I am currently behind on my mortgage and my options are to sell the house for less than I owe, foreclose or as someone suggested negotiate my loan terms with my lender. Who would I talk to do renegotiate as that would be my preferrence? I think if they would drop the rate for me I would be able to make my payment and save myself and the bank money by avoiding foreclosure. I just don’t know who to talk to and how to convince them that this is the best way to do it. I can prove to them that I’m upside down and houses are sitting in the market for 6 months or more. The customer service reps won’t help me because they are just trained to collect and I can’t pay them.
Jan 032011
Dear forum members,
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I recently sent a PFD letter to Columbia Recovery Group in regards to an apartment lease that went to collections. They sent back a letter stating that they would not accept the offer and that I need to pay the total amount. I was wondering if you all could review the counter letter that I am going to send them and see if I could get some feedback.
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One more thing to keep in mind, this collection also shows up on my wife’s credit reports. I believe the wording of the letter makes it clear to remove the account totally, but I just want to make sure they could not keep it on her report due to poor wording in the letter.
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I appreciate your help.
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Re: Account # *********
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Amount: $4,355 ($3,508 original balance)
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To Whom It May Concern:
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I am writing to offer a settlement amount of $1,754 (50% of original balance) on account number ******** in exchange for immediate deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from my credit files. It is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form.
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I received your reply to my original offer, which was to pay the amount of $3,508 to have my account marked as “settled.â€Â This is not an option for me at this time, since I am on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. I am making one last plea to creditors to see if they are willing to work with me on debt that I am supposed to have with them before proceeding with bankruptcy.
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I am extremely limited on the amount that I can pay, and I have gone as high as I can in offering you $1,754 to settle the debt and to have the item removed from all credit reporting agencies. Believe me, bankruptcy is the last thing that I would like to do. However, with very limited money due to the loss of my job in a bad economy, and a credit file that is riddled with collections, my only option without creditor’s help is to file for bankruptcy. I hope you will change your mind and accept my offer, since I have no other options.
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If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, certified funds for the settlement amount of one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four dollars ($1,754.00) will be sent to Columbia Recovery Group in exchange for full deletion of all references regarding this account from my credit files and full satisfaction of the debt. As certified funds will be used for payment, there shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies.
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If you agree to the terms, then your company (Columbia Recovery Group) agrees to delete all information regarding this account from the credit reporting agencies WITHIN TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone. If contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, Columbia Recovery Group will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.
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If you agree to the above terms, please prepare a letter on your company letterhead explicitly agreeing to the same terms as the above settlement offer and have it signed by an authorized representative of your company. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under the laws of my state.
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Your response must be postmarked no later than 15 days from your receipt of this settlement offer or this offer will be withdrawn and I will request full validation of this alleged debt, as provided for by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
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Please address all correspondence regarding this account to:
Aug 262010
For the last two years that I’ve been in Iraq I have work very hard to rebuild my credit.. I had an account with CITI that was settle in full via a conditionally endorsed check. The terms were that once the check was cashed they would agree to remove the derogatory information. It has been over 6 months and nothing has been done. They had also the choice to return the check if they did not agree with the terms. What can I do??? I have a couple more accounts that have 1 30 day late. Does good will letters actually work??? Any experiences. My current scores are in the range of 680-700…..
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Aug 132010
Before you pay ask them to remove the account from your credit report. I had very good success in having the collection agencies removing the negative information if I made the terms before I paid. Give them a sob story about how you need this removed to buy a house.
If this is in the wrong thread, please move it.
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The FCRA does not mention the terms SOFT or HARD, nor does it contain any of the descriptions the CRAs attached to them.Â
It has been mentioned before that a OC/CA will get the same info if it pulls either. So, when “doing” a HARD pull it obviously begs the analogy of a dog marking its territory so everyone will see, whether to alert, intimidate, harass, etc.
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Can someone confirm CRA will always furnish the same info for any kind of request for a consumer credit file?
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I’m torn…..
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I received a response to a PFD sent on hubby’s behalf to Receivables Management Systems (using a form letter found here). Initially I did not get a response, so I talked to the dentist who sent him to collections in the first place (he is also my dentist and I still receive services so I felt very comfortable in doing so). I explained to the dentist the situation and that I had attempted to get his accounting person to return my calls and requests to have the account pulled back from the collection agency..but to no avail. She would not even call me back. Well he agreed that he would take care of it and contact the agency himself about hubby’s account. On my next appointment, I asked the accounting person at the dentist office about the collection account, and she informed me that while she could not have the account pulled back from RMS because of fees, they have been instructed to accept my PFD and advised me to call to confirm this information. Well I did, and at first they didn’t want to speak with me, citing the PFD letter explicitly forbidding them to speak with a 3rd party (go figure)! I asked the rep to confirm that the letter was in the mail and he confirmed that it was.
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Fast forward to today, I received the letter. It states: (names have been changed to protect the innocent:smileyhappy:)
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Dear Mr.. Moving Forward,
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Thank you for your letter received in April 2010. Our client, Anonymous Family Dentistry has agreed to the terms of your letter. Upon receipt of your agreed upon payment, your credit report will be cleared of any tradelines from Anonymous Family Dentistry.
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Please submit certified funds in the amount of 138.59 (full amount btw) to:
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Address goes here
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My concern is…the OC dentist office is not reporting on the CBR…Receivables is. DO you think this letter is sufficient evidence for me to believe that RMS will delete their entry once the payment is made even though it states Anonymous has agreed to the terms and reports will be cleared of tradelines from them? I know that a CA is only compelled to delete upon direction from the OC to do so. Maybe this is why the letter reads this way. Please help. I am ready to be done with this so I be on to the next one. Thanks a bunch.
Are they legit?
Are they legit?
Credit Account Nco Fin/22
Status as of [?] Jan, 2010 Date opened [?] Oct, 2007 Date of last activity [?] Oct, 2005 Date closed [?] Not Reported Account number [?] Not Reported Loan type [?] Not Reported Largest past balance [?] $120 Terms [?] Not Reported Account Type [?] Open Account Account holder [?] Individual Scheduled payment amount [?] $0
Descriptions [?]
- Collection account
No contact information provided by Equifax
Message Edited by mauve on 03-08-2010 08:59 PM