Jefferson Capital Systems PFD agreement questions

[jg1983]

Hey everyone. For a few years now Verizon has alleged that I owe them about $580. They sent it to a collection agency who reported it on my credit report. I disputed it and received no response and a week or so later it was off my credit report. About a year later it popped up again with a new collection agency. Same thing. I disputed and it disappeared only to come up again with Jefferson Capital Systems. To be clear no one has been able to provide me with any documentation that this debt is mine or how specifically the debt was allegedly accrued. Not even Verizon.
 
After doing a little reading about Jefferson Capital Systems it appears people have had luck both settling debt for less than the amount (allegedly in my case) owed and negotiating a pay for delete agreement. So I figured I would call them a few days ago and give it a shot. I made the decision ahead of time I am not willing to pay more than $100 and only if they agree to a pay for delete agreement. So I called and got a rep who clearly wasn't based in the US. I explained the situation as far as the previous collection agencies go and why I don't believe the debt is mine then told him I am willing to pay $100 to settle in full as long as the account is removed from my credit reports. He came back with an offer of $350 which was the same offer on a letter they sent me and insisted he couldn't go lower. I refused to go any higher than $100 and politely told him either I will pay that to settle or I will dispute the debt and pay nothing. I also noted that I am aware that collection agencies only pay on average 10% for a debt (not sure if that's accurate but that's what I have heard). He said he could do $240 but that is the lowest he could go. I then demanded he put it in writing and email it to me first and I would consider it. After going back and forth he finally agreed.
 
So we ended the phone call and I thought about it for a few minutes and decided to call back and request a US based rep. The first rep they transferred me to was based in the US and was a lot more polite than the first rep but was unable to offer me a better deal so I politely requested a supervisor thinking I had nothing to lose trying. I explained the situation to the supervisor the same way I did to the other two reps. At first she wouldn't budge on the $240 offer but after I politely explained to her I was willing to pay $100 today and if that isn't acceptable I would be disputing the debt she finally agreed to settle the debt for $100 and delete it from my credit reports as soon as the $100 is paid. I guess the moral of the story here is persistence pays off.
 
Now I have a few questions. First of all is the documentation I have adequate evidence that there is a pay for delete agreement in place? The supervisor emailed me a pdf of a letter with the following wording:
 
"This letter is to inform you of an arrangement you made with Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC to make payments as described in the payment schedule on the right.

To make changes to this arrangement please call 800-348-3381 at least three business days prior to your payment date.

If you are mailing in your payments, please include your JCS Reference Number on the payment and send to: ...

Upon receipt of the scheduled payments, your account will be settled in full."

Then on the right it lists $100 as the payment amount due by April 25th. The supervisor told me I would be receiving a letter in the mail stating the same thing and also stating that the account would be deleted from my credit report 30 days after payment is made. The following statement can also be found on their website:

"Our policy is that we will request the credit bureaus delete the tradeline approximately 30 days after the final payment has been posted that resolves the account as paid in full or paid in full for less than the full balance."

I guess the question here is do "settled in full" and "paid in full for less than the full balance" mean the same thing legally speaking. Between the letter they emailed me and that statement on their website am I covered legally if I decide to make the payment tomorrow and they refuse to delete as they agreed to?

I was gonna send a money order to pay it but am considering just doing it over the phone with my debit card instead to get the ball rolling on this quicker. Am I covered legally should they take more from my bank account than we agreed to? I have heard horror stories of people having agreements with collection agencies only to find out they were still charged the full balance. That is why I was gonna send a money order instead. Should I just make the payment with my debit card and get this thing over with?

Also will I see a significant boost to my credit scores once this is deleted considering I have no other collection accounts? Has anyone else had any experience with a pay for delete agreement with this collection agency? Another somewhat unrelated question. The only other negative thing on my credit other than high credit card balances which I am working on is one missed payment on a credit card almost a year ago. Somehow I forget to make a $25 payment and DCU wont budge on it. How long will that negatively impact my credit score?

[babygirl1256]

Unfortunately the $25.00 negative reporting will stay on your credit report for seven years but as the account ages, it will have less of an overall impact. Best wishes in resolving and hopefully getting it deleted.

[OmarGB9]

I don't know that there's a legal precedent for a CA going back on their PFD agreement, since technically there is no law against it, and PFDs in general actually go against the CRA reporting rules. That said, you have sufficient coverage of them agreeing to a settlement, and I haven't heard of an instance where JC reneged on their agreement. Yes they should delete within 30-60 days from your payment clearing. To be clear, I say 30-60 days because although I'm sure JC will send in the request for deletion as soon as your payment is processed and clears, you have to allow time for them to close out your account/do general housekeeping and then also allow time for the CRAs themselves to process the deletion request. 

Also, yes, paid in full for less than full balance/settled in full is the same.

As far as the "horror stories of CAs taking the full amount" rather than the agreed upon settlement, while I'm sure that has happened in the past/does happen with the more shady CAs, JC is pretty good about honoring their agreements. If, for some reason they do take more than the $100, we'll then yes, for that purpose, legally you're covered with the letters they sent. But I don't see that happening (I've dealt with them personally, and they honored all agreements/payment arrangements I made). And yes they did delete as promised; actually, I set up a payment arrangement to pay in full over 28 months and they deleted their TL right away the next month I started on my payment plan.

As far as the DCU late, it'll remain on your reports and hurt all 7 years, unfortunately, however the "sting" or amount of points it costs you goes down significantly after 2 years.

Finally, if you have no other collections on your reports, once you get your utilization down, you *may* see some nice score boosts. It's not guaranteed of course.