Repossession, negotiate with original creditor or collection agency?

If the account has been sold, the original creditor has been paid off.You would have to deal with the current owner.

Have you ever settled any accounts within the past 7 years? If you have then it won't hurt your credit as much. If you haven't then it could impact your score negativly by up to 100 points.

does the current owner even report to the CBR agencies? You could attempt to negotiate for them to remove the report, report it as paid, or report as paid as agreed. If they won't do either of those then it may report settled.

Personally I think t he quicker you get it done the better.

What state do you live in? What month in 2005 was the deficiency balance realized? In most states, repos are covered under the UCC SOL of 4 years. The clock starts ticking after the vehicle is sold and a deficiency balance remains.

Thanks for your reponses!!! I posed this question and then called the original creditor. Here are a few additional facts. I am in Florida. My credit report say the balance date is Feb.2005, but as I said, I made some payments until June of 2006. I am even more confused (sorry) after reading the responses and talking to the original creditor. The original creditor says that they still own the debt, and the collection agency is just representing them. She said, because it is not an assest, that the agency did not purchase my account for pennies on the dollar. If that's the case, they will be extremly unmotivated to neogtiate a low settlement with me. I am not sure if the current owner, Mechantile Collections, reports to credit bureaus. I will find out. I am not sure how to answer the quesiton "WHAT MONTH IN 2005 WAS THE DEFICINCY BALANCE REALIZED?" I can tell you that the car was sold at auciton in of February 2005 and I was notified of the blance in March of 2005. Also, I have never settled accounts in the last 7 years, as another poster asked, but I have lousy credit. Lots of minor unpaid items (medical bills less than a $1000 for example), one crecit card charge off for $1000, and this repossession. I do have some positive credit, a current car loan of 2 years on time, student loans on time, etc.

From what I can determine, SOL has expired and your payments in 2006 would not have reset it unless you made a written acknowledgment of the debt and a written promise to pay.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=CH0095/Ch0095.HTM

so the SOL has expired? I do not remember (up to 99% sure) putting anything in writing that would reset the clock. But cna you clairfy what this means? If the SOL has expired, it means they can not get a judgement, correct? But how does it effect the credit report? I am working diligently on repairing my credit. How does an expired SOL affect the reporting to the credit agencies at all?

You have no legal obligation to pay them so that gives you a little bit of bargaining ability. They may be more amenable in regards to how it's reported on your CR's since you are willing to pay.