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Is it legal to charge off debt even after a settlement?

Posted on: 17th Nov, 2006 12:56 pm
While reading through the other Charge-Off Post it did not answer the question I have.

I had a credit card that i could not pay and it went to collection.
I called them and settled for about half the balance of $1000 to $500.00

The person i spoke with did not make the chargeoff perfectly clear to me and I expected to see a zero balance on my credit report.

after a few months went by i noticed my reports stating I owed $500.00 but was current, charged off and closed by me.

I complained to them and looked at the faxed settlement letter and then relized what they were doing and had done.

1. Is this legal ?
2. From the other posts one person stated its as bad as a bakruptcy within two years - Is this true?
3. Does a charge off on my credit report keep my score from ever going up
4. Can the charge off be sold back into a collection company even though they settled and closed the account.


Since its within two years I might pay the remainder if they will remove it from my credit report.

If they will not remove it after payment and its still on my report as paid in full will the credit score go up any even though at one time it was a charge-off.

Thanks
Hi,
"Since its within two years I might pay the remainder if they will remove it from my credit report."
After paying off the remaining of the charge off amount you can ask them to remove it from your report.

Your credit will start improving after it is report to the credit bureau as paid.
Posted on: 17th Nov, 2006 01:32 pm
Hi,

You have mentioned that you had settled the account for half of the actual balance and they had given you a account settlement letter then you can dispute the account being reported to the credit bureau as being a charge off.

As after the account is settled it cannot be reported as a charge off.
Posted on: 17th Nov, 2006 02:20 pm
Hi,
"1. Is this legal ?"
I too agree with Kate, if you got the settlement letter then you would be able to prove that the charge off is not valid & illegal and dispute the charge off with the bureau.
- Jennifer Pelland
Posted on: 17th Nov, 2006 04:07 pm
I have just looked at the initial settlement letter and it speaks of no charge offs with a balance but says the account will be settled in full and any outstanding judgments as satisfied and release of any outstanbding liens and garnishments.

I also have the paid letter stating it has been settled but the remainder will still be on my credit report and they will not try to collect it but future creditors might request payment.

Sounds like future collection agencies to me.

I will contact them to see if they will remove the balance but i doubt they will.

I do not know where to go with this.
Posted on: 18th Nov, 2006 01:55 pm
Thats was ME not logged in
Posted on: 18th Nov, 2006 01:57 pm
Hi Tlanum,

If the report says that your account has been settled in full, well then you may not have any problem with the score. It will go up as you start taking any other credit and pay for it regularly. And, if you think there can be future problems with the unpaid amount, better pay it off right now and request your creditor to report this to the bureau so that they can update your credit report accordingly.

Thanks,

Sara
Posted on: 19th Nov, 2006 09:46 pm
Both my husband and myself are on Social Security Disability. We live in Florida. We used all of our savings to pay our Credit Cards down as far as we could. We even paid our Credit Cards before our Mortgage. We have no money in the bank. We used everything. We have nothing now. Not even enough to buy Meds or to bury us. The Credit Cards Companies keep on hounding us. Mostly Home Depot and Discover. They are also the ones that charged the 26% interest. The accounts are closed by us and the Companies. We have nothing to pay them with. Both of us get only about $1300.00 p/month together. We talked to a Bankruptcy Atty. about Chap. 7. The lawyer told us that being on Social Security Disability we are Judgement proof. We have nothing. No retirement nothing. Everything is gone. We are sick and can't even buy Meds or go to the Dr. being we have no money. What can they do to us? What can we do? They have ruined our credit. We can't even pay $1.00 per month. Need all that we have to live with rent, utilities, Dr.'s, and Meds. Help. :(
Posted on: 04th Apr, 2010 05:33 pm
hi djacob,

i can understand that you're facing a tough situation. you can try filing bankruptcy and get your debts discharged. as far as your social security income is concerned, it won't be affected due to your filing bankruptcy.
Posted on: 05th Apr, 2010 12:12 am
Social Sec. is protected income no? Can't be garnished?
Posted on: 21st Apr, 2010 08:51 pm
True...Social Security benefits are not garnishable.
Posted on: 23rd Apr, 2010 11:00 am
I have paid off a collection account but have not received any confirmatio from the collection agency. Do I get a paid off lettter or something from them and how do I report this to the credit bureau and get this collection of my credit report. Do I need to update all credit reports
Posted on: 06th Aug, 2010 11:02 am
How is it that you are lacking confirmation? Do you have receipts that document your payoff of the agreed-upon amount? Can you demonstrate to the agency that you have confirmation that they've received your funds? Have you tried to obtain specific documentation? You definitely ought to receive verification information from them, acknowledging the payments. They ought to update your credit reports, but it would be valuable for you to provide your own documentation to the credit reporting agencies.
Posted on: 07th Aug, 2010 08:01 am
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