Re: Credit debt question
Thanks guys! I'm also going to see if I can get a letter from Child Support Services - they found out my garnishments were TOTALLY incorrect and sent ME all money back - all from a false/lie from ex. Did she suffer at all??/ Nope, not a dime....
Now how about the "charge off"? Is it worth fixing, paying some of it off? Will that positively affect my credit rating?
If you are looking to get a loan, they most likely will require you to pay off any charge offs. So here's what I would do.....
The debt has already been charged off by the original creditor. This means they took it as a loss and have gotten a tax break for such a loss. In most cases the original creditor sells the charged off account in a portfolio with many other charge offs to a debt collection agency. They usually sell it for pennies on the dollar of the original debt. This collection agency will try and collect the full balance of the debt even though they paid very little. Their business is to make as much money as possible off of your debt. They might even try to tack fees on to it as well. Because of this, I recommend negotiating a settlement with the collection agency. It will save you money and will give the collection agency a return on their investment.
I would only communicate with them in writting. Anything agreed to over the phone is completely worthless. Not to offend anyone on the board, but I have been bitten by snake in the grass collection agencies that agree to one thing, you hold up your end, then they keep coming after you for a full balance...etc. So no matter what, do all your communication in writting, and save all such communications. I would even go as far as sending everything certified with delivery verification. This will cost a few dollars each time, but it will save you a lot of headaches.
Start by offering them 25% of what you orginally owe. Also stipulate they most update your credit report, upon receipt of your payment, as "pays as agreed." Furthermore you must make them to agree that the settlement shall be recognized as fulfilling the debt in full and that they will take no futher action to collect the remainder of the debt. If you don't get that in the agreement, they can come after you for the remainder.
They might not to agree to this at first, but wait them out. Ahead of time determine what the maximum you will pay on the debt. Don't let them force you to pay more than that. Remember, they only paid pennies on the dollar for it so why give them the full amount.
Like I said before, do the keyword search on Google for Credit Infocenter. They have all kinds of information for you on how to generate settlement letters.
PM me sometime if you want to talk more about it.
