I have disputed lines on my credit...(didn't know to opt out first). When those disputes came back valid, I sent pay to delete letters to the collection company.
These are all to West Asset Management (WAM) and were from emergency gallbladder surgery, and no insurance. I am now at the point of being able to pay but not full amounts. So when sending these certified letters, I offered to pay 30 - 40% of the balance in order to have these lines removed from my credit (I did use a letter on line that I found so I wouldn't hurt my chances). I received letters back from WAM saying the investigation of disputes are valid, with no mention of what they would accept or agree to. I have read WAM is one of the hardest to get a pay to delete done.
So my question is: What is my next step in dealing with WAM, do I send another letter? Do I sent the orginial creditor (hospital) a settlement letter?
I am concerned about restarting the 7 year mark on my credit....these are a few years old already. Any help from you all would be greatly appreciate.
Lynn, Hello and welcome to the forum. I would suggest contacting the original creditor. Usually hospitols do not sell off debt but do hire collection agencies to collect them. If the hospitol and doctors are nearby try visiting them and asking how you could possibly settle these accounts. If they do give you a settlement offer you need to get it in writing and ask them to update this with the collection agency. Now also ask for the pay for delete and get this in writing also. That is very important as they may not make the effort to uphold their end of the deal once the debt has been satisfied.
From your post looks like you disputed the charges saying they doe nto belogn to you and now you are tryign to settle the debt which is nto yours.
Why woudl you want to settle some thign which you did not use?
thanks....
Fireyone...I do appreciate the advice, I will contact the hospital. Seems like I should have gotten a response from the pay to delete letters sent to West Asset Management instead of them just verifying that I owe the debt. That is why I thought maybe I should use another form to submit another pay to delete letter. I believe the pay to delete letter that I used offline said I was not owning up to this debt however would like to settle for a significant amount. I just do not want to take the chance of restarting these for another 7 years on my credit if they will not make a settlement. I can not afford to pay all of it. So I am trying to be cautious of making a call to anyone, they say that can even start the collection process over.
Sunnyca.....From reading other posts, I did dispute all of this with the credit bureaus before making contact with the collcetion agency (CA). However, all were verified by the CA to the credit bureau so I then sent a "pay to delete letter" to the CA, hoping they would settle for 30-40% of the debt. I can not afford to pay anymore than that.
Thanks to you both.
Got it Lynn
They may settlefor 30-405 but they may not be ale to remove that from yoru credit report
Once ti is late or defulted it will remain on yoru report for 7 years
There have been some forums that were talking about a pay to delete letter.....with the CA removing the line for payment ....thats actually what I would like. However at this point I would just like to know my next step so i can get these out of the way. I cant pay the 30-40% without them accepting and they havent done that by the letter.....I have read never to call them....so what now? As always thanks for the help.