Pay Bally's or Not?

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2008

I've had this Bally's on my reports for over a year, dispute, 'verified', demanded doc via CMRRR, ignored, offered to PFD/PIF, ignored, lawyer contacted credit/legal via phone/email for P/PFD ignored.

Assuming it is valid, I now have two unpaid CO's totalling $1100 which also hurst my utilization.

Is there any net gain to paying these off? It would re-set the Reported Since date from 12/07 to 12/08 but reduce the util by $1000 and update from unpaid to paid CO. One is due to fall off in May, one in Feb of 2010.

If the point total would be a wash, I'd do just so on manual review it looks better. Any thoughts?

jmill012 · ‎11-26-2008

I had a Bally's account with the same issue. I told them if I pay them in full they must remove the Collections from my report. i got it in writing via email. They agreed and followed through when I paid. It showed paid in full as agreed with no lates.

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2008

Wow! Can you share the process and or #? I tried as I said dispute/dv/and pfd offers (via lawyer) to credit/legal. Did you just call and ask and if so what # did you call and how did you approach? Would really like this off w/o it going onto other reports or remaining. Willing to pay in full, current member in good standing, and prior member in good standing as far back as 1990.

jmill012 · ‎11-27-2008

I called the customer service number and basically told them I was unhappy b/c I did not know a Gym memebership would go to my Credit Report and I will have no problem paying them but only if they remove the derogatory remarks. I told them there is no incentive to pay them since they already dinged my credit. They originally said no and I said fine then take me to court b/c you won't get a dime from me. They came back and agreed to remove it from all three reports if and only if I paid in full. I said fine. That was it. Got it in writng, 20 days later, gone.

For them it is not worth it to go to court for $800. So, they knew it was a win win situation for both of us.

Anonymous · ‎11-27-2008

@jmill012 wrote:
I called the customer service number and basically told them I was unhappy b/c I did not know a Gym memebership would go to my Credit Report and I will have no problem paying them but only if they remove the derogatory remarks. I told them there is no incentive to pay them since they already dinged my credit. They originally said no and I said fine then take me to court b/c you won't get a dime from me. They came back and agreed to remove it from all three reports if and only if I paid in full. I said fine. That was it. Got it in writng, 20 days later, gone.

For them it is not worth it to go to court for $800. So, they knew it was a win win situation for both of us.

I'm tempted to do the same even though they ignored my lawyers calls/letters now that I know they will do it. You'd think in this environment companies would take income wherever they can get it. I am just quite worried about them adding BACK to Efax/TU which would really such since those are 100% clean.

I'd almost wish they'd sell to CA then I can settle with CA BEFORE it shows up and get off Bally's once they zero it out.

Anonymous · ‎12-01-2008

nyccc,

remember that paying off the CA with a PFD doesn't take care of the right for the OC to continue reporting, even with a 0 balance....

I would still settle with Bally - can you remind me if they have any record of the account? did you try to talk to someone before? do they have an account receivables department that you can talk to?

Anonymous · ‎12-01-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
nyccc,

remember that paying off the CA with a PFD doesn't take care of the right for the OC to continue reporting, even with a 0 balance....

I would still settle with Bally - can you remind me if they have any record of the account? did you try to talk to someone before? do they have an account receivables department that you can talk to?

Hi, thanks. There is no CA, it is a strange account, Ballys' CO'd it (well two account) never sold or zero'd them out, just CO'd them off. I don't know if they have a record, I DV'd them in 3/08 after they 'verified' with Experian(dropped off of TU), they ignored. Credit attorney called AR and legal to get docs and/or PFD, no repl from july of this year until now. He told me today they finally called him back to today so should know more. If I can just settle the $300 from '01 CO (drops off in May) and the $800 CO from '03 (drops off 1/10) I should be golden....

RobertEG · ‎12-02-2008

There is a good reason why the OC did not respond to a DV letter. You cannot DV and OC, only a CA.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2008

@RobertEG wrote:
There is a good reason why the OC did not respond to a DV letter. You cannot DV and OC, only a CA.

You can DV an OC if they report a debt to the credit bureas and THEN verify to the CRA. I know you don't call it a DV but that is what it is. Otherwise 'OCs' could report anything they want whenever they want.

Junejer · ‎12-02-2008

nyccc2 wrote:

@RobertEG wrote:
There is a good reason why the OC did not respond to a DV letter. You cannot DV and OC, only a CA.

You can DV an OC if they report a debt to the credit bureas and THEN verify to the CRA. I know you don't call it a DV but that is what it is. Otherwise 'OCs' could report anything they want whenever they want.

Right, we call it an OC letter, but they still don't have to respond.