Good to accept their offer?

I offered 1/2 on a couple of debts and requested it be reported as "paid as agreed". Both companies accepted my offer. Good luck.

Yes, you should not miss such offers made by collection agencies. They usually don't make these offers at the first attempt. If this is happening, go ahead.

Before you pay, make sure that you are confirmed about this CA having your debt account. You must get everything in writing about the account and they will be updating your payments with the creditors. If they are able to remove the collections from your credit report, get it in writing first. Some say in the beginning but later, it never happens.

Don't forget to get the paid in full letter from the collection agency. There is always a fear of selling the adjusted balance to another collection agency some other time. If you fail to show the proof that the account is already paid, the other collection agency will hound you for the payments and they can even hit in your credit report. You will be in a puzzle until you get the papers from the previous company with whom the debt was cleared.

So what's the best way to go about this? Should I send them a letter saying yes I'll take the offer if they can first validate the debt and ask for a debt paid in full letter? Or is a phone call better?

Here is how I did my offers:



Quote:

Get it in writing!! They will promise the moon over the phone. Best Wishes KYSIDE38

A pay to remove is different than a paid in full. Paid to remove, only collection agencies who own the debt will do this.

A paid in full, don't mistake Paid Collection for PAID in FULL. There is a difference. You will sometimes only get the option to do this depending the creditor still has the account and has not charged it off.

If it's charged off the best you can hope for is PAID COLLECTION or PAID with the collection agency's name residing over the account.

Yes I the cc has been charged off and sent to this collection agency. So I guess I should as for a paid collection instead of paid in full?

No, you want paid in full if you can get it. Has the account been sold?

I believe so. I didn't have the letter yesterday when I was posting but I do today and here is what it says. This is my wife's Limited Express account and it looks like it was sold to World Financial Network National Bank. The balance is $358 and they are offering to settle for $179 if paid within 45 days. The terms in the letter then state "... Upoon receipt of the settlement amount, the remaining balance will be credited and your account will be reported to the credit bureau as a paid charge off".
I went looking through some old files and this account at one time well over a year ago (Aug 2005) belonged to Alliance One. So it appears to have changed hands. Is the wording that World Financial stated as being a paid charge off sufficient so that it won't come back and haunt me later in life? Does it sound like a good deal?
Thank you all so much by they way.

You want to see if you can get a pay to remove if they own it if you can. If not the best you can hope for is PAID. instead of settled < Full Bal

Ok, In my letter that I will send back to them prior to making a payment I am asking for a "paid as agreed" since the debt will be paid in full as opposed to "paid charge off". I've asked that they sign my agreement and send it back to me at which time I will promptly send them a cashiers check for the amount.

If you can come to an agreement with the CA and it is workable for you then do it, just make sure you get EVERYTHING in writing and documented

Assuming you're going to work with a collection agency (which is risky, since there are a lot of them out there who will behave unethically), this is all very good advice. One other point I'd make, though, that hasn't been brought up yet: in the eyes of the law, if (for example) you have a $10,000 debt, and get a "paid in full" after settling for $6,000, the government regards the other $4,000 as taxable income, and sometimes a CA or a creditor will report it as such on a 1099. This can lead to some unpleasant surprises when it's time to file. It can lead to even bigger unpleasant surprises if you happen to get audited for that year and you didn't report that $4,000 as taxable income for whatever reason.

I myself would take the chance and settle for that amount if you can and have the means, I don't sweat the IRS stuff too much

collection agencies will only send out computer generated letters for legal issues for legal purposes. They only send out non-computer generated letters when it is a legal issue and their attorneys have looked at it and approved it.

You should try wording your letter somehting like, upon cashing this check you are agreeing to close my account as paid as agreed.

Depending on your state that would be considered a legal contract.