To pay or not to pay?

[Anonymous]

Just to add to the already great advice you received, push for deletion. However, if they flat out refuse to delete, still pay them. Why?
Because, you owe them and paid always looks better than unpaid when your home loan is being combed through by the manual underwriter. They will want an explanation for why you aren't taking care of your financial obligations.

Easier to say you paid in full as soon as you realized the mistake, than to stumble around with no reason for not taking care of it. ☺

[Anonymous]

It's also worth noting that when attempting a PFD just like GW letter writing, one needs to be prepared to hear "no" many times before getting a "yes."  Similar to the Saturation Technique for GW letters, your goal should be to contact as many different people as possible for the PFD request.  This could be letters sent to different addresses (on different days too) or if you're making calls, call on different days at different times to increase your chances of speaking to different people.  Jot down their names so that you don't get shot down multiple times by the same person.  If you're offering to pay the debt 100% in full, chances are eventually you'll find someone gladly willing to collect that debt in return for the deletion of the negative.  Remember to always get this in writing prior to paying the debt though.