@Anonymous wrote:
I've been getting a lot of mixed answers on this, so I wanted to ask this to everyone here to maybe get a clearer picture.
I just recently checked my credit report via Experian. The only negative account I have was a listing on my CLOSED ACCOUNT from Verizon for $216. It states "Date Major Delinquency First Reported: 11/2012" so it hasn't been terribly long since this collections has been reported. My 81-Month payment history is all green. In my COLLECTIONS ACCOUNT, there's nothing listed. I'm a little confused. Is this being reported as a collections?
Assuming this is a negative account, should I pay it? I keep hearing that the first reportings of CA on your credit score hurts the most. Why is that? Wouldn't it be more helpful to pay it off as soon as possible?
You should call Verizon to find out.
There's no collections account possibly because Verizon has yet to sell it off to a collection agency. If they have yet to do that, it's best you pay ASAP before they sell your debt to a CA.
As to whether you should pay it.......is this account yours? Are the charges valid? If you answered yes to both, pay it ASAP.
If it has been sold to a collections agency, you should try to negotiate with them to do pay for deletion. Basically they delete the CA record and you PIF. Whether they're willing to do this is up in the air.
A collections record hurts the scores most because it means you defaulted on your debt, thereby forcing the original debtor to sell your debt to a CA for pennies on the dollar.
