Question Regarding Paying a Collector

[Lewstar]

What is the name of your state? California

My wife and I have one blotch on our credit rating, which we discovered when we applied for a car loan through our credit union. The original debt--$200--was incurred via a credit card. The debt, apparently, has been bought by a major collection agency, FNCB, which upped the debt, plus interest to $800.

As much as I want to clear my credit record, I blanch at the idea of paying $800 on a debt of $200. I googled the collection agency and found myriad complaints by debtors who've had to deal with this company.

With this in mind, I called the collection agency several times and received different "offers" depending on whom I talked to. One supervisor told me, "Well, if you don't want to pay the $800, the black mark will remain on your record until 2009."

Finally, I talked to a representative who said he would accept $400 as payment, and then he wanted me to pay by check over the phone--giving him the routing number, check number, etc., of my credit union. I said I'd prefer to send the check. I said this because I had no assurance that this collection agency, which seems to have many unhappy customers, might just cash the check and not agree that the debt had been fully paid. (I didn't tell him that I had this concern.)

Sorry to ramble, but my question is this: If I send the collection agency $400 is there any guarantee that this company will agree my debt has been fulfilled and notify the necessary credit reporting bureaus?

I thought perhaps I could write on my check that cashing it constituted payment of the debt, but such a notation could easily be crossed out. I would like to remove this one debt from my credit report, and I think $400 for $200 is eminently fair--but I'm also very wary of the collection agency simply cashing the check and then saying I still owed $400.

Sorry for the long missive, but as the saying goes, "I didn't have time to write a short story, so I wrote a longer one." Any help/advice would be much appreciated....

LewWhat is the name of your state?