Question. I have a few questions about deletions. If I contact a collection agency and offer to pay in exchange for a full deletion and they refuse to delete the file will that change the date for it to drop off since I made contact with them?
Also, if I receive in writing confirmation that they will delete the file upon payment and they do not remove it from my file, what recourse do I have?
They would have their money, but what proof or guarantee will I receive that it will be removed? And then my final question is there creditors that will not delete files no matter what you pay?
Answer. Contacting a collection agency, whether it be to discuss payment, make payment arrangements or dispute the debt does not change the date the debt will drop off from your credit reports. The date in which a debt is due to drop off a credit report is based off the date of first delinquency (DOFD) and is not supposed to change.
The date of first delinquency is the date you initially became 30 days late and never brought the account current and a charge-off ensued. Once the account has been charged off, the date of first delinquency should never change.
The DOFD starts the clock on the 7 year reporting time period which determines how long a negative item can remain on your credit reports. It is the Fair Credit Report Act’s Compliance/Obsolescence Date and should never be changed.
Should a debt collector or original creditor change the DOFD an illegal act, called Re-Aging has occurred. Read more about Re-aging an account and what to do if an account on your credit report has been re-aged.
What you will have to be careful about is not to restart your state’s statute of limitations on debt. The statute of limitations on debt is different than the 7.5 year reporting time of negative items on credit reports. Depending on your state’s laws you could restart the debt statute of limitations which basically means you can be sued for any unpaid debt still under the statute of limitations. Once the statute of limitations has passed, the creditor or debt collector can no longer bring a lawsuit against you to collect the debt.
When you request a pay for deletion any and all negotiations should be done in writing. You should stay off the telephone with debt collectors, especially if you are attempting to negotiate a pay for deletion or settlement.
Conducting negotiations in writing protects you by creating a paper trail. If the debt collector agrees to a pay for deletion, get the agreement upfront, in writing and signed by a person in authority at the collection agency.
The agreement should be signed and in your possession before you send any money and it is your recourse; your proof. Once you are armed with the agreement and the collection agency does not honor that agreement, you can sue.
You may even be able to present a copy of that agreement to the credit reporting agencies and demand they delete the entry from your credit reports based upon that signed agreement.
The bottom line is to get everything in writing before you pay any monies. There are several examples of pay for deletion letters on the Internet and you can use the pay for deletion sample letter on this site as an example also.
As to your last question; yes, some debt collectors refuse to delete negative credit, even with payment. They may even tell you they cannot delete the negative item and there is no law to force them to agree to a “pay for delete.”
