How should I handle this...

[Anonymous]

I have several old medical bills that are from 2009, the collections are reporting on my credit report. I called the hospital today to try to set up an arrangement to pull the accounts from collections for payment. They have no record of the accounts and said they may be in an old system that is no longer available. Should I do a debt validation or should I just work with the CRA to do PFD?

[Momof5]

Absolutely!

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat, was that an absolutely for DV or PFD... or both?

[Anonymous]

You're not going to negotiate a PFD with the CRA(credit reporting agency). That's something you're gonna have to take up with the CA(collection agency).

You can try a DV with the CA, but unless they recently sent you a dunning notice, they don't have to respond since it wouldn't be considered timely and they'll automatically assume that the debt is valid. Unless you're in Texas, you have 30 days to DV after receiving dunning notice.

[gdale6]

You can attempt the DV directly with the CA, as already stated they dont have to respond if its past the first 30 days since they received the collection. If  you know the debt is yours and its your intention to offer a PFD then you might not want to send the DV as it could put them in an adversarial stance and  make it less likely they will accept a PFD. Your choice.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Debt-Validation/m-p/7133

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-PFD-Success-Stories/...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Example-Letter/td-p/4519