Old Collection Question

[Anonymous]

Hello all, 

First off I just wanted thank everyone for all of their helpful advice. I've been a lurker for awhile now, but finally decided throw a question out there.

Long story short, I was pretty irresponsible with cards back in college and got myself into some trouble. I'm currently rebuilding, and have since opened accounts with CapOne, Discover, and AmEx. My FICO is around the 670 range. There are still some items I would like to clean up since I feel morally obligated to and also will probably be looking to apply for a mortgage in 1.5-2 years. Alright, to the question: Unfortunately Midland is one of the CA's reporting on one of my accounts. The DOFD is listed as 2/2009, so according to my understanding, since I live in Illinois, the SOL is 5 years, so they can't sue me for the debt. There was big push by them in December for me to settle, but I haven't heard anything from the since around the beginning of the year. I would like to reach some settlement just to update the account as paid, but I'm afraid any negotiation/acknowlegement will reset the the SOL. Am I right on this? All the research I've done can't seem to give straight answer.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[pizzadude]

Welcome to the forums !

It will vary from state to state, but sometimes making a payment can reset the SOL, or acknowledging that the debt is valid.

You shouldn't reset anything by negotiating a PFD or just trying to settle it, as long as you don't acknowledge.    Midland is one of the more difficult CAs, so you may not get a favourable response to a PFD, but just keep trying.

If you do settle for less, make sure they agree that any remaining balance is cancelled and can't be resold to another CA.

Also be aware that when the collection is updated on your reports as paid it will likely drop your FICO score.