<prompt> Human: How to SettlePay a DebtI got an email from a buddy yesterday. He has a bunch of accounts in collections and has been dealing with a collection agency in our home town. He wanted to check with me before he went and paid the settlement they offered. Im glad he did. Hes kind of dumb and I honestly think he was going to just walk in to their office and pay with cash. Since I see questions here on PF about dealing with debt collectors just about every day, I thought Id copy and paste a redacted version of my response for all to enjoy. Side Note: I told my friend I was going to post this to reddit. His responses were; a What is reddit? b Well surprise surprise Mr. Ego. Nobody asked but youre still going to explain how you know everything. Fuck him... I do know everything... Im sending him a link to lemonparty.org at work tomorrow.Anyway... My responseWhile, in theory, you should be able to just pay the collector in cash and be done with this forever, its probably better to take a few extra steps to protect yourself. Since you mentioned that youve got other debts to settle, here are three very simple steps even you can remember:1-Get it in writing the terms,2-Get confirmation of payment,3-Keep copies of everything.It sounds like they sent you an offer letter, thats good. You want an offer letter w proof of payment or a confirmation letter. A confirmation letter is more convenient because it has everything you need in one document statement of paymentsettlement in full plus a confirmation of payment received, but you dont usually get one of those until AFTER youve paid and youre kind of screwed if they forget to send one. Regardless, as long as you have terms and confirmation of payment, its all good. Terms:Some debts get around like your sister. They get sold from one creditor to another. You something to prove that you paid this in case another collector shows up later trying to collect the same debt. When a debtor tells me that the debt Im trying to collect has already been paid or settled, here is what I ask for and what I think you need in your writing to prove the debt has been paid.1-Amount amp;amp;amp; Settlement Language Pay in full, settle in full, etc... Something telling me you made a payment isnt good enough. If your account had a 5000 balance and you paid 2500, all I know is that you paid 2500. I dont know that the creditor agreed to accept 2500 as a settlement. Youre looking for something that says they want 2500 as settlement in full, to settle your account, to pay your account in full, etc...2-Identification of the Debt.Telling me you paid your account or your bank account doesnt help me. You might have 3 accounts with that creditor. How do I know which one was paid? The two big things to look for are the name of the creditor and the original account number. Note: They told him they only have an internal reference number. I dont buy that bullshit that they dont have the account number. If it came from a bank, credit cards, checking overdraft accounts, auto loans, student loans, etc... it has an account number. How the fuck were they planning to sue you if you didnt pay?Even if a collector bought the debt, they should still be able to identify the original creditor and the account number. If its not a bank account, you can get something descriptive. Look for something that identifies the creditor and the goods or services provided. You mentioned you have some medical debt. In those cases you can have them attach the account statement to the letter and include something like the attached statement or something like that in the letter.Here are some examples that might apply to you: American Express Card No. xxx1234, Auto Body Shop, partslabor to make you look like an even bigger douche in your POS Hundai, VIN XXX2121. Porn Warehouse Significant Spanker Account No. xxx1234, Hundai Motor Credit Account No. xxx12345, Office Visit, April 1, 2011, Dr. Feelgood, Office Visit, April 2, 2011, Dr. Jellyfinger, Facility Charge, Our Lady of Perpetual Rehab, Dates of Service April 1 through 10, 2000. 3-The Settlement Deadline if any.The letter you got should have a due date or say something like within 30 days. Most offers are only good for a limited period of time and if you fail to pay before a certain date, the offer is void. People call me all the time saying they paid or settled a debt. Then they send me a copy of their settlement letter something showing that they paid about 6 months late. A payment of 2500 on May 1, 2013 does not settle an account if the offer was to settle for 2500 on or before December 1, 2012. If they got it a day late or didnt cash it fast enough, we could argue with them but if youre way off, youre SOL. 4-Identification of the CollectorCreditor.The offer or confirmation letter has to be from the collector. I had a guy claim that he had already paid one of my major bank accounts and he sent me letter from his accountant. Thats like getting a letter from the dry cleaner saying you paid your milk man which you should do because you dont want your milk man pissed off. The easy way to deal with this is to make sure the letter is on the collectors letterhead if it isnt, let me know because something is VERY suspicious. 5-Other TermsPromisesI dont know what specifics youve worked out but if its important to you, get it in the writing. It doesnt matter if they promised to delete the item from your credit report, dismiss a lawsuit, buy you that pony youve always wanted or stop dating your mom; if its not in the letter, it isnt going to happen. Confirmation of Payment:I know you struggle with all things financial but this is simple; Get a letter from the collector confirming that you paid confirmation letter or pay in a way that allows you to prove that you paid. Ya... Just in case you are wondering, cash is almost never traceable. On the other hand, checks, debit cards, money orders, and credit card charges typically are traceable. It doesnt matter how you can trace the payment, you just need to make sure youve got proof of: 1-When payment was made See: Settlement Deadline above,2-How much was paid See: Amount above, 3-To whom the payment was made See: Identification of the CollectorCreditor above.Id pay with a check and then get a copy of the cashed check front AND back from your bank. A bank or credit card statement will work too if it shows who got paid because the date and amount are already on there. If youre going to do a money order or a cashiers check, ask how you get confirmation of payment and follow the instructions. Note for Reddit: I can tell you what DOES NOT work. A copy of a letter sent via certified mail claiming to have made payment. Even if I assume there was a check in the envelope, there is nothing showing that my client got paid. You could have canceled the check, the check could have bounced or my client could have rejected the payment. People on here make a lot of noise about certified mail. Remember, all certified mail proves is that you sent something. It doesnt prove what you sent or what happened before or after you sent it. Keep Records:I dont know how to elaborate on this. Keep copies. You have an entire fucking room full of comic books; you can keep a couple of folders with this shit in them. If youre opposed to keeping paper copies, scan them and save them in the same place you keep all of your porn. If thats too much, get a sky drive account or a USB thing. You mentioned that you think you paid one of the accounts off. I have some bad news. If you dont have a record of it, youre SOL. EDIT: My buddy said that the collector told him he HAD to pay cash so I called to talk to the collector for him this morning. In this case I told him its probably ok to pay cash. The collector has to have certified funds before the 27th so it HAS to be cash or a cashiers check AND they will have a Paid in Full letter waiting for him when he gets there. He had them fax me a copy of the paid in full letter and it has everything he needs.  <response>: Thank you for the effort. This looks great!If I can add one piece of advice for everyone, you dont want to mess up your credit owing petty amounts of money to Macys and American Express in the first place. Ive known a couple of guys with messed up credit over less than 1000 of debt. Yes, I am implying that if you are going to mess up your credit, then make sure its worth it. : 