Hello, I'm not getting anywhere with pfd... they just insist it's a no. What's the best way? Do I just call back in a week and ask again? Will they reach out to me with an if I've tried and they say no? I feel like such a sucker for just accepting their no. Paying the settlement amount so shows zero when I could find a way to PFD. 
Who are the lenders or collection companies that you are seeking a PFD with?
That information is crucial as to others being able to share the experiences, success or lack thereof, and suggested course of action(s).
@Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm not getting anywhere with pfd... they just insist it's a no. What's the best way? Do I just call back in a week and ask again? Will they reach out to me with an if I've tried and they say no? I feel like such a sucker for just accepting their no. Paying the settlement amount so shows zero when I could find a way to PFD.
Just for your knowledge...PFD is a really gray area in the credit reporting world. It's willfully removing accurate data from your credit files which is a pretty straightforward violation of the FCRA. Lenders and debt collectors who remove accurate information from people's credit files in exchange for their payment can lose their ability to report accounts to the CRAs at all, for which they lose any leverage they have to encourage people to pay off debts they own. Because of this, almost no original creditors will agree to PFD. Collection agencies are another story, and SOME of them will do PFD in exchange for payment, but not all. All you can do is ask each CA during the settlement process for a PFD. If they agree, awesome! If they don't, it sucks, but it's the way it is. A collection account that remains on your credit reports as paid with a $0 balance offers no immediate score increase in FICO 8 (and earlier) models. It does however begin the aging process, and will affect your scores less and less until it falls off your reports 7 1/2 years from the DoFD. It's not the best outcome, but some CAs simply will not PFD. It's up to you to decide if having a paid collection remain on your reports is worth the money to pay/settle. It won't help you much short term score wise, but it will in the long term. Also, some lenders (mortgage in particular) will look way more favorably on you with paid collections even though you don't see an immediate score increase. It should also be noted that FICO 9 does ignore paid collection accounts, and a growing list of creditors are using FICO 9 scores for lending decisions, so it's not totally worthless to pay off collections that won't PFD for this reason too.
@Anonymous wrote:LVN, Resurgent, Spring Oak, Carson & Smithfield, Waypoint so far.
There are multiple data points here and on the r/CRedit forum on Reddit saying LVNV Funding which is a subsidiary of Resurgent will PFD, so I'd keep asking them. Doesn't look like Waypoint does PFD. Who was the original account with? If it's a cable bill or something like that, you can call the original company, and ask them to recall the debt from collections in exchange for your payment. They won't always agree, but it will remove the collection from your reports if they do. Not sure about Sprink Oak. Sounds like a little, local CA. Same thing. Ask them for PFD, or reach out the original account holder if Spring Oak didn't buy the debt. Carson Smithfield is the in-house CA for Merrick Bank. I don't even think they report to the CRAs as a collection account. If you have a Merrick Bank credit card charge off, it's not getting removed, but will be marked paid/settled with a $0 balance when you pay Carson Smithfield. This is the best you can do with a charged off account.
@SoonerSoldier33 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm not getting anywhere with pfd... they just insist it's a no. What's the best way? Do I just call back in a week and ask again? Will they reach out to me with an if I've tried and they say no? I feel like such a sucker for just accepting their no. Paying the settlement amount so shows zero when I could find a way to PFD.
Just for your knowledge...PFD is a really gray area in the credit reporting world. It's willfully removing accurate data from your credit files which is a pretty straightforward violation of the FCRA. (this is not an FCRA violation at all, all the FCRA says is if you are going to report then it must be accurate info, any creditor can delete their TL at their leisure. Where the PFD might be a problem is in CRA rules which say the TL should just be updated and not deleted.
Lenders and debt collectors who remove accurate information from people's credit files in exchange for their payment can lose their ability to report accounts to the CRAs at all, for which they lose any leverage they have to encourage people to pay off debts they own. Because of this, almost no original creditors will agree to PFD. Collection agencies are another story, and SOME of them will do PFD in exchange for payment, but not all. All you can do is ask each CA during the settlement process for a PFD. If they agree, awesome! If they don't, it sucks, but it's the way it is. A collection account that remains on your credit reports as paid with a $0 balance offers no immediate score increase in FICO 8 (and earlier) models. It does however begin the aging process, and will affect your scores less and less until it falls off your reports 7 1/2 years from the DoFD. It's not the best outcome, but some CAs simply will not PFD. It's up to you to decide if having a paid collection remain on your reports is worth the money to pay/settle. It won't help you much short term score wise, but it will in the long term. Also, some lenders (mortgage in particular) will look way more favorably on you with paid collections even though you don't see an immediate score increase. It should also be noted that FICO 9 does ignore paid collection accounts, and a growing list of creditors are using FICO 9 scores for lending decisions, so it's not totally worthless to pay off collections that won't PFD for this reason too.
@gdale6 wrote:
@SoonerSoldier33 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm not getting anywhere with pfd... they just insist it's a no. What's the best way? Do I just call back in a week and ask again? Will they reach out to me with an if I've tried and they say no? I feel like such a sucker for just accepting their no. Paying the settlement amount so shows zero when I could find a way to PFD.
Just for your knowledge...PFD is a really gray area in the credit reporting world. It's willfully removing accurate data from your credit files which is a pretty straightforward violation of the FCRA. (this is not an FCRA violation at all, all the FCRA says is if you are going to report then it must be accurate info, any creditor can delete their TL at their leisure. Where the PFD might be a problem is in CRA rules which say the TL should just be updated and not deleted.
This is interesting. So, you're saying it's not so much a FCRA issue with PFDs as it is CRA policies? I'll read up more on this, and I'll reword how I phrase that in the future. Thanks for pointing that out.
@SoonerSoldier33 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm not getting anywhere with pfd... they just insist it's a no. What's the best way? Do I just call back in a week and ask again? Will they reach out to me with an if I've tried and they say no? I feel like such a sucker for just accepting their no. Paying the settlement amount so shows zero when I could find a way to PFD.
Just for your knowledge...PFD is a really gray area in the credit reporting world. It's willfully removing accurate data from your credit files which is a pretty straightforward violation of the FCRA. Lenders and debt collectors who remove accurate information from people's credit files in exchange for their payment can lose their ability to report accounts to the CRAs at all, for which they lose any leverage they have to encourage people to pay off debts they own. Because of this, almost no original creditors will agree to PFD. Collection agencies are another story, and SOME of them will do PFD in exchange for payment, but not all. All you can do is ask each CA during the settlement process for a PFD. If they agree, awesome! If they don't, it sucks, but it's the way it is. A collection account that remains on your credit reports as paid with a $0 balance offers no immediate score increase in FICO 8 (and earlier) models. It does however begin the aging process, and will affect your scores less and less until it falls off your reports 7 1/2 years from the DoFD. It's not the best outcome, but some CAs simply will not PFD. It's up to you to decide if having a paid collection remain on your reports is worth the money to pay/settle. It won't help you much short term score wise, but it will in the long term. Also, some lenders (mortgage in particular) will look way more favorably on you with paid collections even though you don't see an immediate score increase. It should also be noted that FICO 9 does ignore paid collection accounts, and a growing list of creditors are using FICO 9 scores for lending decisions, so it's not totally worthless to pay off collections that won't PFD for this reason too.
This is not accurate. It is the agreement between creditors/collectors and the CRA's not to delete info. But they still do it. It has nothing to do with the FRCA. I dont think lets say for an example Portfolio would take a chance on this for every deletion they do for settled or PIF accounts:
"If you don’t comply with the FCRA, you may be sued by the FTC, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), state governments, or in some cases, consumers. The FCRA provides for maximum penalties of $4,111 per violation in the case of lawsuits brought by the FTC."
Ooops. Sorry @gdale6 . I quoted before I saw your post.
@gdale6 said the same thing. That's interesting. I was under the impression it was a FCRA 'gray area' and not individual policies/agreements between lenders and the CRAs themselves. Always appreciate being set straight when I'm not right. Thanks for the info!