dragging my score down.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 01:49:15 GMT

Forgot to add, I put a few cards in GreenPath Financial Services and Citi was the only company that would not work with them. Their reasoning again was that the debt was charged off in 2017.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 03:20:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone:

New here and have learned alot in the few weeks I have been reading the forums. I burned Citi for about 5K back in 2016. They charged off the account in 2017. (From late 2016 until 2019 I was severely under-employed even while working 2 jobs.) Citi is still reporting the chargeoff every month. I called in 2020 when my financial situatio had gotten better by me obtaining a job with a liveable wage to see if I could pay back the balance. Is there anything else I can do or will it just stay on there for 7-10 years? (Still in the rebuilding process but was able to pay off a few things most notably my student loan.)

If Citibank still owns the debt, you can settle with them, but it sounds like they have sold the debt to a collection agency, in which case that agency now owns the debt and you have to settle with them. I would find out who owns it and then off 25% of the amount of the debt, and haggle and see if you can settle for 33% -- something not more than 50%. And as part of the agreement Citi and the debt collector mark it settled for less than original amount and stop reporting it. There is no reason to pay it all back. You are likely blacklisted with Citi either way.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

FireMedic1 — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 10:51:28 GMT

If there is no collectons associated with the account. You can call again. If they wont take payments. Citi wrote it off for accounting issues. And you should have recieved a 1099c form to pay taxes and what was written off. Its going to report CO until it falls off. That was the final entry.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

OmarGB9 — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 16:55:43 GMT

If they're still reporting CO every month, then they still own the account. If that's the case, then you need to contact them to work out a payment arrangement so they can get paid back and in return stop updating the account every month. It's highly unlikely they'd delete the CO altogether though. Best they'll probably do is agree to settle for less, update to $0 balance, and stop updating it so that it can age. At that point it'll remain for whatever is left of the 7 years from DOFD (Date of First Delinquency, or when the account first went delinquent and never became current again).

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Ilinferno — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 17:44:45 GMT

@Anonymous

Hi! I recently had a similar situation with Citi and posted about it in the forums. Here is the link if you want to read.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Citi-collections-won-t-take-my-money/m-p/6434409#

The upshot of it is that they wrote off my debt of about 5k and sent me a 1099C so were unwilling to accept any payment (and are still reporting the charge off monthly). The balance is at least reported as 0 so it's not acting like a maxed card for the duration that it sits on my reports.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

SoCalGardener — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 18:06:34 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
If Citibank still owns the debt, you can settle with them, but it sounds like they have sold the debt to a collection agency, in which case that agency now owns the debt and you have to settle with them. I would find out who owns it and then off 25% of the amount of the debt, and haggle and see if you can settle for 33% -- something not more than 50%. And as part of the agreement Citi and the debt collector mark it settled for less than original amount and stop reporting it. There is no reason to pay it all back. You are likely blacklisted with Citi either way.

I beg to differ. There definitely are reasons to pay it all back, one being integrity. When one incurs a debt and agrees to re-pay it, it's their duty to follow through and pay back every cent. There's also the possibility that by paying it all back, the derogatory mark may be removed/modified/made less severe on the credit reports.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

OmarGB9 — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 19:16:52 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
If Citibank still owns the debt, you can settle with them, but it sounds like they have sold the debt to a collection agency, in which case that agency now owns the debt and you have to settle with them. I would find out who owns it and then off 25% of the amount of the debt, and haggle and see if you can settle for 33% -- something not more than 50%. And as part of the agreement Citi and the debt collector mark it settled for less than original amount and stop reporting it. There is no reason to pay it all back. You are likely blacklisted with Citi either way.
I beg to differ. There definitely are reasons to pay it all back, one being integrity. When one incurs a debt and agrees to re-pay it, it's their duty to follow through and pay back every cent. There's also the possibility that by paying it all back, the derogatory mark may be removed/modified/made less severe on the credit reports.

Also if you wish to get in with said lender again in the future, paying them back in full would go a long way towards that possibility.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 02:24:22 GMT

Glad to see some additional respones on this.

So after trying countless numbers today and not being able to get through to a live person I finally did after 30 minutes of calling around. I explained my situation and was transferred to the recovery team. I explained the situation and to revise what I said earlier I actually have been calling since 2019.

They agreed to a one time lump sum settlement of $1695.00. It is due next month. I did tell them per the advice in this thread that I needed this in writing. Was kind of annoyed that it will stil be reported but at least they said it will show as paid. I do wonder if this starts the seven clock. I hope not.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

FireMedic1 — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 11:36:17 GMT

The DoFD or 7 yr clock started on the first late that led to the charge off status. Nothing changes that dte.

Re: Possible to pay back after chargeoff?

Eldodroptop1 — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:10:09 GMT

Even if it's changed to "Paid, Settled for less" that is a much more positive report than charge off with a balance reporting. You will most likely see a positive move in your credit score when this accounts status updates.