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New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

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Anonymous
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New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

Good evening everyone, I am new to the forums. Like many of the posters here, I am seeking advice from those of you who have fought the battle of improving your credit. I began my re-build in late 2007 and I am slowly seeing results. I have disputed several old items and they have been removed. I have paid several small collection amounts (but they are still on my reports as collections). What I am working on now is... 1. Paying down my credit card balances. For years I refused to have credit cards. I thought they were bad news and stayed away from them. Last year I finally realized that having them was good. Due to my credit being poor I got a few, what I call, "junk cards". These being cards issued from Credit One, Salute, and CLC. Those are the three that I am working to get paid off and I will close the accounts. I realize that closing the accounts can be bad, but I have HSBC, Bank of America and Capital One that I would like to keep active. 2. This is the issue I need help on. I had a collection placed on my reports from a rental agency. They sent me a letter stating that I owed them about $800. I would like to settle this debt. However, I moved out of state and in the process of moving their letter was received AFTER they reported me to the collection agency. But what they reported was DOUBLE the amount of what their letter to me stated. They report $1691. I tried disputing this through Experian, TU and Equifax but it was confirmed. So...what should I do? Should I contact them directly and ask that if I pay the $800 in the demand letter would they please remove me from collections? I guess this would be a pay for delete deal, right? I have their e-mail address so I want to get this done right. This is the only open collection that I have on my account and it is recent (11/2007) so I want to get this taken care of. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. My scores are as follows... Equifax: 580 Trans Union: 567 Experian: 529 What sucks is prior to this collection...I was in the mid-600's. So it stung me pretty good.
Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete



RockyBalboa wrote:
Good evening everyone, I am new to the forums. Like many of the posters here, I am seeking advice from those of you who have fought the battle of improving your credit. I began my re-build in late 2007 and I am slowly seeing results. I have disputed several old items and they have been removed. I have paid several small collection amounts (but they are still on my reports as collections).
 
Send GW letters to those reporting the paid collections.
 
 
What I am working on now is... 1. Paying down my credit card balances. For years I refused to have credit cards. I thought they were bad news and stayed away from them. Last year I finally realized that having them was good. Due to my credit being poor I got a few, what I call, "junk cards". These being cards issued from Credit One, Salute, and CLC. Those are the three that I am working to get paid off and I will close the accounts. I realize that closing the accounts can be bad, but I have HSBC, Bank of America and Capital One that I would like to keep active.
 
 
It is my understanding that you should keep the cards open until they turn 1. However, the annual fees might be something to consider also. If it is gonna cost you you may choose to decided based on the financial aspect over the credit effect aspect.
 
 
 
2. This is the issue I need help on. I had a collection placed on my reports from a rental agency. They sent me a letter stating that I owed them about $800. I would like to settle this debt. However, I moved out of state and in the process of moving their letter was received AFTER they reported me to the collection agency. But what they reported was DOUBLE the amount of what their letter to me stated. They report $1691. I tried disputing this through Experian, TU and Equifax but it was confirmed. So...what should I do? Should I contact them directly and ask that if I pay the $800 in the demand letter would they please remove me from collections? I guess this would be a pay for delete deal, right? I have their e-mail address so I want to get this done right. This is the only open collection that I have on my account and it is recent (11/2007) so I want to get this taken care of.
 
Who is reporting, the OC or CA?
 
 
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. My scores are as follows... Equifax: 580 Trans Union: 567 Experian: 529 What sucks is prior to this collection...I was in the mid-600's. So it stung me pretty good.


Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

Thanks! 1. I will do the GW thing. One of them is for a utility bill, so I would send it to the city who reported this, right? 2. Those three cards have or are about to turn 1. So once i get them paid down (collectively about $1000 between the three) I will close. I have to make sure I tell them when I close the account that it is per customer request, right? 3. On one report it had the OC and the CA reporting. But on the other two it had just the CA.
Message 3 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

An unrelated question... Why are all of my paragraphs bunched together like that? I am spacing them out but they post all clumped together.
Message 4 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete



RockyBalboa wrote:
Thanks! 1. I will do the GW thing. One of them is for a utility bill, so I would send it to the city who reported this, right?
 
If they are they ones reporting, yes. Send it to whoever is reporting.
 
 
 
2. Those three cards have or are about to turn 1. So once i get them paid down (collectively about $1000 between the three) I will close. I have to make sure I tell them when I close the account that it is per customer request, right?
 
If you are the one that closes the card, then they know it is per customer request.
 
3. On one report it had the OC and the CA reporting. But on the other two it had just the CA.
The OC and CA are showing as two different entries, correct?
 
Which did you dispute?


Message 5 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

Look at the bottom of the box you type in and see if it says "Automatically convert carriage returns to HTML line breaks? If it does, then click that.

I've never had this problem, but I think this is what others have suggested to those who do.

Message Edited by sidewinder on 07-26-2008 09:29 PM
Message 6 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete

Only on one report are both showing. I disputed both of them as an incorrect amount because the $1691 is not what is owed. The OC sent me that letter which stated I owe $890.52. Then they reported $1691.

Ideally I would like to contact the OC, explain that their letter was not received by me in time for their deadline to set up a payment plan and offer to pay that 890 for removal from my reports.
Message 7 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: New to the forums...Collections Account; Pay For Delete



RockyBalboa wrote:
Only on one report are both showing. I disputed both of them as an incorrect amount because the $1691 is not what is owed. The OC sent me that letter which stated I owe $890.52. Then they reported $1691.

Ideally I would like to contact the OC, explain that their letter was not received by me in time for their deadline to set up a payment plan and offer to pay that 890 for removal from my reports.

If they agree to that, then that is perfect. Just make certain they agree to removing it from collections as well.
 
When they pull the account back from the CA, the CA should remove their entry.
 
If the creditor agrees to delete their entry, that is even better.
 
IMO, if you can't get the OC to agree to PFD, I would try to get them to at least remove the account from the CA. It is better to have just the OC reporting on one report compared to having them and the CA reporting.
Message 8 of 8
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