Negotiating with Collections

The first thing you should do is send them a cease communication letter so they will stop calling you. The send them a settlement offer based on what you can pay realistically. Let them counter by mail. Do not give them any banking or card information. Have you sent them debt validation letters?

I would try to do all of your negotiations through the mail. This way everything is in writing and you get signed receipts for everything you mail. Check out the Do it yourself link above. You will find examples of letters that can be customized to meet your needs. Be sure to get them to validate the debit. Make sure that in your letter you tell them that you cannot accept calls at work. I gave the CA one number they could reach me at and the times I would be available. But tell them you will only work with them in writing. And if they call tell them that you need everything in writing. They may want a faster way to communicate so if you have a fax you may want to give them that number.
The problem with talking to them over the phone is that they may push you into saying or agreeing to something that you didn????????t mean too. I????????m sure someone else will be along to advise you. But I????????m sure you can do this on you own if you keep up with it.

Frogpatch is right. You need to DV them (if you haven't yet) and include a limited cease & desist which basically tells them they may no longer call you anywhere, that all future contact from them will be in writing by USPS.

There are a number of things you can do such as make payments or just settle outright, both have pros and cons. For example with payments you can fit those into your budget, but the bad thing is they will restart the clock on your SOL both for the credit reports and for sueing. It really depends on how old these debts are (when you last paid anything towards them). I have heard of CAs accepting a payment arrangement and then turning around and sueing.

The best bet may be the settlement offer letters. Then just pay them off one at a time, working with the CAs that are willing to work with you, first. If a CA is being stubborn, then put them at the back of the list...if it is on your credit report there is not much else they can do (except maybe sue..but you would have a settlement letter to show that you tried to work with them and they were being unreasonable.)

If you do settle, get everything in writing and try to get a pay for delete. Also make sure you get a zero balance letter from them afterwards as well.

Did you take the free consultation when you signed up. You may be a good candidate for a consolidation program.

These debts are all pretty old... at least a year and a half at this point, though i'm not sure how long they've been with a particular agency. I didn't think i could use DV because it was past 30 days after anything initial was sent.

As far as settlement letters go, does anyone have an example of what one should look like? I have mentioned to at least one agency that I would need everything in writing, and that I won't set up payment over the phone (which they rejected). So my next question is what happens if they don't reply to a letter I sent?

Another question I had ... two of my 4 debt accounts are from pay day loans. I was wondering why these don't show up on my credit report. My CR only lists my student loans, which I am bringing current through them and has worked out nicely, and the one bank account that is with NCO collections. However, I do know I owe those debts and still wish to work them out...however I was just curious what effect they are actually having on my credit.

I received a letter from my one agency saying 'this letter confirms your agreement to remit payment of $466 on 1/31' ... I never made any such agreement. What can be done about this. I really want to start getting these debts settled and am having little luck finding a plan I can afford, and I really don't want to be sued.

I've sent DV letters to ones that were not fresh accounts. I'd still recommend trying the DV letters.