If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay i

I just received a letter from a collections agency. I contacted them and they said that if I paid the debt in full and within 30 days, that it would not show up on my credit report at all.

Does the debt collection agency have any LEGAL obligation to NOT report the debt to the credit bureaus if I pay it off within 30 days of receiving notice?

Or, If they don%26#039;t have any legal obligation to do so, is it standard industry practice not to do so anyway?

I would pay this debt off in full if I could be legally guaranteed that it wouldn%26#039;t show up on my report a few months later anyway.

My only goal here is to protect my credit as best as possible. At the time the debt was accumulating I had no way to pay off the money. I now have the means, but figure if my credit has already taken the hit then I might as well at least keep my money....

So, is my credit ALREADY marred?

Should I bother paying this off? Is there any way I can legally hold them to their promise not to report it

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

You should pay it (and yes, already marred).

Delinquent payments are usually on your credit report before they%26#039;re sent to a collection agency. That%26#039;s bad. If a collection agency makes an inquiry to a reporting bureau, it stays on your record for many years. That%26#039;s worse.

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

the first one u get is before it goes on your credit, however, it does show a deliquency on ur credit, you should pay it...

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

Short Answer: It%26#039;s already on your credit report.

If it%26#039;s gone to a collection agency, the original account has been past-due for 90+days. Generally, companies report after you%26#039;re 30 days late.

The collection agency is going to tell you anything they can to get you to pay them. A little-known fact is the agent who is calling you and demanding payment gets a commission for every dollar they can get you to send, so of course they%26#039;re going to tell you what you want to hear.

Sandy

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

well if you dont pay it on 30 days its going to show up and if you do it might show up and it might not but also it going to show on your credit report that is is paid in full wich is good you dont want to not pay it cause that will be bad so i would pay it and hope that it dont show but if it does better that it says its paid off then still owing the company...

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

you have the right to -1- FREE credit report from all -3- credit reporting agencies...check it for yourself...(numbers are in your phone book and online.) if you pay your debt, then they cannot report you for something you have done, they can only report you for debt you haven%26#039;t paid.

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

It%26#039;s probably not on your credit report yet but call the collection agency first thing in the morning and make payment arrangements. If it%26#039;s already hit your credit report and you pay it , then the report wl be updated to paid late which is better than never paid. If that%26#039;s your first letter and they gave you 30 days then it%26#039;s probably getting ready to be reported.

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

If this is your first letter it will not show up if you pay in 30 days. I would also ask them to send me a signed letter stating it is paid off and they will not turn over to credit bureau. Then I would call the original company and get a letter from them stating it is paid off. Oh, ask for a payoff confirmation number and the person%26#039;s name you are talking to. Document everything and save all this information just in case it pops up later. You can use it to dispute it through the credit bureaus. You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com and get access to all 3 credit bureaus once a year for free. Good Luck. Same thing happened to me and it did not show up.

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

I%26#039;ve written too much, and I just deleted it. I%26#039;ll try to be brief.

There%26#039;s no obligation for a debt collector to not report it.

Chances are the debt is already on your report, and if it has been deemed a charge-off, the DC cannot report it again. It can only report new information.

If the debt has been sold to another, and the debt has been reported to the credit bureau, it is still the same debt and can%26#039;t be reported again. Once again, only new information can be reported.

You have 30 days from when you receive notice to dispute the debt. It is important you do so, even if you owe. They will have to provide proof of the debt and this is to your benefit, if they decide to sue you. If they don%26#039;t provide the info and sue you anyway, they are in violation of the law and you can sue them.

If they check and can%26#039;t provide proof (maybe they lost it) then legally they are supposed to remove the debt from the report altogether.

But, if they have the proof, they can leave it there.

You can negotiate how much you will pay and what the conditions are. So, you can negotiate possible removal of the debt altogether from your report, or just make the report less harsh. Do this in writing.

Depending upon how old the debt is, it may be legally uncollectable. However, your making a promise to pay will renew the clock, so never make a promise to pay unless you actually will and/or want to. Just saying %26quot;I%26#039;ll pay you the debt%26quot; on the phone is a promise. Saying %26quot;I might consider paying you the debt%26quot; is not a promise.

First link refers to asking for proof.

Second link refers to the time allowed for legal collection of the debt.

Third link is a general how-to page.

Fourth link is about negotiation.

Cross-reference some of the terms in the pages in a search engine and consult reputable sites, like Yahoo! Bankrate, Cardweb, money magazines (Money, Kiplinger%26#039;s Personal Finance, Fortune, etc), and so on.

If I receive a letter from a collections agency, is it ALREADY on my credit report or should I pay it?

Here%26#039;s the deal. I used to work in credit and collections, so i think I know something more than these other people that are only guessing...

PAY THE BILL. Your late payment or non-payment will indeed show on your credit report. But, there will be updates to the report that will show that you...

A) Eventually paid the entire balance, albeit late.

B) Paid very very late.

C) Never paid at all (total deadbeat int he eyes of other creditors).

The best thing you can do to save your credit is to pay what you owe. That way, your credit resport will be updated to show (A) that your account was sent to collections but you paid in full. That%26#039;s much better on your credit report than (C) where you never paid the overdue balance at all. If you do that...then you%26#039;re really screwed.