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Listen Letter was from northland group which is the collection agency. it was assigned to them. I use that quizzle site someone had mentioned on here not long ago. on there it shows amount past due and account not in dispute. Far as sol. Should be 4 years if info is correct on site provided. Should I call and get the dfod?
I would first look at your free credit report and see how its posted.
You can tell if Macy's still owns the debt or if they truly sold it off. If they still own it, the collection agency could be assigned the debt to collect it, but not actually own it. The way to tell is if Macy's lists a zero balance or not on your credit report. If the Macy;s account says close/charged off with a Zero balance, then they do not own the debt any longer and Northland bought it and owns it.
If they STILL report a balance, AND Northland reports one, than Macy's still actually owns the debt, they have just let Northland attempt to collect it from you.
If Macy's still owns it, then you could call them directly to attempt to have the account removed completely. This is called a Pay for Delete letter, where they agree to delete your account for full payment. This would remove the negative account and history all together from your credit profile. If you got them to agree to this (which is not always easy) you could see a decent jump in your credit score.
However, if that is one of your oldest credit lines, it could actually hurt your score, because you'd be removing your oldest line of credit, and part of your score equation is based on length fo credit as well, so you'd want to consider all of that first.
In the case that Macy;s did own it still, and agreed to delete the account for payment in full, you could then send a letter to Northland, asking them to verify the debt. They would not be able to, since it would be deleted, and would then also be force to remove the listing from your credit report. In this case,t hat would help your score even more, because you were actually being double dipped with 2 negative records for one debt.
If Macy's shows a zero balance and a closed account, they they sold your debt to Northland completely and don't own it anymore, so there is nothing to do with Macy's but wait for them to fall off in 2 plus years. If you are outside your states SOL for being sued, you could then respond to Northland first with a letter to verify the debt. if they can't verify it, they have to deleted it. Case closed, off your report. If they can verify it, you can then send them a pay for delete letter, offing to pay it in full if they delete the file from your credit. This is usually easier with a collection place. If they agree, they will remove it completely and your score will go up.
If you settle, and just pay the agreed upon discount, the collecting will continue to stay on your account for 7 years, albeit showing a zero balance with the words 'settled for less than owed' on your report. You will get zero benefits on your credit report by paying the settlement debt. It will only help if your going to say, buy a car or a house, they are more likely to give you a preferred rate if your collections are actually settled or paid than still open and owing.
:phew:
Does any of that make sense?
Granted, I did this about 8 years ago but I still don't see how a collection agency can acquire any documentation bearing one's signature. Most time the debt is verified over the phone when the debtor admits to the debt.
