COLLECTIONS- Another way to get them deleted- Newbs Look

[Champion80]

I thought I would share an experience which most of the learned know about already, but I thought the newbs might want to know.

I have had a couple experiences with CO that should work in some cases for you. Of course we would all rather get a CA to mess up during our DV process and get them on a violation.

This is not going to happen on all of them, So in that light, I do not want to assume but in most cases of an early CO (within 1-3 years), the documentation to prove a debt is yours may still be on file with the OC, so the Collection activity is more likely to be verified.

I have found a CA will usually only carry the debt for a specific amount of time, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year, I believe each have there own policies, whatever their policy, they will sell it to another CA because they could not get the money from you. This is a good reason to wait out if it has gone to collections in the first place, and also hope if you cannot seem to get anywhere on the DV, and disputes with the CRA's. (Who knows this may even make a specific CA say this person is not going to pay me they are a pain your our A$% and sell it quicker than usuall)

Once it is sold to the new CA, that CA can no longer report that debt to the CRA, and it will be deleted. ( if it is not, you have a violation right there on them and you can get yourself some money in the process)

You will then get the letter from the new CA giving you the amount due and mini-miranda, at this point you have a couple of options, you can of course DV them and follow the steps and hope to force a violation or get lucky and get a deletion. Or call the new CA within the thirty-days they give you to respond and treat the CA like a friend, call them and discuss the hardship you are going through and tell them you would like to satisfy the debt but you do not have that much money, most CA are able to settle a debt for less than amount owed, because most OC's sell or assign their debt to a CA knowing their chances of ever receiving a dime decrease dramatically over each year.

This CA, has not yet reported this debt, so If this is the route you take, check the laws in your state for recording phone calls, if it is 1 party or no party, if you have means record the call, but remember if it is one party or no party, they can also record the call, so your main objective is to get them to settle the debt as paid in full, without anyone necc. admitting guilt, but of course in a state like Cali, we cannot record unless we tell them, so even if they recorded or we did without the consent, it wouldnt matter. In either outcome, if you are able to record or not, do not give payment until they either send or fax an agreement to confirm the terms of your settlement regarding the debt, and make sure it states the account will not be reported the the CRA's, if it has it will be deleted and the debt to be considered payed in full.

Good luck.

[Champion80]

I had run into another post and saw that someone had luck with dealing the CA's at the end of the month because they are payed based on the amount of paid. This may also be a great tactic when getting the letter from the new CA stating they bought your debt, the post had said he/she got a great settlement amount right near the end of the month for this reason, so if you got some cash you can bargain, of course most of them take CC as well (But pay this one on time!!! lol).

Word of caution though, I was also reading one of our new posts recently where a CA took a settlement, sent a letter of the terms and still sold the balance to another CA, and now the person is going through hell getting it removed, so if you have means to record, and your state allows 1 party, record it and in addition make sure the letter states explicity, the debt is considered payed in full, and will not be reported to the CRA's.

Another word of caution, a lot of the experts here will tell you to only deal with the OC, which I happen to agree with, because I have also had a great outcome with the OC. (after several letters with no response, and then an email to the CEO and chairman of the company, which got the response). The OC can certainly make a deal if you plead your case properly, and their lletter should also say the balance is considered payed in full and they accept a settelment of $XX.XX, and your account will be recalled from the CA and will be informed of the settlement agreement.

I would also like to let you know in my specific case with this CO, the OC was the one reporting the debt, but had assigned a CA to collect, so I sent all of my letters to the OC, and because they do not have to respond they did not, but this worked in my favor, because I then emailed all the higher ups in the company, within 1 business day, the CEO forwarded my email to the DIRECTOR of Collections of their company and he sent me a nice email stating he would like to help me personally, I called him, we talked on the phone for a while, I was very candid, he was very professional, we ended the conversation with an agreement for me to pay $75 (about 1/4 of the orignal balance), and a letter to delete the file and the agreement and terms of our settlement.

This account was actually still within the SOL of court, so I really had nothing to lose, of course, the negaotiating only gets easier after the SOL, considering they know their chances of ever recieving payment is close to Nil, they cannot sue, and they may not be able to properly verify.

I found this site 1 year ago, and have been very interested in learning the process, I tried not to post to many vague questions, considering most have been answered, so try searching them first, look at other postings to see a similarity, when you hit a road block, post and they are very helpfull.

[henry6906]

That is great info and thank you for helping the newbies such as myself. I have a question.

1.I have CO that are still in the SOL, is it wise to DV with the CA. Or to go directly to CRA.

2.Also do you have any examples of Goodwill letters.

Should all mail to CA be reg?

[lindsay135]

They have good will letters in the "sexy" book. I dont know if they have them on this site or not. Igot all my letters from the book, and also if you get the book, you get them on CD and then you can just edit the letter how you want it ..... I LOVE THE SEXY BOOK!!!

[shaithis714]

I LOVE THE SEXY BOOK!!!

I just broke down and ordered the "Good Credit is Segsay" book, thought it would be good to have on hand.

[divemedic]

Just keep in mind that if the CA does not agree to a PFD (which is what you are trying here) then you have done two things:

1 admitted the debt is yours

2 possibly reset the SOL by promising to pay

3 They will pull tricky stuff. I had one send me a letter saying they were AUTHORIZED to delete, but when I pressed them to change the wording of the letter to read that they WOULD delete, they refused, saying they don't do that.