Collection after four years

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I ended up paying the Collection Agency when I realized that I had received/forgotten about them four years prior.  I suppose I could write a Goodwill letter to the Collection Agency and see if they will remove but would it be worth my time to write Transunion, the only credit bureau that the CA reported to, to see if they can note the account paid in full and hope that my score my go up a bit.  The whole reason for this is because I'm trying to get my credit up to buy another house and I haven't been late on anything well over one year but it's things like this that keep happening and dragging my score down.

[llecs]

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tull3292 wrote:
Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I ended up paying the Collection Agency when I realized that I had received/forgotten about them four years prior.  I suppose I could write a Goodwill letter to the Collection Agency and see if they will remove but would it be worth my time to write Transunion, the only credit bureau that the CA reported to, to see if they can note the account paid in full and hope that my score my go up a bit.  The whole reason for this is because I'm trying to get my credit up to buy another house and I haven't been late on anything well over one year but it's things like this that keep happening and dragging my score down.

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Your FICO could drop if you write that letter to TU. Whether you owe $0 or $10,000, the damage to your FICO is the same. In fact, asking them to update would change the "update" or "reported" date. FICO may end up reading it as a new CA and could possibly drop your score.

All you can do is to send a GW. In the future, you should DV them then offer a PFD and then pay if they accept it.

Now under a manual review, a $0 balance would look better.

[Anonymous]

Do not even think to go near a CRA with that idea - Ilecs is 150% right - the CRA would ding you no matter what. GW the City and the CA. leave the CRA alone.

[Anonymous]

I will write a GW letter to the city and CA.  What do you mean "you sholud DV then then offer a PFD"?  I've already paid the CA off once I received a copy of the tickets.  This is the first time I've written a letter so I'm kind of unsure on what to say in the letter to the city and CA...any suggestions?

[llecs]

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tull3292 wrote:
I will write a GW letter to the city and CA.  What do you mean "you sholud DV then then offer a PFD"?  I've already paid the CA off once I received a copy of the tickets.  This is the first time I've written a letter so I'm kind of unsure on what to say in the letter to the city and CA...any suggestions?

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I had said, "In the future...." you should DV then PFD. If ever placed in a situation again where you have a CA reporting, DV them first. If they verify to your liking, then offer a PFD and if accepted, they will delete it. When you pay without a PFD, you lose all leverage to get them to delete. If you send a GW, and I do recommend you do, they have no reason to delete. Whereas, if unpaid, most will accept a PFD because they want their $$$.

IMO, don't worry about the city right now if they are not reporting. Send a GW to the CA and, IMO, thank them for accepting your payment and ask for deletion. Search around for "GW Example" and you'll find some good examples. Send the letter reg. mail with a stamp.