Settling

I wouldn't do a check by phone, make sure you get in writing the amount you settled for on a letter head of the company. Use a money order, that's what we did.

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The only problem with the prepaid gift visa cards is that the most you can get on one card is $500. So if you need to pay $1000 then you can't use the cards because they have to process two transactions and it will just be applied to your balance. The payments have to be EXACTLY as they are on your settlement letter they told me.

They do not have the ability in their system to process two credit card numbers to equal one payment. Wierd huh? But anyway the moral of the story is that if your payments are more than $500 then you will not be able to use a prepaid card.

say NO NO NO to check by phone. i had a very very bad experience with that. dont ever do it.

I have used a prepaid debit card to pay off debits. I have an Excella card. It is free to get and they only charge $1.75 to load it each time. There is a 90 cents fee when you use the card.

That is MUCH cheaper than Western Union. Just put the amount you owe, plus a couple of dollars to cover the fees and that's it. You don't want to give them anything personal anymore.

It is advisable to avoid paying via CBP, however I worked for a settlement company that used CBP as the standard form of payment. Of course, we made absolutely certain to have the client's consent, as well as the terms of the settlement in writing prior to providing any payment information. It wasn't flawless, there were a few times that collectors tried to be sneaky and take more than they were due, but they didn't have any ground to stand on when confronted about it. To be safe, I would go with a money order. However if it's a time-sensitive situation (as in, "THE OFFER EXPIRES TODAY AT 6:00 PM"), get the terms in writing and consider the CBP option. Well, you should be getting the terms in writing in any case, regardless of payment method, but in the case of CBP it's extra important.

In the case of a deadline... What about the idea authorizing an ACH debit of your account vs. a CBP. The reason I say this is because the bank has very consumer friendly guidelines to reversing and crediting back incorrect ACH debits, whereas, with CBP, once the check goes through it is pretty much set in stone. I know that I have reverse many ACH Debits, but never a check once it has gone through.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?