Cap One/ Settlement?

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

I have an account charged off to cap one, October 2002 last activitiy on CR. I was notified by NOrthland Group who is collecting and want 50% to settle. The sol is expired. I notified them that I would settle for 25% of the debt, they responded that they could not settle for less than the 50%.

I have not told them that the sol expired or let them know that I know it has.

Please advise. Not sure what my next step should be. The CA has also re reported this debt current as of 11/07 on my CR and I have had no contact with them - or cap one since 2002. I only responded to them last week. Is that legal?

DId I validate my own debt by reponsding with an offer to settle at 25%.

What should by next step be, I will not settle for the amount they are requesting.

Thanks

tempusfugit123 · ‎02-07-2008

If Capital One did not contact you through mail explaining that it was going over to a collection agency then it is not your fault and they are way past the SOL. You need to dispute alot that is on your report. You should send a letter to Capital One. If no one contacted you after a long period of time it is not your problem.

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

tempusfugit123 wrote:
If Capital One did not contact you through mail explaining that it was going over to a collection agency then it is not your fault and they are way past the SOL. You need to dispute alot that is on your report. You should send a letter to Capital One. If no one contacted you after a long period of time it is not your problem.

I'm sorry. I know you're new to the forums (welcome, by the way!

), but this is not good advice.

Unfortunately, it is the OP's problem, since it's the OP's reports that are being affected, whether it's accurate or not. Also, there is no requirement for an OC to notify anyone of anything before they send an account to a CA.

OP, you have not validated your own debt. There is no such thing as validating your own debt. If you DV a CA, they are required to validate, regardless of anything you may have done or said in the past.

One thing you may want to check up on, though, is the possiblity that you may have restarted your SOL (unfortunately). Depending on your state, making a payment or even a promise of a payment can restart SOL. (I honestly have no idea whether offering 25% during settlement negotiations constitutes a promise to pay.)

Before you do anything, I would suggest you DV the CA.

Why are you offering to pay 25% on a debt that's SOL, anyway? Did you get a PFD agreement from them first?

Also, maybe post this in the General Credit Issues forum. The DV and CA gurus hang out there.

Message Edited by cheddar on 02-07-2008 10:55 AM

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

I am offering to settle to get it zerod on my credit report. My scores are on my way up, I have settlement three other accounts, but this is the last one.

So I have the original settlement offer they sent, which I am still within the 30 days to respond.

Do I submit a dv via email or certified mail.

Thanks already

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

b2317 wrote:
I am offering to settle to get it zerod on my credit report. My scores are on my way up, I have settlement three other accounts, but this is the last one.

So I have the original settlement offer they sent, which I am still within the 30 days to respond.

Do I submit a dv via email or certified mail.

Thanks already

Never ever ever DV by email. Always DV by CMRRR! And save your green cards and copies of all correspondence.

If they can't validate, they must delete. You want to build a paper trail, so that if it turns out they don't/can't validate, but still refuse to delete (which is likely, BTW), you have proof of their violations.

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

b2317 wrote:
I am offering to settle to get it zerod on my credit report. My scores are on my way up, I have settlement three other accounts, but this is the last one.

So I have the original settlement offer they sent, which I am still within the 30 days to respond.

Do I submit a dv via email or certified mail.

Thanks already

When you say "zeroed" on your credit report, do you mean you want it deleted or you want the balance to show $0?

Just FYI: If you only want it to show $0 balance, this will not help your scores, and will probably hurt them, since it will show recent activity on a CA account. This is why most of the experts here recommend NOT paying a CA unless they in turn promise to delete the TL from your CRs (via PFD).

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

I meant I want the balance to show zero. It is showing in my revolving credit amount, which in turn is showing my available credit over by 300%.

I was thinking it would raise my score though.

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

b2317 wrote:
I meant I want the balance to show zero. It is showing in my revolving credit amount, which in turn is showing my available credit over by 300%.

I was thinking it would raise my score though.

Whoa, back up here!

Balances on CA accounts do NOT count towards revolving utilization.

Are the OC and CA both reporting? If the OC account is showing a balance, that will factor into utilization, since the OC account is a CC. But if the CA is also reporting, then the OC's TL must show $0.

Bottom line, both accounts can report, but only one can show a balance.

How are they reporting?

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

Thanks for the help first of all. Well, cap one is reporting the balance, which is now double the the amount of available, which when I stopped paying was 2900. While Northland Group is not reporting under collections, the did pull a hard copy of my Experian report last December, which from reading here is illegal? So do I dispute that with Experian?

I does seem that paying down this balance, with settlement will reduce my revolving credit from 300% to zero - I have no others. Which should raise my scores - atleast it does using the fico simulator.

Anonymous · ‎02-07-2008

b2317 wrote:
Thanks for the help first of all. Well, cap one is reporting the balance, which is now double the the amount of available, which when I stopped paying was 2900. While Northland Group is not reporting under collections, the did pull a hard copy of my Experian report last December, which from reading here is illegal? So do I dispute that with Experian?

I does seem that paying down this balance, with settlement will reduce my revolving credit from 300% to zero - I have no others. Which should raise my scores - atleast it does using the fico simulator.

OK, that makes much more sense. I thought the CA was reporting the balance.

In that case, yes, paying or settling the balance to $0 will help your score by bringing your utilization down.

Regarding the hard pull, opinions differ here, but I strongly believe that a CA is allowed to pull your report when it's connection with collecting a credit account. A lot of posters here disagree with me on that one, but IMO the FCRA is quite clear on this.

Still, it can't hurt to dispute the inquiry. You have nothing to lose by trying.