Collection from Receivables Performance Management- First ever collections

[Anonymous]

I've recently begun my debt free journey and have only 10k left before I'm consumer debt free! Obviously rebuilding my credit score goes hand in hand with this decision so I've been keeping a close eye on my score for about 6 months now.

I was 5pts away from breaching the 700s when all of a sudden I was hit with a collections from Receivables Performance Management. I know from the details, the account is mine. OC is Sprint and its for the amount of $478- I switched phone companies and thought I paid the remainder of my bill from Sprint, but apparently not. However, I have never received anything from RPM to this date! Which is why I was pretty surprised when this popped up last month. It says the collection started 8/19 but it's probably been about 2 years or longer since I've had Sprint if I recall correctly.

This is my first ever collection and dropped me 40+ pts so I'm a little at a loss of what to do to get it deleted.

Should I attempt to call Sprint and see if they're able to recall the debt from the CA? It's been years so I'm not sure if they would be able to.. They also never reported it to my credit report that I owed them anything so perhaps they just wrote it off and sent it to the CA? I've also written up a pay to delete letter that I've found online, of course not admitting the debt is mine, but specifying I will settle the amount in return to delete the letter. I have it ready to go to be sent certified mail if that's my best option. I'm able to pay the debt in full if needbe but obviously I'm hoping to settle for a lesser amount if possible.

I've researched this CA and it appears to be pretty hit or miss if they'll delete it or not. I have not attempted to call

Any tips on a plan of action? Thanks in advance!

[BmoreBull]

Utilities and cell phone companies aren't like credit cards or car loans. Meaning unlike a cc, they won't report you 30,60,90,180 late and then charge off. They normally just charge it off and sell it off to a ca or have one collect on their behalf. I have a sprint bill from 2009 that isn't on my credit at all. But if I try to open a sprint account, I'm immediately reminded that I must pay this bill before I can even be considered for an account. With that being said, I would definitely call sprint and see if they can recall the ca, before reaching out to the ca. If they can't then reach out to the ca and see if they will do a PFD. Good luck. 

[gdale6]

You want to see if the OC will re call the collection in exchange for payment or the CA will do the PFD. These are your only 2 options at this point.