Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

Re: Negotiating with collection and to clear my credit

You need to include the following in your letter to the creditor:

Confirm the conversation of xxx date; creditor has agreed to accept the amount of $$$ in full and final satisfaction of [name] account [account number] if paid [insert details - by xx date - or in installments of xx per month until xx, whatever the agreement was].

You agree that upon receipt of $$$ paid as called for in this agreement, you will report this account to your client as being "paid in satisfaction of agreement", and that your client will report the account to all credit bureaus as being paid and resolved. You further agree that [creditor] will take no further collection action with respect to account [xxx] if the payment of this account is being made as stated herein.

Also include something like "if my understanding of the agreement concerning account xxx is not correct, please notify me immediately.

IF you incorrectly state the agreement in your letter, and the creditor or its lawyer do not respond within a reasonable time to advise you the agreement you thought you had is incorrect, the creditor [and its lawyer] may not be able to claim later on that you have not paid the account per your later agreement.

All negative information about this account cannot be deleted from her credit report absent express agreement by the creditor. If this was part of the deal, be sure and include it in your letter. If it was not a part of your agreement, but it is just your understanding of what will be the resut of the settlement, my advice would be different. The most important thing is getting the report to the credit bureau from the creditor which indicates the debt has been satisfied. It may very well contain "negative" information such as how long it was past due at a certain point. Your mother is definitely better off having an account reported as having aged for 180 days or more, and then being satisfied, than having nothing reported on the account. It may be in her best interest to wait a few years.

Please feel free to send me a quick e-mail if you have any additional brief questions.