If you can make payment arraingements with Portfolio. Once paid they will delete it off his credit reports. Yes things will ramp up as the fall off date gets closer. Falling off doesnt stop CA's from trying to collect. They just cant go the court route with law suits and such. If you can afford it. Pay it and it will go poof. Good Luck!
@Anonymous wrote:For the two collections that are set to fall off May 2020, they are most likely past the statute of limitations for suing (in majority of country). No matter what you do do not admit to owning the debt or agree to any payment plans unless it is a one time settlement/PIF. For the feb 2021 collection it may not be past SOL until Feb 2020 (depending on where you live). With this one I strongly encourage you to play dead until March of 2020. If you start contacting them they will get more aggressive with you, but by ignoring them all they can do is sue you which is fine. If you are sued you can just settle with them without getting a judgement no different than you would by calling tomorrow and settling. Law suits aren't scary as long as you show up to court, they'll still take pennies on the dollars in most cases. Most people get screwed by being sued simply because they don't show up. I was sued in 2015 for a $2,500 debt. I'm fairly judgement proof but these guys were hungry. I counter sued just for grins and showed up to court. After the judge called roll (there are dozens of past due clients and attorneys in the room) the lawyer for the plaintif of my case asked if he could talk to me in hall way. I said sure. He said "i see you are counter suing". I said I'll drop the counter suit and give you $400 to settle the debt. He pretended to call his client and accepted 20 seconds later. You only get a judgement if court rules against you so don't fear law suits.
A collection is not an installment loan. I think they are poking the bear with this one just to get you to reach out and see if you will fight. If this is the Feb 2021 debt just don't respond until March and then fight with them knowing they can't do anything to you. If this is May 2020 debts then just let it fall off report, not worth your time.
If you aren't trying to get a mortgage or something else big in the next 6 months you really need to just ignore these guys and only respond to a law suit. If you disputed and I was the debt collector I would immediately sue you knowing you are anxious to fix it for some reason unless you are judgement proof.
I wouldnt want to play chicken and go to court and then have a public record entry for the judgement or any hearing. Not the greatest advise. What works for one person doesnt apply to everyone.
@Anonymous wrote:
@FireMedic1 wrote:I wouldnt want to play chicken and go to court and then have a public record entry for the judgement or any hearing. Not the greatest advise. What works for one person doesnt apply to everyone.
I completely agree with this last statement. My point really was just that nothing can prevent a creditor from suing other than paying the debt either through 100% one time payment, one time settlement for less, or agreeing to payments over time via installment plan. If that isn't in the cards for one reason or another it is important to know a law suit by itself doesn't equal "judgement on credit report" until the courts hands down a judgement. Many things happen before that. Some people who have never been sued think the act of being sued by itself tanks your credit when in fact it has no effect and I just wanted to make sure the OP understands that reality.
When debt is close to SOL like I believe the OP's is I personally believe poking the bear with disputes is one of the worst things that someone can do unless they are ready to pay. I agree with you completely you never should play chicken with a judgement. If you are sued and actually owe the debt you should settle before it reaches the judge.
To be 100% safe OP should just call debt collectors and negotiate debt payments for deletions. Unfortunately, that's only an option if OP has access to capital...
Just remember it isnt only CRA's and court records. That ^$%^$^% Lesxis/Nexis that creditors look at also. They have more info on you than the CIA.