ASSet Acceptance Question

[Conspiracist1169]

SOL is still 1.5 years away for me.

OC (Bank One) charged off debt at $1800.

ASSet has been accruing interest on the debt, and now claims I owe nearly $2k.

Settlement letter from ASSet came in January, willing to reduce 30% off the $2k debt. I just threw it away.

This month, ASSet sent me another letter for a $1200 settlement. I can afford to pay this, but not sure that I should.

The account was charged off nearly 3 years ago. I DV'd ASSet, and received nothing. I disputed ASSet with the tradelines, all of whom claimed ASSet validated the debt.

Recently Bank One purged their records, and I was able to get the OC off the tradelines.

Should I settle with ASSet? I'm afraid of being served and sued by them, especially with them tacking interest onto what they claim I owe.

What do you guys think?

[LadynRed]

If you can afford to pay it, go for it, but don't pay them a penny without a SIGNED agreement that they debt is considered paid in full. You should try for deletion off your credit reports too, 'pay for delete' does work in some cases. If they won't agree to that, at least get it reported as 'paid'. A paid collection won't help your scores, deletion will to some degree.

The problem is that once they think you have the $$ to pay, they may try to get you to pay MORE and jerk you around.

[Conspiracist1169]

Thanks for the advice!

I decided to call ASSet today, and I have never spoken with more uneducated, inept individuals at one location in my life!

They did fax over the information I requested, being as that I won't do anything with a debt collector that isn't in writing. In the background, you could hear the rest of the ASSet telemarketing debt collecting team cheering each other on and applauding, I'm assuming the excitement was another loser employee at ASSet collected on another account.

One loser at ASSet couldn't believe I negotiated a settlement with them, and told me "I'm surprised they went this low, being as that your account is still within the SOL."

ASSet isn't even able to maintain correct records. They asked me if I was still with a certain employer, that I haven't worked for in over 10 years; I told them "yes". Then I had to loop around to 3 different losers before finally finding the one who could find the record of our agreement.

Bottomline, I think they were giving me time to set me up for a lawsuit. Interest was suddenly accruing very quickly on this account. The tip off came when I spoke to the one Rep who informed me I was still in SOL.

IMO, debt collecting is a very unethical business. People don't go into collections because they have the money, but are unwilling to the pay bill. They go into collections because they're faced with some serious financial problems.