Collection Advice

[Anonymous]

I have a collection from July 2015 that was unpaid. I wrote a letter in August 2016 to Interstate Credit Collections (ICC) in NC that explained I would pay the debt in full if they agreed to remove it from all 3 credit reporting agencies. About a month later, I received a letter back from them that says they do not request removal of accounts from credit bureaus in exchange for payment.

At this point, I am at a loss. Is there any way to get them to remove my accounts if I agree to pay them? Would sending another letter or calling work? Should I pay the debt now even if they firmly said they wouldn't remove the account or should I wait until I can somehow get them to remove my account from credit bureaus after payment? Thanks for any help I can get!

[Anonymous]

How far from falling off is it?

An open unpaid collections is probably going to hurt you worse than a closed zero balance collections.  Even if your score is ok, you may have trouble buying a house or obtaining further credit if it's open and unpaid.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how to check, but I just noticed my credit score dipped a lot in October of 2015. It's a fairly new debt. 

So my best course of action is to just pay the debt anyway and hope they remove it in goodwill? Thanks for the help!

edit

Just checked, it was opened in Sept 2015.

[RobertEG]

Whether to continue to pursue a PFD or to pay and then pursue a GW is, in my opinion, dependent upon whether or not you need your score within the next year of so, such as if you need to app for new credit.

If you dont plan to need your score, I would continue to attempt a PFD by obtaining the name of an upper management official with authority to grant an exception to any normal non-deletion policy they may have.