Settlement offer

[KKP]

Does accepting a settlement offer on a closed credit card account help or hurt you in the long run. Account closed with Best Buy in December and now receiving settlement offers from CRA. Should you go for it? What about requesting a pay for delete along with it? 

[Kat58]

TTT

 

[hegemony]

On 6/16/2020 at 6:39 AM, KKP said:

Does accepting a settlement offer on a closed credit card account help or hurt you in the long run. Account closed with Best Buy in December and now receiving settlement offers from CRA. Should you go for it? What about requesting a pay for delete along with it? 

define "hurt you in the long run"

 

If you mean in terms of credit scores... settling is terrible especially if you re doing it with a CA and not the OC.

 

PFD is unlikely on a within SOL debt.

 

what are you trying to accomplish?

[KKP]

My goal is to get the account removed. Its a closed credit card account with Best Buy. 

[hegemony]

10 hours ago, KKP said:

My goal is to get the account removed. Its a closed credit card account with Best Buy. 

if you settle without a PFD then it will report for about 7 years from the DOFD as a major derogatory item on your four consumer credit reports.

 

Is it out of SOL for your state and this type of debt?

[Debtblogger]

From my personal experience dealing with collection agencies and getting the lowest possible settlement offer was low balling the agent that I had one the phone. These collection agencies buy your debt for literally pennies on the dollar, so whatever they collect from you is pure profit. I had two cars repossessed when I was younger, the total amount owed was $28,000, I settled for $4200 a few years later when I had enough money to clean my credit. Its all about your negotiation skills, or you can hire an agency do this for you if you are not comfortable doing it yourself. Have you started negotiations yet?

[MarvBear]

11 hours ago, Debtblogger said:

From my personal experience dealing with collection agencies and getting the lowest possible settlement offer was low balling the agent that I had one the phone. These collection agencies buy your debt for literally pennies on the dollar, so whatever they collect from you is pure profit. I had two cars repossessed when I was younger, the total amount owed was $28,000, I settled for $4200 a few years later when I had enough money to clean my credit. Its all about your negotiation skills, or you can hire an agency do this for you if you are not comfortable doing it yourself. Have you started negotiations yet?

This board does not endorse any CRO.

[cv91915]

11 hours ago, Debtblogger said:

These collection agencies buy your debt for literally pennies on the dollar, so whatever they collect from you is pure profit.

This statement doesn't account for all of the debts that are purchased for "pennies on the dollar" that go uncollected...

 

...or any of the overhead costs associated with leasing office space, carrying insurance, paying for phone and data lines, employee salaries and benefits, taxes, janitorial services, legal services, utilities, leases on office equipment and furniture, or those individual packets of ground coffee for the break room.

 

[No portion of this post should be construed as advocacy for the collection industry, or as a suggestion that deadbeat consumers should be ground into burger patties and served in high school cafeterias.]

[centex]

16 hours ago, Debtblogger said:

From my personal experience dealing with collection agencies and getting the lowest possible settlement offer was low balling the agent that I had one the phone. These collection agencies buy your debt for literally pennies on the dollar, so whatever they collect from you is pure profit. I had two cars repossessed when I was younger, the total amount owed was $28,000, I settled for $4200 a few years later when I had enough money to clean my credit. Its all about your negotiation skills, or you can hire an agency do this for you if you are not comfortable doing it yourself. Have you started negotiations yet?

The 'pennies on a dollar' thing is NOT an accurate statement.  It becomes a bit closer when you get to tertiary (or subsequent) sales, but the initial purchaser NOW is getting most paperwork and while the paper is still well within the window to litigate.  THOSE sales are NOT pennies on the dollar.  Further, you falsely presume that ALL entities seeking to collect that are NOT the OC are purchasers as opposed to entities who are working on contingency (because the OC still OWNS the paper). 

 

I WOULD agree with the premise that negotiation skills are an essential piece of the equation...one lacked even by many who claim to be 'skilled' in the arena.