Creditor question

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2004
Creditor question
4
Sat, 10-30-2004 - 4:54pm
I have an account in collections. The collector mailed me a letter on 10/8 offering to settle for less then half the balance (to my relief - it was bill my son's Dad charged up). Here's the sad part - they wanted a response by 10/27 and I just got the letter last night. The letter and a bunch of other mail were delivered to my neighbor & he procrastinated on dropping it off till last night.

Am I hosed on this settlement offer? Should I wait & see if they send another letter? Shoud I make a counter offer? Should I call them & explain what happened? I've had bad experiences with collectors in the past and hate the thought of calling one... they are always so rude and un-reasonable.

Any wisdom that could be imparted on this subject I'd appreciate, I really don't know of anywhere else to seek advice on this subject.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Sat, 10-30-2004 - 6:09pm
I would call the creditor and tell them what happened. It could be a firm deadline, if the company was charging the debt off on that date. Or, if it's a collection agency, they might still accept the settlement. You should be aware that if the debt is on your credit, it will show as a settled debt and could affect your credit score. However, paying something is better than letting it go unpaid.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 10-31-2004 - 7:12am

This is an *excellent* question for the Debt Q&A Board!

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2004
Sun, 10-31-2004 - 2:04pm
It's a collection agency & it said if they didn't word or money by 27th they were going to take "severe action".

I don't really care about the credit rating as it's already shot. I put my son's father through college & such and then after a couple years when we were in shape for me to finish my schooling he left me 3 months into my pregnancy. He had run up both of our credit cards over the years sooooo I've kinda had to start over w/o out declaring bk(couldn't afford filing fee).It's been 4 years and I'm finally starting to crawl out of this hole of deep poverty - any offers to settle are a releif to me (as long as I can afford the offer). I keep worrying someone if going to sue & get a judgement against me before I can get caught up with it all. . .

Thanks for the advice - hope you have a safe & happy Halloween :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
Sun, 10-31-2004 - 6:21pm
Good luck to you. It sounds like you know what you are doing.