Settlement advice needed on old credit card collections

I am getting conflicting advice from several debt counseling companies and websites, and so I am writing to you. I read all the archived posts on your website and admire your common-sensical and practical approach to debt reduction / credit enhancement.
I have accumulated about $32,000 in charged off credit card debt. Recently, I paid off 2 cards in full (original creditors) and still have $26,000 debt left.
The rest of the cards are with collection agencies and they are offering settlements. My confusion is whether I should opt for the settlement or pay the debt in full. If I pay in full, it will be reported as 'paid in full' on the credit report but the 'charge off' notation will still remain. If I settle, it will be reported as "Settled", but the 'charge off' notation will still remain.
My other problem is that if I opt for a settlement, they want me to settle in 3 monthly payments, which I cannot afford.
My question is, should I settle and save some money or pay in full and get a better score on my credit report - which will hopefully help me when I buy a car or a home.
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there is really no difference on your credit report between settled and paid in full if the charge off notation still shows
which it probably will.
most collection companies pay .30 to .40 on a dollar for the right to try and collect anyways
unless they are in house collection companies and the collection is less than 1 year old. if i could setle I would. the reason they offer 3 payments is because once they offer a settlement or payment plan an you take them up on it. They cannot take you to court over what might remain if you fail to pay in full.

Can a collections agency add themselves to your credit report?

Can a collections agency add themselves to your credit report? I've already got the original "charge off" from the creditor, but now I'm dealing with an upset collection agency who was upset my last check bounced. They're the ones who forced me and harrased me into writing post dated checks to begin with, they called my work and when I told them not to they laughed at me and told me that I couldn't tell them not to. Now that balance for the amount of the third check is on my credit report too, is this legal?
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the original charge should be marked as zero balance if it was sold to a collections agency you have verified the debt now that you have paid them monies
the collection agency CANNOT sue you as they are not the original creditor
I know they cannot harrass you or call your work over and over and laugh at you I would try to settle the account for much less than the full balance.
most collections are bought for pennies on the dollar. I would try to settle for 50% of less not including any fees or interest.
demand account validation Explain you will talk to them no longer if they do not properly validate the debt.
explain you fill like they are violating your rights and plan to contact your state attorney general if they insist on calling you at work after you have asked them not to
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I've paid 2/3 of the full amount of money the collection agency wanted. The last payment I made was in 2006 and I've changed jobs and gotten a new phone number so they haven't bothered me anymore. But they are still on my credit report. Should I contact them and offer to pay the remainder if they remove themselves from my credit report? Or will doing so only re open the whole 7 year cycle again? The first date of delinquency was 01/2005. I don't want to restart the cycle now that I've "lost them." Thanks so much for having a real website for real people.
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if you want them off your report for good
and you can pay and the account is honestly yours yes
call them and ask them to remove if you pay in full
call from some anonomous phone number one can always take the chance of "losing them"but one also takes the chance of the virus showing up later somewhere else some other way. I always like paying to be done
remember that after 2 years the account will not hurt your credit score
ifyou have good reported and rated lines of non maxed out credit

Collections agency upset my last check bounced

Can a collections agency add themselves to your credit report? I've already got the original "charge off" from the creditor, but now I'm dealing with an upset collection agency who was upset my last check bounced. They're the ones who forced me and harrased me into writing post dated checks to begin with, they called my work and when I told them not to they laughed at me and told me that I couldn't tell them not to. Now that balance for the amount of the third check is on my credit report too, is this legal?
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the original charge should be marked as zero balance if it was sold to a collections agency you have verified the debt now that you have paid them monies
the collection agency CANNOT sue you as they are not the original creditorI know they cannot harrass you or call your work over and over and laugh at you I would try to settle the account for much less than the full balance. most collections are bought for pennies on the dollar. I would try to settle for 50% of less not including any fees or interest. demand account validation Explain you will talk to them no longer if they do not properly validate the debt. explain you fill like they are violating your rights and plan to contact your state attorney general if they insist on calling you at work after you have asked them not to

wanting to clean up my credit in order to purchase a house

I am wanting to clean up my credit in order to purchase a house. I especially don't want to have to pay a high interest rate. I have several delinquent credit cards on my record but it's all over 2 years. I have plans to pay all bad dept off in another year. But I read from your web site after 2 years even if the dept is paid, it wouldn't raise the fico score very much. In spite of the bad credit reported, I do have 2 current credit accounts that are excellent which are on my recent file.

My question is ... would I do better by leaving the 2 year old bad dept unpaid? I'm afraid if I paid the bad dept off, it wouldn't reflect on my credit report as paid. I don't trust any collection agency's promises unless it's in writing. And I have had collection agencies refuse to put any negotiation in writing. At least, I was smart enough not to take their word at face value. I didn't pay the agency.

Also, can I dispute the amount I am being charged to only the credit bureaus and bypass the collection agency all together? There are stock piles of late fees and late charges that I feel I shouldn't have to pay. For example: In reality, I may owe only $600.00 but after the late charges from the creditor and fees from the collection agency, my dept increases to $1000.00. Is this even legal?
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the original creditor is the only place to negotiate
collectors cannot sue or threat to sue
and they can not put sold collections on your report in MOST cases

valdiate these debts
and call file with your state attorney general is they do not compy which they can't
most collections were sold for pennies on the dollar to help the first creditor.
it is illegal for them to threat to sue and to put it on your credit report
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Will 2 year old bad dept affect your fico score, especially when you have good credit that's been paid on time and has existed over two years?
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i dont know
what is your credit report fico score at all three bureaus?
what does it need to be?
many times a home or car loan will require one to have all past due outstanding debts paid in full.

Once settle and pay a collection they will not delete from credit report

I am in the process of paying off old debt that is showing on my credit report. Here's my question, I have 2 debts from NCO-Medclr. One for $539 and another for $314. I have spoken with a representative for agreement on settlement of this debt. First off, they stated that they will not send an agreement letter stating what amount we have agreed upon. Secondly, I asked them once this debt is paid in full (which I was willing to do over the phone) will they then delete this information from my credit report. They stated they cannot "delete" the information but mark it as "paid off". Is this true?
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they do not have to remove bad credit from your credit report just because you pay them. it was still a bad credit issue at one time.
they can remove items and do remove items many time if you do pay in full. Not sa settlement for less. in full with fees. much stonger postion for credit help.

one way or the other I adivise everyone to try to pay off stuff no matter what.
the least they could do is not give a more recent date of last activity if you pay them off.

Trying to refinance a home with 105 negative statements

My fiance was laid off reducing our income. I had 13 credit accounts that all went delinquent --- charge offs, late payments (30, 60, 90, 120). Last sping (2007) I worked with a company to settle these debts. All balances are now zero, but did not raise my credit score due to the remaining negative statements. Currently there are 105 negative statements from the 13 creditors. We are on our 2nd arm mortgage and have to refinance again next Jan (2009). I am deathly afraid of getting another arm, obtaining a new payment we cant afford, or losing our home.
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over come them with new good credit
if the acounts show a zero balance.
3 new good lines of reported credit will raise your score enough in that time to help big time
this is what i did

Unpaid collections and a judgment with huge interest

We are trying to currently fix our credit on our own and its a never ending battle but we got our score up to about 660, which is better than the 559 it was about 3 years ago. We have 2 questions that we cant seem to find an answer to.
1. we have several accounts that show UNPAID that are for the same debt but 2 different collections companies are reporting them. Can they do this? If not how do we get the older one removed?
2. We had a $1400 judgement almost 7 years ago. We have paid $10 a month for the last 3 years with no writted agreements to the collection agency on anything. We just gave them something because they tried to garnish her wages 3 years ago and this made them not pursue that. We assumed after all these years that the balance would be managable to pay off now but we called to get the balance today and now its over $1700. We never signed nor agreed to pay any kind of interest. Can they do this and what do we do now?
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#1 use the debt validation form and get at least on or both collections removed in most cases.
yes they can they did. is it right moral and just. Porbably not. But not paying isn't either. If one validates the debt then negotiate and pay the debt as fast as possible IF YOU CAN.

#2 of course there will be interest. The bad news is you validated the debt. The good news is many times when a creditor accpets a partial payment they usually cannot take you to court. The bad news is you have already been to court. So I don't really know what the answer to court ordered payments might be. Your in a fix here and I am not sure what to tell you other than to try to negotiate a payment in full now if they drop interest.
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Collection came up after 7 years. What should I do?

Last week my credit union granted me $12K loan to pay off my payday loans and past due accounts. Well, I was thrilled, my prayers had been answered. Today I open the mail and there is a letter from a collection agency. I phone the agency, since I did not recall the bill and it was not on my credit report. Well, it turns out that the bill was from the 90s. It originally was a $2200 bill that my husband was suppose to pay in the divorce. Now they had added interest so the bill is $6200.00.

I am not trying to ignore my problems or bills. If I had known about this bill I would have put it in my consolidation loan. I wrote a letter informing the collection agency that I did not have $2200 to pay the lump sum for the settlement. I am requesting that they reduce it to $1500 and allow me to pay $100 per month for 15 months.

I just do not know why this bill appeared after all these years, and what happens if they do not take the $1500 offer?
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validate that debt
with vigor
1990's means it is more than 7 years old.

if they can't call your state attorney general, the ftc, the bbb

On disability have student loans 2 teen kids and need a car

Dear BO Majors,
Hello... I saw you by chance and you are not all that far from me.. I am up Hendersonville way..
I saw your Blog and decided to give it a shot..
I am single Mom for last almost 13 years. I have 2 teen kids,. she be 15 in Feb and Son is 16.. I went to college back in WV in 2000 I do believe.. and My loan I taken out was..-
2,500.00 and now the interest after 7 years is up to 4, 500.00 and I am in debt. and no way to get extra funds to pay this even monthly.
. I am on disability income and it takes all my money to pay rent , food, etc..I am not eligible for food stamps., my son has disablity and he gets a check for his handicap... I have no way i can pay off my bills and especially this student loan from 2000. and I see it keeps getting bigger and bigger...as I speak..
I am in Tennessee now going on 6 years and I have to have a car, and I got a car., at a Buy Here Pay here..deals and you know I did not get a decent car..it now needing repairs and this guy is ripping me off. paying Chris 200.00 month,
How do I get a Free Credit report now?..I am possibly like 6,000 in debt and now way to pay this Bills....Can you please help me figure out what I can do?..I really rather buy a car from a reputable car dealer, where I can have car payments of 200 to 250.00 I can not go any higher than that price for a car...
The credit cards I had was a Sears, Capital One, Fingerhut, and maybe another one.. and my credit bills are not as bad as some people's delinquent bills..
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you say your bills are too big to pay then say they are not as big as others. which is it?
i understand your persistant monetary problems. either let them go and hope you don't get sued for a judgment or contact them and make up a payment plan. get your children to help you pay. they are both able bodied i assume. you are doing all you can but do not expect to get credit if you can not pay bills you have already accumulated. its a hard world out there. i am sorry
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HELLO . I was meaning I have my monthly bills, and not enough money to pay the ones on my credit , and that my credit bills seem to be not as high as OTHER People's , mine is around 6,000 to pay off- 4,500 is for the student loan.... and my kids are not old enough to work. so that won't help me..and Student loan is way too much interest for a 2,500 loan that I took for going to college in 2000.it was sold to another place , that made the interest add alot to it... and to try and get a re payment plan, that is like I should not buy food for my 2 kids. so that is what i look at all the time..it takes my income to pay the utities, car payment, car insurance, and food every month and we do not go out for entertainment, we stay at home always..
Thanks for you input
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you can get a free credit report by buying this and canceling in less than 7 days.
that problem that has to do with income and budgets
must be worked out on your own
its not a credit issue although your credit will end up in the tank

you are not your checking account
do not get down
keep plugging, look for another or better job, and get the father of your children to get a life and pay for his children. thats all i know

you are a good person. you are not your bank account