I'm not sure how to answer their question, but just to let you know, there's no need for a PFD email/letter to Portfolio. They automatically delete paid in full or settled accounts as a matter of policy (in the FAQ section of their website). 
Portfolio Associates is one of the best collection agencies I've dealt with. And as said above, pay for delete is their standard policy so no need for the letter. They currently own my last collection debt to which I've modified the repayment plan online no less than 4 times since July 2019. They never call me or anything.
If you log into their website, you may have a settlement offer in there. If not, they're more than willing to settle. I settled with after I already repaid about half of my debt which saved me about 25% of the total cost.
If you legitimately owe the debt, then there's no reason to dispute it. If it's not a legitimate debt, then go ahead and dispute it. That's how I see it anyways.
@BB30 wrote:Yeah, it's legit. They have an offer on the site but it's for 75% of the original amount. I was hoping to go lower.
If they won't, I'm going to wait a bit as I have quite a few changes to my report and hopefully my score coming soon. If those make a big impact, I'm going to try to wait them out a bit.
That said, they do seem okay to deal with. Their site is good and I've never been bugged by them.
Generally, most people see the biggest increase when all their collections come off their report. And small increases with individual accounts coming off. My score has gone up between 6 and 15 points with each collection removal so far.
My guess is that you could likely land a settlement somewhere around 60-65% of the total debt. But some other factors (statute of limitations, age of the debt, etc) could impact that one way or the other.
I put their collection off until last because I knew they would delete after payment, which gave me a chance to negotiate pay for deletes with other collection agencies.
@BB30 wrote:We'll, dang...those aren't big jumps at all. It is what it is though.
That's a good idea. I think I'll put this one off for now and focus on the others. The thing is, it's my biggest one. It's $2700 and my others are about $90 and $350. I was thinking that may have the biggest impact? They're all about the same age. This one still has about 3 1/2 years before it falls off.
But thanks for the tip, I'm gonna hold out and work on other things.
Yea, I don't know the rhyme or reason as to the fluctuations in collection removals. My highest increase came after my lowest debt was removed ($630) and my lowest increase came after my highest debt was removed ($1,800).
The only thing you may want to look into if you decide to let it sit is whether or not whoever owns your debt sells debt. If they do, you may run the risk of the debt ending up with an agency who won't do a PFD.