Collections not reported yet what should I do

[helpplzcredit67]

Hi, I used a service that has pay-in-four options and was told by the company for hardship situation I could turn off autopay and pay as I could.

I didn't pay for a few months thinking everything was fine because they said there was no interest and no late fee penalty, and they did not say anything about needing to keep the account having semiregular payments just that it would have no adverse fees.

However I got a email saying the loan had been transferred to a different company ACI-US. To my knowledge this company has not reported it OR tried to contact me about it yet. I do not have a debt validation letter, any voicemails, or irregularities on my credit report. The collection has not been reported yet.

As I understand it, the thing you're supposed to do first is get debt validation then settle/payment plan, but BECAUSE it hasn't been reported yet, am I better off trying to do a pay-to-delete sample letter first and saying that I don't have any debt validation from them?

Does beginning the process of validation mean that they will be more likely to report it and might deny a request for buy-to-delete? this is very recent debt so I would not want it to be ignored etc.not a ton but ~500 dollars. also is it best to send both the letters via certified mail, or call first? Would not be able to pay in full till early January and I know that's a condition of the offer to pay-to-delete. Any help/advice would be appreciated. I am trying to rebuild my credit and get started on apartment-searching in the next six months so this would be a real blow to my score that I didn't anticipate, and I'd like to avoid it if at all possible. 

[AndySoCal]

@helpplzcredit67  Call the original creditor and see if you pay them in full if they can pull the account back from the collection agency. If this is not possible talk to the collection agency and get something in writing the account will not be reported to the credit bureaus if it paid in full.

[helpplzcredit67]

I did call the original creditor and they said that I had to call collections since it had already been sent to collections, and when I pushed them on if there was any way to recall the debt they said I had to talk to the collections first, but to call them back if "collection's couldn't help me" I am not sure about this and it doesn't make any sense because obviously if I admit to the debt with collections over the phone they probably wouldn't recall it?

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@AndySoCal wrote:

@helpplzcredit67  Call the original creditor and see if you pay them in full if they can pull the account back from the collection agency. If this is not possible talk to the collection agency and get something in writing the account will not be reported to the credit bureaus if it paid in full.

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[AndySoCal]

@helpplzcredit67  Talk with collection agency and see if you can get an agreement for no reporting of debt to the credit bureaus in exchange for payment in full in writing.