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I was contacted last week by a CA regarding a credit card that has gone into collections. I do know I owe this debt. They faxed me a settlement offer, but I then pulled my CR and there is a different CA listed on their for the same debt. The CA that contacted me does not appear on the CR. I want to send a Pay for Delete letter, but who do I address it to? Should I contact the CA that appears on my CR? Thanks for the help in advance!!
Yes, I would do the one that is on your report and see if they still have control of the account, if they don't they should be able to tell you who they sold it to.
Make sure before you pay for anything that you get proper debt validation from who ever has the debt.
I would get a hold of each them through debt validation and let them know that it is your intention to pay off the debt and that you would like to pay for deletion. You can not pay for deletion if it is not on your report, so contact the ones that are on your report now.
Thanks for the info, GN. That makes sense.
Since the name of the collection agency who is calling you is not listed in your credit report, it may happen that the debt has been sold off to the collection agency only recently. Now as you have already received a debt settlement letter from the collection agency, you should send them a debt validation letter to find out whether the collection agency that contacted you actually owe the debt or not. If they can provide you with proper validation of the debt, then only you should proceed forward to pay off the debt to the collection agency.
Yes, I agree with Anthony. However, as far as I know, the collection agency who has send you a debt settlement offer should have send you a debt validation notice along with the settlement offer. However, as they have not send you such notice, I think you should send a debt validation letter under certified mail to be sure that the collection agency who has contacted you is actually responsible for collecting the debt
All great advice. I will be sending the DV letter on Monday via certified mail to the CA that sent me the settlement offer. Question...if the current CA can provide proper validation & I settle the debt, what happens to the CA that's on my credit report for the same debt. How would I handle getting that taken off by a PFD if they are not actually the ones I pay?
I am not sure, that is the problem when more than one is reporting or have reported on a debt, the current one can only deal with their own reporting, so even though they take it off it still leave the others there so it still shows the negative reporting. You could try writing a good faith letter, or ask the one that you are going to pay about this, they may have a connection with the others.
Hi Mortgagevictim
If the collection agency can provide you with proper validation of the debt, it means that the collection agency in your report has sold it off to the CA who has validated your debt and so you could pay it off. However, the negative listing in your credit report will stay there for seven years and 180 days from the date of your first delinquency. However, if you can make the collection agency agree to pay for deletion agreement before paying off the debt, the negative listing may get removed, but this should be done before you pay off the debt. Moreover,you should always get the pay for deletion agreement in writing before paying off the debt.
Validating the debt would mean that the collection agency can provide you with valid documents in support of their claim that they have either bought the debt from the collection agency whose name has been listed in your credit report or they have been given the right to collect the debt by the CA in your report. You can find a sample debt validation letter in this forum itself, for this you can visit the link http://www.creditmagic.org/repair/sampleletter-debtvalidation.html