No I am not in shill with the CA, I'm just somebody who has had and still have accounts in Collections.
Now you can listen to some of the poster's who are on a crusade to "stick it to man" and not pay old debts. That is a very very slippery slope.
Now, Originial Poster, if you are disputing the debt because you feel it's not yours then YES dispute it and fight it to the very end. Now if you are disputing it because you are trying to delay, then that is all that is going to do is delay. Nothing more or less, the debt is still going to be there.
The Reality is this, you can do as some of the other "System crusaders" advise and not pay the debt, then you have basically one option, try to wait out the Statute of Limitations of that debt. That would depend on your state's SOL, you would have to look that up. The SOL clock starts ticking on the date of last activity. Now if you choose that route you must beware, that depending on the size of the debt, especially if it is over a thousand, you are running the risk of the CA's taking you to court and try to get a judgment on you before the SOL run's out. If this is a valid debt against you , you are looking at a rough road ahead, if awarded the Judgment as I stated before, the Judgment will
1. go on your credit report (if you feel this collection isn't really hurting your score wait until a judgment is on there and then watch it go WAY down the tubes)
2. They can go after all your assets until the judgment is sastified meaning your bank account, stocks, wage garnishment etc. Then the ALMIGHTy FICO score is the least of your worries.
The reality is this, its sound like you do owe the debt and do want to pay, you should if you have the means to pay it full. As some have offered you can try to get "Pay for Delete" but this is very very hard to get and most of the Major CA's wont do it because techincally it is illegal that they have contracts with CRA to report accurate information. You can try, some have been succesful but it's not an easy fight. And if you are finding you aren't getting anywhere just bite the bullet and pay the debt off.
Also as I posted when going to try to get a mortgage, car loan and a personal loan, they look beyond your FICO. The unpaid collection account is going to haunt you. How do I know? I can't even get a secured credit card from Bank of America because of that.
People on this board worry soley on just The FICO score and forget to focus on what actually on your report. If you have the means do Pay it in full. No matter what any "System Crusader" may tell you,, Paid always looks better than "Settled". Lenders will look at a settled ( paid for less than what is owed) as a red flag meaning " if this happended to them , this could happen to us" Also you could have to pay taxes on a settled as "income earned" Oh YES that is true.
Now in terms of your FICO SCORE it is true that the longer the unpaid collection is on your report the less effect it has on your overall score. And Yes it's true that even if you PAY the collection off, you may not have a change in your score, And yes it's true that is will stay on your credit report for 7 years from date of last activity whether it's paid or not.
It is also TRUE than lenders who will be looking at your total Credit Report, not just your score, will view your paid collection in a MUCH MUCH MUCH more favorable light than unpaid.
Try telling your Mortgage lender that " Oh yeah I do have an unpaid collection, but I'm not going to pay it because I want to stick it to the man and ride out the SOL's on the debt" And see where that will get you.
