Understanding Debt Settlement Simple Basics EQuicknews
Persons that аrе nеw to credit reporting find it hard explaining debt settlement.
The world of creditors аnd past due accounts сan bе confusing and aggravating. Many people dо not know thе advantages of pursing а mutual negotiation with thеir creditors. Consumers that learn abоut credit repair make а big step in obtaining control of theіr financial life.
Financial Jargon
A quick explanation оf sеvеral commonly usеd words wіll helр to understand credit concepts. A debtor іs thе professional nаmе for a person that owes money tо sоmеоne else. Creditors arе persons that extend credit in the form of credit cards or whо thе debtor owes payment to. Debt is money thаt nееds to bе paid due to services, purchases etc.
Basic Definition
Consumers that have а large amount of money owed usе settlements to pay оff creditors. A good way оf explaining debt settlement is that an agreement іs made betwееn thе debtor and creditor to accept а lеsѕ thаn owed amount аs payment іn full. The money paid іn the negotiation is usuаlly іn a оnе large disbursement.
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Does anyone have specific language from a contract with a collection agency. Debt settlement Contract?
I have agreed to pay $200.00 on a balance of $382.94 as a settlement amount wiping the debt to a zero balance. I want a contract to state this using specific language protecting me from bad reports on my credit. For example "settlement" or "Paid as agreed" etc. I do not want to give the collection agency any way to twist or re-assign my debt. Please advise. Your experience? Specific language requested.
You could type one and have them sign it:
Date
Their Company Details
We acknowledge receipt from Justagirl the amount of $200.00 in full and final settlement for Account Number xxx.
Signed
Name of Person in Authority
His Position with the Company
Hope it helps
Summoned to court over debt & collection agency settlement?
I recently received a summon to court over old debt with Providian (they demand $3000).
Couple of days later I got a settlement letter from collection agency that suing me. But they do not mention lawsuit there. It just says they will close out the account if I pay settlement amount. (which is $1000 lower then amount they are suing me for)
What are my options ?
What happens if I go for settlement before the court date ? Is my case going to get dismissed ? Any ideas what might happen ? Or any suggestions how to deal with it ?
My SOL expired Sept.2006, but it looks like they have filed lawsuit in Jul 2006, but my court date is in March. Is SOL rules apply to filing day or court date ?
The SOL applies to the filing date as it may take months to get an actual court date.
If the settlement is valid, and you pay it that should be enough to show in court to have the suit dismissed. Most settlements have a date you have to pay by, so if that date has passed then that settlement is no longer valid. But there is nothing that says you can't try to settle before your court date. Call the Collection agency or attorney and offer a settlement, a lot of times they would much rather just take a settlement than go to court. However, at this stage in the game expect them to want a full payment.
Can a debt collection agency change the terms of a settlement offer after it is accepted?
First things first - we took out a payday loan, couldn't afford it, and it went to collections. They served us papers for a suit and we called to see if we could settle out of court.
They agreed to settle for $559.00. The agency is now trying to say we owe them more money. During the first call we made to them, there was no breakdown of this amount. I made them fax us a copy of the settlement agreement saying that the debt would be absolved when we paid the agreed amount. They did fax this and we made the first payment.
We have so far made 3 weekly payments of $150 each on time as agreed. When we talked to them today and made the 3rd payment, they said that we still owe them $252. When we asked why, they said it is the remainder of the original amount, plus extra filing fees/legal costs. This was never disclosed at the time we agreed to pay, and is not on the faxed agreement we have.
Is there anything we can do about this?
P.S. - We live in Idaho, if that is pertinent.
What are the steps needed to do a pay for deletion debt settlement with a collection agency?
The accounts are all medical and over 2 yrs. old. Also if I send a pay for deletion letter can the collection agency start the statue of limitations over because of the letter?
Send them a letter that states that you will pay them and in return they will close the account, remove it from your CR, and not pass it on or pursue you on it in the future.
Make sure theres a place for them and you to sign.
Send it out and wait for it to come back.
:edit: However if these items are outside of SOL then you wouldn't want to Pay for Delete.
And no it will not restart the statute of limitations (SOL).
:edit: The guy below me has no idea what he's talking about. Do not pay someone to fix this problem for your. It really isn't that hard to do yourself. And YES there is such a thing as SOL on consumer debt in EVERY STATE. He may mean that indeed the debt will never die, however the ability for the Collection agency (CA) to legally collect on said debt is impossible. Yes they can trick you into it but you have all the legal rights to tell them to 'get bent'. And they can not report it on your Credit Report and if they do you can use validation techniques to get it off there.
:edit2: Indeed the fact that it can't stay on your report any more than 7 years does not mean that you can't Pay for Delete (PFD), in fact I'm sure the credit industry would not like you to know that in fact you CAN get it removed from your credit report. Someone put it on your credit report and yes someone can take it back off. This tactic is much harder as they may not agree unless they know there is no other way they will get their dough.
However another little trick would be to get in writing that they will NOT validate if you ask for validation from the Credit Reporting Agency's (ie Transunion, Equifax...). If they do not validate then it can't be on your Credit report as it's not legit.
Then again it's always hard to get them to hold up to their word - but that's what lawsuites are for.
Go here: www.lexingtonlaw.com and understand your rights. Sign-up with them and they will fix all of your credit issues.
Don't listen to collection company rhetoric.
Write me a personal message if you ever have questions like this again. kenneth_knapp @ yahoo .com
KK
If you have an account in collections and you pay the balance or settle for less than the full balance, the credit bureaus are required to show that debt as "paid" or "settled" on your report. It is not up to the collection agency to report that. Most of the time they do, but if they don't, it's up to us as consumers to get a receipt from the collection agency and then follow up with the credit bureau. Do not pay a "removal" fee. Just pay the debt and use a .39 cent stamp to get things updated.
I hope that helps.
Can I negotiate a debt settlement for a University's collection agency?
I currently owe $2600 to my University through their debt collection agency. I asked the agency if we could negotiate a settlement, and I was told that the University for which I attended doesn't allow debt settlements, and I would need to pay the full amount (I'm currently paying $50 per month with no interest, which includes a $500 fee for the agency). At the very least, shouldn't they be willing to accept less now because there is no interest? If I continue to pay $50 each month over a period longer than four years, they lose money by not taking at least several hundred less now... and I earn money by paying the minimum since there is no interest. So I need some advice for how to approach this matter.
Joe C (below) apparently has some issues about his own personal worth, so he needs to make himself feel better by calling other people's integrity into question.
You are asking how to get out of money you rightfully owe.
Take responsibility for your debt.
Get a job and pay back the money.
It should take you no more than 3 months.
Remember a college degree is worthless without integrity.
Does one agree to Settlement offer from Collection Agency on existing debt?
There was a credit card chargeoff in 2005 and now the collection agency is willing to offer the settlement below. Any thoughts?
------------------------------------------------
Account Information:
Our Client: TBD
Client Acct: TBD
MRS Acct: TBD
Account Balance: $2,600.00
Settlement Amount: $1,000.00
Dear Client,
Pursuant to our telephone conversation of Wednesday, April 25, 2007, TBD INC.,
has been retained to serve as agents on behalf of Pallino TBD INC. Effective
immediately, TBD. has been authorized to accept $1,000.00 as
settlement in full on the above referenced account if consummated on or before Wednesday,
April 25, 2007. Upon receipt of $1,000.00, you will be released of any further obligation
to TBD INC regarding the above referenced account.
Settlement is to be paid as follows:
$1,000.00 is to be sent to the above address on or before Wednesday, April 25, 2007. via
Credit Card By Email.
What is your question? Get the $1,000 and pay them off!
You ran up a bill of 2600. and only have to pay back 1,000.
What's not to like about that? Except you never should have
made that debt in the first place. This will be on your records
a long time and you will not get any other credit for years.
A collection agency said they would accept $100(a settlement)for a $250 debt I owed to a cell phone company...
However, when I asked that collection agency to put the settlement amount in writing, they insisted that they could NOT do that. How do I know if I pay the settlement amount ($100) that the collection agency would not then turn the remaining balance from the original debt owed over to another collection agency stating unpaid balance? The agency also said they could not fax nor e-mail me a confirmation that the debt has been paid as agreed for the settlement amount. At this moment there is no point in paying anything until I can get something in writing...
The account has been in collection since fall of last year, it has not been a full year yet. I've called to the phone company they referred me back to the collection agency. Furthermore, the collection agency is outside of the state in which I live in, so do they follow the state guidelines for the state I live in or for the state in which they are calling from?
If the debt is more than 4 or 5 years old, the SOL probably ran out and they can't force you to pay. You tried to be nice and it got you nowhere so just forget about it.
when you make a settlement with a collection agency do they pay the creditor before the debitor pays the agenc
I made a settlement with a collection agency to pay a freinds debt for 1500. Even before the agency receives money from me do the pay the creditor (in my friends case which would be citibank mastercar) first before they receive any money from me/ the debitor (my friend). according to my friends credit card statement his debt was paid but i didnt pay anything to the colelction agency yet...what is going on ....did the agency pay the debt and we are responsible for paying back the agency or did the agency or someone else make a mistake? Please help. Thank you.
Normally the original creditor charges off delinquent accounts as bad debt. Then sells off groups of bad debt to collection agencies 15 -20 cents on the dollar. The collection agency then tries to collect as much as they can and sells off the uncollected debt to another collection agencies on down the food chain for even less on the dollar, and so on and so on.
In you case, if your friend was still get statements from this credit card, it was not a charged off account. If the statement showed the account paid in full, don't pay anything to that collection agency.
You might want ask that collection agency to validate that they own that debt or have the authority to collect it. You could be the victim of a scam.
What is your experience negotiating debt settlement yourself with collection agencies?
Did you use a form letter like the one below?
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/sampleletter6.shtml
(Sample letter 6 to use when settling debts yourself with a collection agency)
It’s okay and could suffice; however, it could be just a little bit better. The terms for payment are ambiguous. The language insinuates that payment is to be made as a lump sum, but, the date the agreement was written could be a year before the total amount is due. The terms for payment should be set forth more clearly as lump sum or as monthly installments in whatever amount. And, having said that, there is no date in the terms of the agreement setting forth when said terms were agreed upon. The date at the signature line is not sufficient. And finally, there are no terms set forth for the method of collection if Debtor fails to pay to Creditor the sums owing on or before the due date and who is responsible for attorney’s fees if any should be incurred, which, actually, is to the benefit of the Debtor...
Collection agency does not agree to settlement offer?
I received a settlement offer(for 40% less than original debt) from a collection agency for a debt that is about 5 yrs old. I have ignored all the other offers and letters from this agency, I have never spoken to them. I have decided to repair my credit, so I wrote them a letter saying I agreed to pay the monies owed IF they wrote on my credit report that I have "PAID AS AGREED"
They responded with that they will write "Settled in full" This does nothing for me. Having those words on my report, such as "settled" have negative connotations. This does not help me. What should my next step be? I want to pay the debt, (and actually don't even mind paying it in full) if they will at least write PAID, on my credit report. Should I stop correspondence with the agency, and try my original method with the original creditor? I'd like to pay as soon as possible, but "settled in full" is not acceptable. Any ideas? Thanks
Don't bother getting an outside agency to help.
Pay it off and accept the "settled in full". At least you saved a chunk of money.
After that is done, it's time to begin your campaign to remove the account from your credit report entirely. Almost every account listing on your credit report has a valid error you can use to dispute the account. Hopefully, eventually the collection agency will not bother to respond to a dispute on a paid account. If they don't respond, the credit bureau must remove the account permanently.
