When your credit report reflects that you are undergoing debt collection, that is usually a bad sign. It is one of entries that will lower your credit score. This means you have been late on your payments and a collector had been called in to make more aggressive efforts to get you to pay what you owe. If this is your current situation, then you need to take action immediately.
Your concern will now be more than just paying your dues. You have to try and fix the blemish on your credit report. To do that, you need to have this entry deleted from your report. But how do you do that? Your goal should be to get the status of that account back to “Current” or if possible, “Paid.”
To do that, you obviously need to pay back your debt. The ideal scenario is to come up with the full amount that will allow you to pay your credit completely. If you have that, you can negotiate with the collector to remove the debt collection entry on your report. That is possible but only if you can wipe off your debts completely. If not, the most that you can expect is to have it reflect as current. That means you are meeting your payments without a problem.
In case the collector insists that you pay off the debt completely, ask them to remove the account altogether. But only offer this if you are sure that you can get an amount that will allow you to meet the collector’s requirement. If they will not agree to this, have them change it to “Paid in Full.” Again, this should all be in writing before you send any payments.
Try to convince your collector to change the status on your report. You can send a letter to your collector to delete the entry on your credit report in exchange for payments. Specify if you will pay all of the debt or get it current. A written response from the collector stating that they agree to remove it if the X amount is paid off should be received first before you pay off anything. Do not agree to pay unless they also agree to change it - that is unacceptable and you should get a copy of your credit report to make sure the changes had been made. Do not be afraid to negotiate with them if you cannot afford the required payment.
In the event that you really cannot meet even the required amount, then you may have to opt for debt settlement. You can choose to hire a professional to help out in the negotiation process or you can do it on your own. If all goes well, you can expect that your report will reflect “Paid. Settled.” This is not as ideal as the other scenarios but it is definitely an improvement. It simply means you have paid only a portion of your debt and had the rest forgiven.
Ultimately, the best way to get out of debt with a debt collector is to really pay it off in full. And if you really do not want to get your credit report blemished by your debt, keep up with your payments so collectors do not have to get involved.
Your concern will now be more than just paying your dues. You have to try and fix the blemish on your credit report. To do that, you need to have this entry deleted from your report. But how do you do that? Your goal should be to get the status of that account back to “Current” or if possible, “Paid.”
To do that, you obviously need to pay back your debt. The ideal scenario is to come up with the full amount that will allow you to pay your credit completely. If you have that, you can negotiate with the collector to remove the debt collection entry on your report. That is possible but only if you can wipe off your debts completely. If not, the most that you can expect is to have it reflect as current. That means you are meeting your payments without a problem.
In case the collector insists that you pay off the debt completely, ask them to remove the account altogether. But only offer this if you are sure that you can get an amount that will allow you to meet the collector’s requirement. If they will not agree to this, have them change it to “Paid in Full.” Again, this should all be in writing before you send any payments.
Try to convince your collector to change the status on your report. You can send a letter to your collector to delete the entry on your credit report in exchange for payments. Specify if you will pay all of the debt or get it current. A written response from the collector stating that they agree to remove it if the X amount is paid off should be received first before you pay off anything. Do not agree to pay unless they also agree to change it - that is unacceptable and you should get a copy of your credit report to make sure the changes had been made. Do not be afraid to negotiate with them if you cannot afford the required payment.
In the event that you really cannot meet even the required amount, then you may have to opt for debt settlement. You can choose to hire a professional to help out in the negotiation process or you can do it on your own. If all goes well, you can expect that your report will reflect “Paid. Settled.” This is not as ideal as the other scenarios but it is definitely an improvement. It simply means you have paid only a portion of your debt and had the rest forgiven.
Ultimately, the best way to get out of debt with a debt collector is to really pay it off in full. And if you really do not want to get your credit report blemished by your debt, keep up with your payments so collectors do not have to get involved.
RSS Feed