@Anonymous wrote:
I was dealing with a law firm (Stillman) but it was/is reporting directly from Discover. So I guess it's formally "direct".
I'm not sure what the SOL is -- I'm in Massachusetts.
To address a question from another poster, re: "What would you dispute"? I'm not really sure. I was thinking I could just take a stab using that approach, and see if I could sneak it through. Wishful (unrealistic) thinking, I'm sure.
Thanks everyone!
Disputing it will cause you grief and there is literally nothing to dispute. You should see some score improvement from paying it and have already waited 6 years, having had your scores supressed by it, and you only have 1 left to go before it is removed, so you may need to just be patient in the meantime. Is there a particular rush?
You can go the GW route, and I would certainly try until EE (early exclusion) is on the table.
Pull all 3 CRs from annul credit report for free (no scores, but free to oull weekly through 4/2021).
TU will list "estimated date of removal". You can request EE exactly 6 months before that. If it say 12/2021, you can call on 6/1/2021 for it to be EE'd. My SO removed 8 baddies on 6/1/2020 with an "estimated date of removal" of 12/2020.
EX will list "on record until". This one is tricky to people because EX offers 3 months EE, but they already give you 2 months of it in the "on record until" date. If it says 10/2021, you can request the 3rd month of EE on 9/2021.
EQ is messy and I strongly suggest you not even bother with EE with them. They only give 1 month, anyway, and several DPs have reported TLs falling off naturally 1-4 months early. They list "Date of First Delinquency". Add 7 years to that and that is when it technically should drop off and does not include them potentially dropping it off earlier.
In your situation SOL is 6 years in MA, so it sounds like you were about to get sued for this debt from the attorney group in the 11th hour. If you had perhaps reached out before that point you may have been able to settle for less, but it is now paid, and you can move forward.
Also, PFD is rare with OCs, so don't feel badly, because you were going down the road to be sued and they seriously would not have considered it as all the leverage was in their favor. Even if it wasnt, again, OCs almost never entertain PFDs, that is reserved for CAs as a bargaining chip so you dont have the double whammy of both the OC and CA reporting (which they can). Thankfully you did not get a judgement where they charged you legal fees and more fees and garnished your wages.
If the CO had been updating monthly, yes, you likely will see a score bump from it updating to "paid", but still will be a "CO", and there is a chance that because util went down, you will see a score gain there. It is more difficult to predict that, as you do not say what your util is on your other TLs. Getting util down to 0% in the baddie will help as far as individual util goes, but as far as aggregate util, only you know that at this point.
So again, go the GW route, which I have not seen many Disco success stories, but that should not deter you, as you will not know until you try, and if all else fails when the time comes to EE, you can request it at that point.
Good luck!
