Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Hello All,I've been working on my credit for the last year or so and I'm out of the low 500's and I'm in the 620- 630 range. I have one huge collection that I need to takle and it's $19,000. I 'm thinking of settling with Midland for the amount. What is a good amount to settle with? I'm not sure of the amount per dollar I need to negotiate with. Any advice would be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurfette in nyc Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 I think you need to provide a lot more information before any of us here can give you good advice. For instance, how old is this debt? What is the DOLA on it? Is it still with your state's SOL? Have you ever sent a timely or untimely DV letter to Midland about this? Have they ever responded? Is this account being reported on your CR's? If so, what does the TL say?Answering these questions would be a good start to getting some sound guidance, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Forgive me, The debt is about 4 years old from an account I had with BofA. The original amount due was $15,000. The DOLA was 3-4 years ago with BofA. I'm in the state of Tennessee and the SOL is 6 years. This account is being reported on my credit report but they haven't contacted me at all. I know it will happen eventually. Should I just wait to hear from them before doing anything? I hate to wake a sleeping giant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurfette in nyc Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 I hate to ask so many questions, but what is your reason for wanting to settle this account at this point in time? Is there a mortgage you are looking to obtain soon, for example?If you do settle this account for anything less than the full amount, your CR's will be noted as such, and I think it will adversely affect your FICO score. The only way to have this account settled in a way which will not drop your score would be PFD (pay for delete.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Please ask as many questions as you need to. Your helping me and anything you need of me to complete that goal I will do. I'm in the process of trying to do a re-fi and that is the one big thing in my way. That's the only thing the under writers have a problem with. PFD is fine but what amount should I bring to the table? If I do settle with a PFD would it hurt my score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbaby Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 so if Midland hasn't been in contact with you why don't you dv them first? i'd do that before i go trying to settle with them. then i'd only do a pfd at that. too bad you aren't past the sol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 By doing that do I take a chance on giving them a reason to persue me for the outstanding balance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zfire Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 If you are still in SOL, and trying a refi, they are probably going to come after you anyway. When was the EXACT date you stopped paying? Do you know? Can you call the original creditor and find out?Yeah, you're waking a sleeping giant. Is it important that you refi now?Remember this..settle for a lesser amount, and they will issue you a nice 1099, and you get to pay taxes on the forgivin amount. All that said, if you do end up paying them an agreed amount to settle, you need to get an agreement that they won't re-sell this debt to someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 The card was opened with Bof A in 2002. So...is the SOL based off of the date the account was opened or when it was turned over to collections?Zfire, I can probably wait on the re-fi to avoid any problems. I don't know the exact date i stopped paying. I know that info would probably help out alot but I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbaby Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 the sol starts from the date you went deliquent not the date the account was opened. you really need to know that date. look on your tu or ex report. they usually post a drop off date for the original creditor thats close or even exact. don't go by the ca's date..they tell fibs..If you aren't past the SOL and can wait to re-fi..then let sleeping dogs stay just that...sleeping. once the sol is past then you can ...or ask for a pfd without the hassel of getting legal rep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis8739 Posted April 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 ok cool....sounds like a plan. I really appreciate your expertise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbaby Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 gather the info needed and then come back and we call all help you plan your method of attack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moneedshelp Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 wait if you can. $19,000 is a nice chunk of change to pay out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debt Guy Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 LewisEventually, you are going to receive a 1099 for this. One of the 8 triggers for the 1099c is if you assert and prevail on an SOL defense to a lawsuit. Sounds to me like you could perhaps get lucky and out wait the SOL -- although it is still not clear when the SOL began running. But, my guess is that Midland is not going to be asleep forever. Someday, they will pull the trigger.Perhaps you need to think about the refi in the context of finding a lender who will ignore the chargeoff. I know this market is nuts and the challenge gets harder. Might work. If not, then you just decide how important the refi is and when it is critical. Even if the debt is SOL, the tradeline will still be on your credit report for 7 1/2 years after the default date. In my experience, mortgage lenders who worry about a chargeoff will not understand (or want to understand) SOL.I'm thinking your initial instincts were pretty good. This is going to be a problem at some point. You can either deal with it on your schedule or on someone else's timeline. Financially, it think it makes sense to negotiate Midland down as far as you can and then pay the taxes on the amount forgiven. You can run the math on various scenarios to see what makes most sense.Regardless of the preceding, you should start thinking about setting aside a nice chunk of money to deal with a settlement/1099 or just the 1099. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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