Question
I have an unpaid account in collections. But the original creditor is also on my credit report. Which one should I negotiate with to pay and have it removed? Do I negotiate the full amount, or the settlement amount?
Response
Try to stay away from collection agencies at all costs! They are liars and will say or do anything to get you to pay. If you can, negotiate with the original creditor –offer to pay them in FULL (if you can) if they agree to take the bad entry off of your credit report. Get everything in writing and never give out your bank account information. You can read what is likely to happen if you give your bank account number to a collection agency on this article regarding negotiating with creditors. Also, check out the free dispute / negotiation letter section of the site for free sample negotiation letters to get you started.
I had the misfortune of going to the creditor to make a settlement and deletion. They informed me it was turned over to collections and that I would have to deal with them. So I contacted the law firm where the collection was held and let me mention I was very nice and courteous on the phone let them know I knew by law they didn’t have to delete this from my credit but I would really like to pay the amount in full and have an agreement in writing that it would be removed from my credit history. They actually emailed me a copy of an agreement for deletion but I had to respond to the email saying I would not cancel or deny payment. I sent the email back to them gave them my credit card number, and its now completely off my credit.
So dealing with collections doesn’t always turn out bad just be nice courteous and let them know you are sincere about working with them. The email and response took about 5 minutes of my time.