Merrick Chargeoff and Portfolio Recovery Collection

[FicoFighter80]

Hello all, 

After reaching my goals years ago and purchasing a home, I am back to rebuild my credit once again. Alot has changed and I want some advice on a few items as i work through my credit report to qualify for a mortgage. 

1 - I have a chargeoff from Merrick Bank, no CA reporting. I have gotten mail from Carson Smithfield for offers of 40% settlement last year. The DOFD March 2018. Looks like they are reporting a CO every month. What is the best course of action? Call Merrick for PFD? Take the settlement and be done with it?

2. I have a collection where the CA is Portfolio Recovery. A couple years ago I was sent a letter by Michael Scott and Assoc, I thought I may get siued so I set up a payment plan and have paid about $4000. I am now 2 payments away from paying it off. What should I do? Should I contact Portfolio Recovery and ask them to delete it and go ahead and pay the balance off now? Or wait until I finish paying and ask for a Goodwill? 

3. I have a chargeoff from Best Buy with a $0 balance. They wrote off the debt and I got a 1099 last year. Is there anything I can do to get this account off of my credit?

[OmarGB9]

1. You can try to pay Merrick, so reach out and ask, but most likely they'll refer you back to their CA. Either way, if no CA is reporting, that's good, so whenever you pay the CA in full or settle, it'll stop updating and the utilization hit will stop affecting you, allowing your score to recover over time.

2. Your choice, if you can finish paying earlier, I would do so in order to get their collection deleted sooner, but if you want to save the money and just pay as you've been doing, you can do that as well. Either way, PRA deletes as a matter of policy, so no need for a GW request. As soon as the final payment clears and posts to the account, the law firm will notify PRA who will then put in the deletion request within 30 days. From there, it is up to the CRAs to process the deletion. So all in all, give it 45-60 days from final payment. 

3. The only way would be via GW removal.

[FicoFighter80]

@OmarGB9 Thank you!

[OmarGB9]

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@FicoFighter80 wrote:

@OmarGB9 Thank you!

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No problem, and good luck!

[Anonymous]

Any update on what happened with Merrick Bank?

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[FicoFighter80]

Yes I settled with their CA, as soon as I did Merrick updated my report that they had reached an agreement. 
Once my payment was processed they updated my balance to $0 and my score jumped up. Can't remember how many points but it was at least 15 points. 

[Anonymous]

I had success with pay for delete for Portfolio Recovery- they will claim that they "don't do that" but they will.

I am by no means an expert like some of these folks, so take it with a grain of salt.

[jnbowmar]

Did carson smithfield accept the 40% percent settlement or did they try and get more money, or did you negotiate lower?

[Michizane]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I had success with pay for delete for Portfolio Recovery- they will claim that they "don't do that" but they will.

I am by no means an expert like some of these folks, so take it with a grain of salt.

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Portfolio Recovery will automatically delete any accounts that are settled with them (whether paid in full or for a lesser amount). It is now part of their policy and listed on their website. I had 2 collections with them, and they were automatically deleted after I paid the settlement amount. 

[FicoFighter80]

They accepted the 40%. I should have started lower.