Charge offs not in collections - confused

[Anonymous]

That's exactly where I'm at, today.  I called Merrick, they showed the account, but wouldn't let me do anything with it.  Transferred me to a CA, who then transferred me to another CA that would be handling the account within the next day or two.  She told me to call the updated CA later this week. I'm stumped.  WOuld love to pay this now. Merrick is still reporting a charge off, would love to get it paid before collections are reported.

[Anonymous]

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@designated_knitter wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Got it, but one more question. 
Since charge off wasn't sold to a third party (yet), should I try to negotiate a settlement with the creditor or do they usually expect the full payment?

And even if it won't be removed it will stop the reporting and show a zero balance, correct?

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I had a CO with Merrick that I wanted to settle directly with them.  They still owned the debt but had a 3rd party CA collecting on their behalf.

Merrick refused to talk to me and insisted I work through the CA.  I wound up settling for 1/2, declaring victory and moving on before the CA hit my reports.

Good luck!

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If you don't mind me asking, what was your impact from paying off the Merrick Bank account or settling?

[House2021]

Yes, I'm curious too. I m trying to pay off a card that won't take my money either

[designated_knitter]

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@House2021 wrote:

Yes, I'm curious too. I m trying to pay off a card that won't take my money either

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To be honest, I can't really tell you.  I wasn't tracking my credit as closely and there were alot of other variables at that point.  I don't think there was a significant bump -- but again, there were other negative factors (other COs still showing a balance, another collection on my account, high utilization) so paying off Merrick at that point was sort of like spitting in the wind!