questions about rebuilding and pay for delete

Anonymous · ‎01-18-2014

I've recently started trying to rebuild my credit as most of my delinquenices have fallen off due to being 7 years of age. I have a few recent dings on my credit that I had no reason for letting go into collections but they did. I had been playing with the idea of pay for delete for a while so I decided to do it for two of my smallest debts of about 100 dollars. Both are with different companies.

The first one I sent out I surprisingly got a response and promise to "remove delinquency" once payment was received. I sent them payment and it has been a couple weeks now since they cashed the check but the item is still on my credit report. The other pay for delete I sent out never got a response after two weeks of waiting. I think the one that didn't get a response may be due to not having the full account number, as I was missing the last four digits at the time of sending it out. Should I resend a request with full account number since I have it now or should I just forget about pay for delete on this one since there was no response from the first letter?

This brings me to my next question, does it do me any good to pay these bills off if there is no promise for delete? I am able to pay them but if it will do me no good and possibly just harm my credit more I don't want to pay them. I have a third item on my credit report for about $700, this one surprisingly is only on TransUnion and none of the other bureau's. I'd like to try a pay for delete with this company as it is the last item on my credit report that is on there from within the last few years, but I'm afraid that if I pay it the item may show up on other bureau's or renew its date for removal. Also the other problem with this one is that I don't have the full account number, if I should try pay for delete should I call them first to get the account number or should I just send in with my name, address and the account number that is missing the last four digits? Any advice would be appreciated...

My end goal to mainly clean up my credit score to get a better interest rate at the end of the year when I am ready to buy a new car. Currently my FICO score for Experian is 591 as per experians website and my FICO for TransUnion is 628 or so I was told by my credit union.

myjourney · ‎01-18-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
I've recently started trying to rebuild my credit as most of my delinquenices have fallen off due to being 7 years of age. I have a few recent dings on my credit that I had no reason for letting go into collections but they did. I had been playing with the idea of pay for delete for a while so I decided to do it for two of my smallest debts of about 100 dollars. Both are with different companies.

The first one I sent out I surprisingly got a response and promise to "remove delinquency" once payment was received. I sent them payment and it has been a couple weeks now since they cashed the check but the item is still on my credit report. The other pay for delete I sent out never got a response after two weeks of waiting. I think the one that didn't get a response may be due to not having the full account number, as I was missing the last four digits at the time of sending it out. Should I resend a request with full account number since I have it now or should I just forget about pay for delete on this one since there was no response from the first letter?

This brings me to my next question, does it do me any good to pay these bills off if there is no promise for delete? I am able to pay them but if it will do me no good and possibly just harm my credit more I don't want to pay them. I have a third item on my credit report for about $700, this one surprisingly is only on TransUnion and none of the other bureau's. I'd like to try a pay for delete with this company as it is the last item on my credit report that is on there from within the last few years, but I'm afraid that if I pay it the item may show up on other bureau's or renew its date for removal. Also the other problem with this one is that I don't have the full account number, if I should try pay for delete should I call them first to get the account number or should I just send in with my name, address and the account number that is missing the last four digits? Any advice would be appreciated...

My end goal to mainly clean up my credit score to get a better interest rate at the end of the year when I am ready to buy a new car. Currently my FICO score for Experian is 591 as per experians website and my FICO for TransUnion is 628 or so I was told by my credit union.

Welcome to the forum

Always try to get written PFD but this is not always the case some will not agree.

The one that agreed wait and give it some time to report it can take CB's some time to update results depending on when it's sent to them.

The one you sent but have had no response wait and see what happens if no results try again.

The third one $700 offer PFD and see what happens.

Before you app think...
Have you done your research of the CC?
Does it fit your spending?
Do you have a plan for the bonus w/o going into debt?
Can you afford the AF?
Do you know the cards benefits? Is it worth the HP?

Anonymous · ‎01-18-2014

Hi and welcome to the forums.

It can take up to 90 days for an account to be deleted. These are done manually by the CRAs.

Paying a collection normally has no impact on your score. Paid and unpaid they are scored the same by FICO. Getting them removed is the best for your score.

Paying a collection cannot and does not make it stay any longer on your CR. The date something is excluded is a federal law and nothing can change that. If a creditor/collection agency attempted that, it is a violation of the FCRA and they could be in a lot of trouble.

If a collections has not been updated on your credit report for a few years, paying it can update the status date and drop your score. It will use a current date and make it appear to be a new collections.

You cannot get a FICO score from the Experian website. The only place to get that is here, on myFICO and it is a newer model/version. The TU score from your CU may be a real FICO score but I can't be sure.

If you have not done so already, pull your 3 reports from each CRA at annualcreditreport.com. You get a free one every 12 months. This is the federally mandated site to get your free reports. Do not get the scores.

The reports from annualcreditreport are directly from the CRAs and have much more detail and accuracy than those from 3rd party sites.

Anonymous · ‎01-18-2014

Thank you for the information. I will follow your advice and update my situation as I know more. A couple more questions I have... what can I do with a promise to delete response letter if after 90 days they don't follow through with what they promised?

Also I recently signed up for a credit union through my mom and the lady at the credit union pulled my credit report before I had a chance to say anything, I asked her, "wait is that a hard pull or a soft pull?". She assured me it was a soft pull and that it is normal practice for new checkings and savings account. A day later I notice a hard pull on my transunion account through an alert I received from experian and creditkarma. I'm not really sure what to do about this... I was thinking about calling her on Monday to ask her about it but I have a feeling I'm going to be told there is nothing they can do about it. Any advice on this?

Anonymous · ‎01-19-2014

After 90 days you can send it to the CRAs. What they actually do with it is 50/50. Some will delete, some will say it has to come from the creditor. But I would try anyway.

Opening of a checking or savings account with either a bank or CU almost always will be a HP. And yes, it is normal practice. For the CSR to tell you it would be a SP could be her not knowing. You can ask them to recode it as a soft but since you did open an account not sure if they will.

RobertEG · ‎01-19-2014

A business transaction initiated by the consumer where the business transaction has an associated, legitimate need for them to review your credit as part of the transaction is a permissible pupose for them to pull your credit report. They can pull your CR without any express authorization by the consumer.

The FCRA does not regulate the coding of such inquiries. They can legitimately be coded as "hard."

Thus, there is no basis for disputing the coding under the FCRA.

Their statement as to how it will be reported is a business practice. If they provide misleading or incorrect promises, you can pursue by way of complaint to your local BBB, who will make inquiry with the creditor, thus creating a record of their practice. It is not a formal process that compels them to correct, but the creditor will often correct so as to preserve their business reputation.

That would be my suggested approach.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2014

Just thought I'd update this thread. I've paid off the debts mentioned in my original post and to my surprise two items so far have been deleted. One was promised to be deleted via PFD letter. The other I wasn't expecting. I just asked in the phone call since they didn't reply to my letter and they said it would come off in a few months after payment. Sure enough it did. I am now just waiting for the $772 debt that I paid in full which was only showing on Transunion. They allowed me to record a verbal agreement stating they would do a curteousy delete. Funny thing is, they said they wouldn't do pay for delete but would be happy to do curteousy delete if I paid in full which I intended on doing in the first place anyway. Is there a difference between the two or is it just the way it is worded different for other reasons?

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2014

Technically, they cannot do a PFD because of an agreement with the CRAs. So, basically, it is the wording.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2014

Thanks!

Jesi · ‎03-12-2014

You could try disputing the debt that is paid and sometimes that will work. I had a medical bill in collections from when I gave birth to my son, it was over $3,000. It was supposed to be paid by the insurance company and due do a written error in the year by someone, they never paid it. My son was born the 28th of December in 2008 and something had 2009 on it. After a few years I finally was able to get it corrected and in that case they HAD to remove it because it was an error, not a legitimate debt.

Then I had a hospital bill for like $20 for a test and it went into collections with the same company. I paid it, and called, they said they do not ever remove the blemish even after it's paid. I disputed it, and it was gone within 2 weeks. So much for what the guy said. Not sure why they ended up removing it but they did, so I'm not going to complain! It's worth a shot at least, sometimes you can add a notation when you are disputing and in that case I would mention that they agreed to remove it. This has to be addressed within 30 days, so at the very least it might speed up the removal!