I've been working on rebuilding my credit for the past year. I was very irresponsible with my finances/credit when I was younger and have had a very low credit score for years (in the 400s at one point). The score slowly increased as things fell off. This past year I paid all of my old debt but one account and had all of them agree to pfd so those accounts fell off. I also removed some late payments (I only have two Macy's late payments left from a couple of years ago and they refuse to remove those despite multiple attempts). My FICO score is currently 650 and the only negative account on it is a $260 debt with Portfolio Recovery Associates. The original account was with Synchrony Bank in early 2014 and it was sold to PRA in 2015. I could easily pay the $260 in full. The problem is that from what I've seen online PRA doesn't delete accounts. I sent in a pfd letter months ago and their response was a letter stating that they confirm that the debt is valid (although they didn't actually send me this proof). Should I request proof that the account is mine? I'm wanting to apply for a mortgage soon, in the next month if possible, and I don't want to do anything stupid. If I pay the account I'm afraid that it will show up as current and ruin my chances of getting a mortgage. If I dispute this account it could take awhile to be resolved and I can't apply for a mortgage while it's pending. Is paying the original creditor (Synchrony Bank) still an option and them having them pull it back from PRA? Or should I leave it alone and try to get a mortgage with the debt still there? My score is already on the low side for getting a mortgage so I'm trying to make everything look as good as possible. Any advice on what I should do about this account would be appreciated. TIA
And I'm kicking myself for not having dealt with this account sooner. Hopefully something can be done about it...
