Jacinta
“Dear Steve,
I am buying a home very soon, may 22, I must payoff two debts from my credit report before I can close, I have a bell south debt (phone company) and time warner debt (cable service) from 2004, I live in NC. these accts are with a collection agency, I have contacted both of these agencies to try and settle and they tell me that neither company settles for less than the debt, bellsouth ($453) time warner ($653), what can I do?
Is it possible to get the debt settled for less than the amount?
Jacinta”
Dear Jacinta,
You have no authority or right to force any creditor to accept less than the minimum as a full and final payment of a debt. If the creditor refuses to settle the debt for less, you’ll just have to pay the full amount due to satisfy those two debts.
You could always contact the original creditors on those debts and try to settle but my bet is that they will send you back to the collection companies handling it. Worth a try.
Steve
