CA vs. OC
Date: Wed, 02/18/2009 - 07:53
Hi Jay, Welcome to the Community. It's always good to mak
Hi Jay,
Welcome to the Community.
It's always good to make your offer low, as they will make their offer high. Then you can go back and forth for a little until you reach a compromise.
As far as the "biggest break", it all depends on the particular situation, including who is assigned to your account with the CA or OC. Try and see if you can work with the OC. And yes, the end of the month is a good time to try a settlement offer.
Hope this helps.
chrys
It depends whether the OC still legally "owns" the debt (and sim
It depends whether the OC still legally "owns" the debt (and simply referred the account to the CA for collection), or did the OC actually sell the account to the CA (in which case the CA owns your debt). If the OC still owns it, you can try to settle directly with them; if the CA owns it now, the OC can't do anything for you.
If the OC stills owns it, they'd probably give a better deal, and you are correct that you can also negotiate your credit reporting with them. Although some OC's, once they send for collection, will refuse to talk to you anymore and instead refer you to the CA.
As Chrys said you start low, they start high, and somewhere you meet in the middle. CA's will profit from 35%, and you can start there; it is more common for them to readily accept 60-75-80%.