My Successful Payment For Deletion Story

In November of 2006 I had to go the the Emergency Room. My insurance didn't cover about $252.00 of the bill. I never paid the bill and it went to collections.

It was returned to Mountain Land Collections and Attorney Quinn Kofford to collect on it. I received the initial collection notice to which I responded with a validation of the debt request. They sent a copy of the signed medical admission papers that I signed. They then served me with judgment papers to which I responded to the court directly with a statement that stated I was made to sign under duress in order to get the medical attention I needed, and that because I was under duress I should not be held liable for the bill.

I was later served with a pretrial notice because I responded to the judgment. I appeared at the pretrial hearing and the Law Office of Quinn Kofford and his assistants were there. There was a good group of us debtors in the waiting area outside the court room. Quinn asked how many of us were there for Mountain Land Collections, about 10 or so people raised their hands. They then numbered us off and had us go off into a little side-room, where they Pretty much tried to muscle us into "lets make a deal". They were wanting to get payment arrangements of like $25.00 per month set up etc. I sat down with one of the female assistants and she right away tried to make a deal with me. I promptly told her that I was not going to pay the debt because I don't feel I am responsible for the debt. She proceeded to question me along the lines of "so you don't think you should pay for medical services rendered to you?" I responded I didn't have a choice, I could have died or sign the consent. I kept on refusing to make a deal with her. She threatened to take this to trial, I indicated that I really didn't care if it went to trial, I am not going to pay this debt. She got frustrated and referred me to the attorney.

So Quinn sits down next to me and is trying to make a deal with me. I still refuse to make a deal with him. Then he says that I need to understand that he is the opposing attorney and after looking at my case, and what my argument is, he will win if this goes to trial. I acted indifferent still. He then said he could discount his fees and interest and make a payment deal. I told him that the only way I was going to pay anything is if I was to get a payment for deletion agreement first. He asked what that was. I explained the process to him. and I also told him that I work in the credit repair industry. He wasn't sure that it was possible, I assured him that it is possible and I explained exactly how it works.

I also told him that the marks on my credit report are already at an R9 which is the maximum damage it can get. he agreed, And I let him know that there really isn't any motivation for me to pay if that won't change. He agreed. He said he will present the idea to the creditor and see if they are willing to agree to the payment for deletion. He also told me that he has been doing this for 15 years and he has never heard of this approach before.

Today I got a call from their law office, I returned their call, and they said that they are willing to do the payment for deletion agreement AFTER I pay them in full. I refused that deal. I told them that I need the agreement first or else how am I to trust that you will delete it after the payment has been made? She said that If they say they will do it, they will do it. I disagreed. She then told me that "I'll talk to my office manager about it, but it looks like it will go to trial". I said Ok.

They called me back about 20 minutes later and they said that they would agree to put a paragraph in the repayment agreement that states that upon repayment they will agree to delete it off of my credit reports. I said great.

So now I am awaiting the deal to come in the mail to sign and deliver back to them.

What I learned is that if you are served with a judgment, it is to your advantage to respond to it and at least state your side of the story. I also learned that the attorney will schedule all of his collection accounts to appear at the court at the same time to save them hassles of returning multiple times. I also learned that they will then hustle you for a quick and easy deal that usually only benefits them. I also learned that if you don't understand how the credit and collections game is played and if you don't understand your consumer rights, the collectors will walk all over you to their advantage. I also learned that if you go in to the court or negotiating arena knowing exactly what you want to get out of it (in this case, payment for deletion), and hold your ground regardless of their intimidation, it's likely you will succeed with achieving your goal.

It is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it works.