Ask me about dealing with/suing/being sued by debt collectors!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Ask me about dealing with/suing/being sued by debt collectors!

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Thread delivers, thanks!

How many credit cards did you have/what was your total debt when you decided to walk away from it? (Sorry if this is too detailed considering your NDA, please don't answer if so)

What state do you live in? (again sorry if too specific)

Did your debt ever force you to consider bankrupcy?

How do you feel about the Credit C.A.R.D. Act passed by Congress?

How do you feel about the credit card/consumer debt industry in general?

seacat fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Dec 1, 2009

# ¿ Dec 1, 2009 06:35

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 11:55

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

A few more questions if you don't mind:

To what extent have your credit card struggles affected your personal life? For example, have you had problems getting an apartment or a job because of your credit history?

What did you spend all that money on? I have maxed out 4 credit cards for about $13,000 during college, about 1/2 of that being somewhat justified (medical payments, tuition, books) and the other 1/2 frivolous spending (beer, gifts for my girlfriend, taking friends out to the bar etc.)

How do your friends & family feel about your choice on dealing with the situation?

What's the worst thing a debt collector has done to you?

During the worst time how many calls per day on average did you get from them?

You also mentioned some stories. I'd love to hear these

Keep posting!

# ¿ Dec 2, 2009 00:15

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

How exactly doesthe statute of limitations figure in? For example, I live in Texas(4 years), but let's say a defaulted card balance is sold to a collector in Delaware (6 years). Do they have 4 years to sue me or 6? What if you move to a different state with a longer SOL?

I've read that the FDCPA only applies to debt collectors, not original creditors. Does this mean that it is legal for the OC's collections department to call you at work or at 1AM, call 25 times a day, make threats of physical harm, etc? Is there any legislation dealing with original creditors?

# ¿ Dec 5, 2009 00:31

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

quality management posted:

you could have used all this effort avoiding your obligations and screwing over the people who lent you money when you needed it but didn't have it coming up with ways of obtaining money and paying them back

The credit card companies will do anything legal to gently caress over their customers so they can make a higher profit. Usurious interest rates, deceptive billing and contracts, hidden fees, etc. It's only our obligation to repay the favor!

Also nobody forces these companies to lend money to them. They throw $5000 credit limits at 18 year old college kids with no concept of personal finance, it's a risk they're knowingly taking. Not repaying them isn't wrong, it may be borderline virtuous considering some of their practices. If they didn't want to take that risk, they shouldn't have lent the money.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2009 23:26

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

CubsWoo posted:

The FDCPA applies to anyone trying to collect a debt. This includes original creditors, collection agencies, junk debt buyers, and lawyers representing any of the above.

Wow, so if this is true, according to 805.c:

quote:

c) CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a
debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a
debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease
further communication with the consumer, the debt collector
shall not communicate further with the consumer with
respect to such debt, except�
(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector�s further
efforts are being terminated;
(2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor
may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily
invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or
(3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt
collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy.
If such notice from the consumer is made by mail, notification
shall be complete upon receipt.

I can write a letter to Wells Fargo Card Services Collections Department or Sallie Mae Collections Department to stop contacting (ie calling 8 times a day) me unless they intend to sue me (ha ha I live in TX)? IANAL and something seems fishy about this, you said you had to change your phone #, I'm assuming because of the constant calls. Id gladly pay them their money if I had any but I dont and Ive told them so. Its kind of annoying checking your phone every 20 minutes hoping for a job callback and drat, its Wells Fargo again.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2009 03:06

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Pagan posted:

Do it in writing, and mention some laws. Even OC's have to follow the FCRA and FDCPA, and once you have some stuff in writing, you can track things down further, and start legal action. On one hand, the amount is so small that hiring a lawyer seems like false economy, but on the other, if it's affecting your credit and your ability to get a loan, it's costing you way more than the listed debt.

Send a letter to verizon. They are legally obligated to reply with ALL the information, or it comes off your credit report.

OCs do not have to follow the FDCPA, although some states bind them to it.

# ¿ May 3, 2010 02:07

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

IceWolfe24 posted:

Okay this thread has come my way when I needed it. I'm pretty ashamed to be in this situation, but lately I've decided to not be afraid of it and just do what I need to do so I can actually get on with my life.

I'm way over my head in CC debt, though I'd rather not disclose how much (it's 5 figures). I also have about 30K in student loans that right now I am delaying with a temporary forebearance. I have a decent job, but almost all of my paycheck goes to household bills and credit cards, leaving me very little for food/gas. Invariably, I've fallen into the trap of paying all my bills in full every month and then using the CCs to survive. What's worse - once the student loans are in repayment, the amount I'd owe them on top of everything else actually exceeds my monthly income by about $200 BEFORE I buy food or any necessities.

Part of the problem is that despite a nearly spotless payment history for two decades, Citibank, the card with the largest balance, raised my interest rate TWICE recently (and in the span of one year), once around the time of the bailouts and then 6 months later. That put my minimum payment at the edge of my limit. And of course they absolutely refuse to reduce it again.

So now I've been hearing that my best option would be to stop paying on the card and force them to negotiate a lower payment/interest rate with me.

What do you guys think? Is it worth the risk of stopping my payments and forcing Citibank's hand? How much risk am I really facing? I really don't want to default, just get things into a manageable structure so I CAN pay them back.

I feel like I've run out of options - that as responsible as I want to be, and have tried to be, the situation has snowballed and I can't control it any more. And I really don't give a poo poo about my credit score - I've already written myself off as a bad credit risk, so I don't think anyone else should think differently! Anyway, I own my house and have a newish car I'm making payments on, with the intention of not needing another one for many years. Finally, I'm in Texas, which sounds like it mitigates the risk somewhat.

It's really hard to tell what's better for you without a more complete financial picture. For example, is your student loan debt federal or private? Is your huge credit card debt with Citibank only, or is that just the major one? When you say you own your house, is it free and clear or do you have a mortgage?

Although IceWolfe24 has a good point, 25% on five figures is obscene. I'm assuming it's not the low five figures either, otherwise you probably wouldn't have such a tough time making ends meet. It's hard to imagine that the even 200 bucks a month you would save on that poo poo (cable, cell phones) would really make a dent in such a huge debt given the interest rate, and the drop in quality of life you get from living like a broke-rear end to keep forking money over to Citigroup without actually paying off your debt would be significant. Yeah, yeah, morals, pay what you owe, etc. Maybe you'll be in debt for just 16 years instead of 20, assuming you don't get laid off, have unplanned medical expenses or any other expenses. Without full amounts and your other expenses, it's hard to tell. One thing you can do is stop payments, let the CC company scream for a while while you save for a settlement, them pay them off right before your account is charged-off. Without knowing your total amount owed or your income, it's hard to tell whether this is the right choice for you.

Being in Texas definitely benefits your cause. One of my best friends' fathers (in Texas) was in your situation and essentially walked out on 60,000$ worth of credit card debt and just waited out the SOL. He was judgment proof however - no bank accounts or assets in his name, and his wages couldn't be garnished due to state law, so nobody bothered to sue him even on such huge amounts because they knew they wouldn't get dick. This is completely anectodal though, and IANAL - plus if you own a house you have assets, so you'd better be careful.

Know this though -- once you make that decision to stop paying, whether right or wrong, your credit is hosed and you can't go back. It can be repaired, but only with a lot of work, and a lot of waiting. Also, pay those student loans no matter what. That is the poo poo to worry about, not the unsecured credit cards.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2010 03:25

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

fusionpit posted:

In 2005 I opened up an account with TCF bank. Having just turned 18 and not having a job, I quickly went below the minimum for the account, and they started charging me fees. Eventually, they charged off $53 and sold the debt to a collection agency. About April 2006 I get a letter from the collection agency, and I just pay the debt off.

Recently I tried to open an account with a credit union. They told me about the charge off with TCF Bank, and said they couldn't open an account unless it was paid. Confused, I got all three reports and checked them very carefully.

Not a drat thing on ANY of them. I saw the credit union listed under a hard pull (which I though was supposed to be a soft pull, since they weren't using it to make a lending decision?) on my Experian report, but the Experian report shows nothing that "might" have a negative impact on my score. There's no settled or paid in full entries, in fact there's nothing listed under that section, at all.

So, what do I do? I don't have the confirmation print out from the collection agency, since it was 4 years ago. Do I contact TCF to find out who they sold the debt to, and figure out what's going on? How did they find out about the charge off if it's not even on my credit report? Is there some inter-bank reporting system?

You might be in Chexsystems hell. Chexsystems is a credit-report-bureau specifically for checking accounts. Chances are if you owed a bank and were charged off, you wound up in Chexsystems, even for such a laughably low amount. It's unfortunately notoriously difficult to get out of, although you can often get approved, esp. with a CU, if you can prove that you paid the debt. You can get a free Chex report here: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/freereport.htm Often if you pay a debt like this, it's to a third-party collector, which has nothing to do with your Chex report. You really have to pay the original bank to get out of there.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2010 22:35

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Canine Blues Arooo posted:

I've been following this thread for a long time and finally, I find myself in a position where I can use the information, but I do have an inquery--

Today, I found a collection letter in the mail telling me I owe $170~. I first couldn't even think of where I would have generated this debt but it dawned on me that it was probably from an overdraft bank account I completely forgot about maybe 2-3 years ago. It's not a lot and while I could pay it without flinching too hard, it's still a decent chunk of money for some college kid and I'd like to know what my options are. I already sent them a request to verify the debt and if they respond, I'm wondering what I should do to pay for delete.

The thing is, the letter they sent was rather professional. It listed some of the rights discussed here and looked a lot less sleaze-bag than I would have imagined. I think these guys will probably verify the debt.

So how should I go about paying as little as I can for a delete? Do you suppose they would settle for 50%-ish? If it helps, the collection agency is Capital Accounts out of Nashville TN.

Thanks for your time and for this thread!

If it was for a checking account, I'd say your biggest worry is being in Chexsystems.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2010 03:47

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Canine Blues Arooo posted:

It was. What exactly does this mean for me and can I get it removed from Chexsystems?

Chexsystems essentially a blacklist for checking accounts, kind of like your bank account, and it contains info like accounts closed for overdraft or fraud, the amount of checks you ordered, and such. If you owe a bank money and they close your account, you will end up in there. Most people are not aware that it exists. This leads to a pain in the rear end since most banks check your report and you won't be able to open any new checkings accounts and may even have your current checking accounts closed because some banks do sweeps to look for high-risk customers. don't panic though, because the latter rarely happens (my friend actually opened a new acct with BOA despite having an entry in Chex for $400 owed for "account abuse"), just on the basis of having another account with BOA.

Start by getting a free copy of your Chexsystems report at https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/index.htm. You might have lucked out because sometimes banks gently caress up and don't report you, just write off your debt. Entries will fall off after five years, but it is possible to get it removed earlier if you pay the original bank (NOT the debt collector it's sold to) in full, although they are under no obligation to remove the info, although they are obligated to mark it paid in full, which may satisfy a of of banks enough to grant you an account. Sometimes you can even just dispute it with Chex and they will remove it, although this is rare. Creditboards has some great advice on the topic.

Whatever you do, don't just pay the debt collector. Often people think if they do this they'll be able to open a new account however just paying the debt collector will barely do anything for your credit report unless you do a pay-for-delete, and it will do nothing to remove you from Chex. $170 is a laughably small debt all things considered, you should probably attempt to do a PFD, or just wait it out.

seacat fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Jun 25, 2010

# ¿ Jun 25, 2010 22:35

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Is there any kind of frequent-flier miles for sending poo poo CMRR or do you have to pay the 5 bucks for every letter?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2010 22:33

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

evensevenone posted:

I guess I forgot to pay my last power bill at my old apartment, and it went to collections. The power company couldn't find me, but the collections agency sure could! Anyway, it's a legit debt and I do want to pay it, can I/should I pay the collections agency or the power company? I'd rather not pay the debt collectors because they're generally scum.

Don't pay the debt collector unless they agree to a PFD. There is a good template letter here:

http://creditreportscrub.blogspot.com/2008/07/sample-pfd-letter.html

As CubsWoo pointed when it comes to collections agencies, a "paid in full" tradeline on your credit report does gently caress all for you and may even make your situation worse, since the time clock on the tradeline resets to 7 years when you pay it. I had the same situation, a medical debt of 100$ that had been charged off and paid it - if I had just waited out the time clock, it would be off my credit report already, but since I paid them in an effort to do the right thing it won't drop off my credit reports until mid-2011.

If they won't delete, then don't pay.

Edit: the power company no longer wants anything to do with you since they've written off the debt. In some cases you can get them to recall it but I doubt anyone would go to that much trouble for the amount of 1 light bill.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2010 05:07

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Mofette posted:

I'm sorry, I don't get it.

Why don't you get this sorted? Either call up the insurance company and get them to pay the rest of what they owe, or if its in your policy, you legitimately owe it and should just pony up for the medical work you had done. I think I'm missing why you don't feel that the hospital should have money for something they did in good faith.

I'm all for people stopping scummy collectors getting what they've paid bugger all for, but I don't agree that people should skip out on original collectors, especially when it doesn't seem like they've broken any rules so far.

I think you're missing the part where he's a foreign student and can't work/doesn't have any money.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2010 20:01

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

TouchyMcFeely posted:

Don't follow the same procedure for validating medical bills as you would other consumer credit. Medical billers are not allowed to sell past due bills to collections as it violates HIPPA regulations.

When dealing with medical claims you only deal with the original hospital/facility even if they've mistakenly sold your claim.

I posted the procedure to follow before but you can find it here.

Hi, this is absolutely not true. Hospitals and other healthcare providers can absolutely write your debt off to third party collectors; it's happened to me and tons of people I know. Selling the debt in and of itself, is not a HIPPA violation. They will generally offer much more reasonable repayment plans than any other creditor you will deal with, although if after all is said and done you still owe 60K you might as well just declare bankruptcy.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2010 11:26

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

TWiNKiE posted:

If you said "I work part-time at Kentucky Fried Chicken, usually on the biscuits but sometimes I clean the Pepsi machine. And I usually cash my paycheck at the liquor store, so I don't need a bank account." a collector is going to be more apt to take a tiny settlement and leave you alone.

This line is so hilarious I'm almost tempted to call one of my junk debt buyers just so I can use it on them

Has anyone ITT had any positive experience negotiating a settlement with an original creditor? I got a letter from Wells Fargo Card Services offering to settle my $800 balance for $400. I haven't made a payment on it in about 12 months, although I've probably paid close to $1,500 on this balance over 4 years (broke college student, fees, etc etc) before I stopped giving a gently caress. They still own the debt AFAIK although I've gotten calls here and there from collections agencies on their behalf. I don't have 400$ to give them so I wiped my rear end with their settlement offer and sent them the following letter:

quote:

12-9-10

Wells Fargo Card Services
P.O. Box 9210
Des Moines, IA 50306

Re: Account ending in xxxx

Dear Wells Fargo Card Services,

This letter is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of my liability for this debt in any form, but rather an attempt to amicably settle the remaining balance owed on this account.

The total amount owed on this account is ($ xxx.xx). I will pay your company the amount of ($175.00) as complete settlement of this account, provided that you explicitly agree to each and every point listed as follows:

1. Wells Fargo Card Services agrees to accept a payment of $175.00 as settlement of the balance owed on Account ending in xxxx as an agreed full and final settlement of all outstanding charges and fees on Account ending in xxxx.

2. Wells Fargo Card Services agrees to cease any and all attempts to collect on Account ending in xxxx, either directly or through a collection agency. Wells Fargo Card Services agrees to permanently cease any and all attempts to collect on Account ending in xxxx, since Wells Fargo Card Services would recognize the account as being paid in full.

3. Wells Fargo Card Services agrees not to sell the debt owed on Account ending in xxxx to any third party.

4. This agreement is binding on both parties.

If you completely agree to points 1 through 4 listed in this offer, please have an individual authorized to make such agreements on behalf of Wells Fargo Card Services sign and return a copy of this offer to the return address listed at the bottom of this page. The individual who signs on behalf of Wells Fargo Card Services must have express authority to make such agreements binding upon Wells Fargo Card Services or the agreement is void.

Sincerely,

xxxx

Notice: This agreement is restricted to the terms stated herein. This is not a renewed promise to pay, but rather a restricted settlement offer only. Failure to respond within 30 days of the date of this letter will terminate this settlement offer.

Creditor�s Authorized Signature: ___________________________________

Date:____________

Name: ___________________________________

Title : _____________________________

This agreement may be sent to the following address:

xxxx

I'm well aware that a settled-in-full tradeline is not much better than an unpaid tradeline, but I am also aware that an OC will probably not do a pay for delete. I think $175 is a fair price for them to gently caress off. This was honestly just a shot in the dark to get them to stop being so irritating. Any thoughts?

# ¿ Dec 10, 2010 10:42

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Vino posted:

This doesn't have to do with a debt collector per se but it is similar so I'm posting it in this wonderful thread.

For the last couple years up until maybe March, I was volunteering as an assistant instructor at a martial arts school. I say "volunteering" but on paper I was a student paying the standard tuition, but as a second degree black belt pretty much all I did was help teach classes. The school outsourced its finances to a "finance company" and I had signed a three year contract with them that basically stated that they had to provide facilities and competent instructors and in return I had to pay a lot of money. I'd never have signed a contract like this in modern times but I started going here when I was 18 and didn't know the ways of the world.

Now, around March the owner of the school had some drama-fallout with the primary instructors, who all left the school, leaving a former student third degree black belt to teach classes. This caused my interest in the school to wane (the guy I studied under since I was 18 was gone, why would I stay?) so I stopped attending and paying.

The third degree is a real nice and proficient guy but he's not a master, which according to my martial art is a fourth degree so he's not what the contract would define as a "competent instructor." Even so, the finance company started sending me "love letters" once a month saying that I owed them this and that for the balance of the contract.

I called them on the phone and told them I wouldn't pay and they refused to accept that. I then sent them a return "love letter" saying that they had broken their part of the contract so the contract is no longer valid and to please stop contacting me. Of course they continued sending me love letters saying that I was in their "pre-legal" and if I didn't pay the balance in full they would take me to court. Pre-legal I basically took to mean they wanted to sue me but didn't want to pay the lawyers until they knew I wouldn't pay. Eventually they sent me a letter saying that they were now taking me to court if I did not pay a substantially lower figure. This letter I filed away but also ignored as I intended to fight the matter in court if it came to that. However that ended up being the last letter I ever received, I never got served or received any other communication from them.

The impression that I get may have happened (but is just a guess) is that it went to their lawyers who looked at my letter and said, "poo poo this guy's got a case" and dropped it.

Six months later I want to make sure this matter is behind me. I just pulled up a copy of my credit report and they aren't present on it. What do I do? Do I send a debt verification letter? Can I do that even though the finance company is not a debt collector per se but rather a third party financing outsourcing firm? Do I just assume that it's over and done with because I never received anything else and there's no negative effect on my credit? I kinda wanted it to go to court because then I could just show up, show the contract, get the decision in my favor and be done with it, but since that never happened and I'm in a total blackout from them, I'm a bit unnerved.

You say volunteering, and that "on paper" you were a standard student. Were you actually paying them cash money at any point? Or were you helping them teach classes in exchange for free tuition.

It sounds like that "financial company" is shady as gently caress. It's hard to say, but sometimes contract debts like that just "disappear": ie they don't actually sell the debt to a debt collector. My old roommate signed up for a year contract for cable with Time Warner and due to financial difficulty, just stopped paying and returned the equipment. They sent him mildly threatening letters for a while and eventually just stopped. This was over two years ago and he hasn't seen anything on his credit report/got any collection letters after the first couple of months despite them claiming a $400 balance (termination fee + unpaid service).

The "Pre-Legal" or "We're considering turning this matter over to our legal department" is a bunch of poo poo. It's just scare tactics meant to bully you into paying. I'm sure if a third party collector did something like that it'd be a FDCPA violation.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2010 18:24

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Offrampmotel posted:

I pulled my credit reports today and found a debt that is being reported as delinquent twice (once by the OC and once by a CA). How should I handle this?

What kind of account is it, and what is the amount? Do you know who owns the debt? For credit card accounts, for example, typically once you are late enough behind, they'll charge off the debt and sell it to a debt collector. So on your credit report, in the "negative information" section, you'll see "charge off" under the original creditor, and also a lovely new account with a collections agency.

The reason I ask is that sometimes OCs will hire a third-party agency to annoy you in attempt to collect the debt but they don't actually sell the debt to that agency. In this case though, you will typically only see one entry on your credit report for the OC (at least that has been the case for me). So that implies you have some debt with someone that's been sold to a collections agency.

The prob is at if the delinquency is that far along the damage to your credit report has pretty much been done. There's really no way to reverse those black marks other than by waiting and keeping your other accts as current as possible. I have heard that it is possible to get the OC to "recall" the debt once it has been sold, thus wiping the CA entry off your credit report, but I've never known anyone that's actually done this successfully. Typically once OC sells the debt they're done with you.

Did the CA send you a dunning letter or contact you in any way? I would probably request validation, and if/when they validate try to to a pay-for-delete with the collection agency. If the debt has indeed been sold, other than pleading with the OC to recall the debt so you can set up some sort of payment plan (again, not sure if this is actually possible) there's not much you can do about that OC deliquency. But you might be able to remove the CA reporting with a pay-for-delete and consequently get them to leave you alone. If not, gently caress them.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2010 07:09

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Quarantini posted:

Through some stupid rear end decisions when I was young I have about 9k of credit card debt through 3 maxed out accounts. I have been short on cash and missing payments and frankly ain't getting anywhere with the debt. What is the standard operation to trying to settle debt? Chase and Capital One call me several times a day and I just ignore it since I don't know how to approach it, I would like to settle and get these loving cards under control. I can't pay off a 3.5k card in one payment but could do like $700 if it meant the debt was cleared.

With credit cards at least, you have to get pretty far in the delinquency cycle (usually 4-6 months) before OCs start sending you settlement offers or accepting settlements you offer. You could always try sending a offer of settlement letter to the collections department, you can just google it (or I posted one earlier in this thread), but I doubt they will accept it in that golden period when you are late and they still think they can get you "back on the right track" paying your 100% minimum payment and all of their penalty fees.

So SOP is just to let them harrass the gently caress out of you until you start getting letters saying "You owe 3.5K, but we'll take only 2.2K and call it even!", then offering them your $700. I'm not too sure if that'll cut it, but from CubsWoo posted above collectors are pretty desperate these days, and $700 is much better than $0.

As you probably know, this means your credit score will be in the toilet unless you manage to do a pay-for-delete, but if you've been missing payments with a high balance-to-maximum ratio and not making any headway with repaying the debt, it's probably not that great anyway.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2011 18:26

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

UrbanFarmer posted:

Today I received a, "We have sent your account to our attorney" letter from a CA for hospital bills. Should I:

1. Send a debt validation letter
2. Send a PFD with a request for validation if they don't agree
3. Other

I'm in Texas but they think I live in California.

How did you get the letter - forwarded?

I've gotten such letters before. I confess to being a noob in the credit repair game, but being in Texas, land of no wage garnishment, is a plus in any way you spin it. How large is the bill?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2011 06:24

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

TWiNKiE posted:

If you're 110% positive that this is beyond the SOL, let 'em sell the debt to a JDB, and tell the JDB to gently caress off and die when they send you a dunning letter.

Speaking of, just because a debt is beyond the SOL for a state doesn't mean that it can't be reported on your credit report, as negative items only drop off after seven years... right?

So, if you live in e.g. Texas, where the SOL is 4 years and you're very unlikely to get sued for amounts < $1,000 (no wage garnishment for most consumer debt), they can continue to ruin your credit for 3 more years even though they can do gently caress all about actually collecting the money. And from what I understand they will be glad to respond to CRA disputes, or re-sell the debt, thus restarting the 7 year clock, since without the option of getting an enforceable judgment, those are the only tools for getting money off that post-SOL account.

So even though I would love to send a "gently caress off and die" letter to ever single collections agency in the universe, wouldn't it be better to start with a DV followed by (if validated) PFD assuming you're < 7 years? Knowing that they're lucky to get 20 bucks on your completely-uncollectible-unless-your-rear end-moves-out-of Texas 1000$ account they should be likely to take it. Otherwise it might be 3 more years of USPSCMRR wars.

In conclusion, God bless the Great State of Texas, and God bless the FDCPA.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2011 08:24

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Boofchicken posted:

I read through the thread, so I apologize if I missed this. I have an old debt from Chase to the tune of about 4 grand. I am in Texas, but it has not been four years. Recently, a law firm has contacted me saying they are dealing with the payments for the debt collection agency that hired them. Not a law suit(yet), so I asked if there was any way for me to talk to the debt collection agency that hired them, and they said no, all correspondence goes through them. I am now at a more stable point in my life to possibly afford to pay my debt down. I talked to the law firm and asked for a letter confirming the debt, so I will be getting that soon.

How exactly do I deal or negotiate with the collection agency? The law firm doesn't have the authority to do pay to delete and the lady I talked to said it wouldn't make a difference to talk to the collection agency, since they would just refer me right back to the law firm.

The collection agency never sent me a confirmation of my debt and called several times a day from an unknown number and several times when I would answer, I would hear nothing. They never left a voice mail either.

I guess what I am asking is what are my options here as far as dealing with this, now that I am actually able to deal with it. Especially since there is no law suit, but I am having to only deal with the law firm. Again, I apologize if this information has been covered.

You ask for a letter confirming the debt, did you make sure to ask for validation (not verification)? And are you dealing with them by mail or by telephone? If it's by phone stop immediately. Everything should be in writing, request for validation should be sent CMRR.

Are you sure it's an actual law firm? A lot of collections agencies have law-firm-like names "J.C. Christensen & Associates" and others blab a lot of about their legal department (oooooohhhhh, scary) when they may or may not have an attorney on board, to try to scare you into paying.

Whatever you do, don't just cut them a check for 4 grand. If it is indeed a bona fide law firm and they have all their ducks in a row and can validate the debt they may sue you. But as has been pointed out recently itt, in Texas even if they sue, win, and get a judgment, it will be very difficult for them to enforce (no wage garnishment). Now you do NOT want a judgment, even an unenforceable one, on your record. But it may make the CA more open to settlements, preferably a PFD, knowing that they have to waste billable hours dragging your rear end into court and even if they win, aren't likely to get any money. If a collections agency owns that debt they probably paid cents on the dollar for it and even settling for $1K would still be a profit for them.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2011 19:31

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Boofchicken posted:

Sorry, the letter that they said they would send at first, before I knew to write in for the verification of debt. The collection agency never sent me a letter in the mail stating that I owe the money, just numerous calls.

But yes, I am going to do that first thing tomorrow. I'll have to call back and get their address, but beyond that I won't be dealing with them over the phone.

Hi guys, there may be some confusion here.

If a CA (collections agency) OWNS your debt (ie Chase has written it off and wants nothing to do with you), they should send you what's called a dunning letter. It is usually very concise and says "You owe us X! Pay up, fucker!" and does not usually contain any info about where they got the account.

As soon as you get this letter, send them a CMRR request for validation and save that green card. From the point they receive it, they have 30 days to provide full validation of the debt (basically a chain of custody of the debt, and how they came to the number they claim you owe, incl. any added fees). If they do not do so within 30 days they lose a bunch of their rights -- I am a credit repair noob still so maybe TWiNKiE can provide some details on what to do next. They may also send you some random crappy looky xeroxes of various spreadsheets and poo poo. This is not a full validation. For more info see http://creditreportscrub.blogspot.com/2008/07/debt-validation-why-you-should-do-it.html .. Actually I would read his entire blog, it is very useful.

I've had a few old utility bills (100-300$ range) go unvalidated and disputed them with the CRAs successfully, citing that the CA failed to validate -- they are no longer listed as colletions items on my credit report which provided a big boost to my score (which is still in the toilet).

They will probably validate on a 4K debt, but who knows.

If the CA is calling you, perhaps they don't have your address, or perhaps they don't legally own the debt and are collecting on behalf of Chase. This does happen, and if the agency gets $$$ out of it they get a cut, the rest goes to the OC (original creditor). This is happening to me with a Wells Fargo account - some CA is harrassing me trying to get me to pay up, but they haven't sent me a dunning letter. I am going to probably hit them with a DV anyway, but I'm not sure what to do.

If anything in this post is incorrect please correct me, but that is how it goes to the best of my knowledge (also, IANAL and this is not legal advice).

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 19:12

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Drewski posted:

Thanks for all your input. I've attached some info directly from my credit report just to confirm that this is the case. This is from TransUnion.

Yeah, nobody is going to come after you for an almost 7 year $185 old debt. In two months your credit score should shoot up a little bit (collections accounts are really bad for it, even if they're small)

Edit: unless you specifically try to piss them off.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2011 06:37

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

BusinessWallet posted:

I sent 3 PFD letters 3 weeks ago, certified. They were all signed for, but I've only gotten 1 reply and it was a verification of debt (didn't ask for this), albeit a shady one. All my offers were for about 40-50% of the debt. What do I do now?

Sorry for not answering your question but I have to point out it's not necessary to send PFD letters CMRR. That 5$ would be better spent somewhere else. Your PFD request should have them sign and date something and return it to you in writing, so there is no reason to have to prove they got the original letter.

Source: credit report scrub

# ¿ Apr 4, 2011 16:55

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

cocteau posted:

If you're totally resigned to not paying it, you might as well declare bankruptcy. Your chances of obtaining credit in the next few years will actually be better than having a chargeoff on your report like some sort of albatross.

I must respectfully point out this isn't good advice. While it is true that recent-bankrupcyees get swamped with credit offers (creditors know they can't declare bankruptcy again for 10 years!) these offers are poo poo approximately 100% of the time. E.g., a card with a credit limit of $500, an annual fee of $125, a monthly fee of $25, and a deposit of $500 because it's a secured card 'cuz you declared bankruptcy and no sane bank will give you unsecured credit.

I am absolutely not saying that a chargeoff is not serious business, just saying that you might as well declare bankruptcy is nuts.

Bankruptcy may get you a few lovely credit offers in the short run, but it is a bad deal in the long run. I would go further to say that someone declaring bankruptcy over a $2.5K balance on a Macy's card is pure lunacy. I definitely agree that for many reasons this ain't "the good old days" (my father walked away from $50K of credit card debt in the mid-1990s, waited out the SOL and is now debt-free with a great credit history, lol). While having lovely credit is definitely an albatross to some degree, bankruptcy is a much worse albatross. Every application form for any loan or job I've seen asks you if you've ever declared bankruptcy, even if it falls off your reports after ten years. No application I've seen (although I'm sure some are out there) asks you if you're ever had lovely credit, a chargeoff, a collections account, etc in your lifetime.

Also, I offer the following anecdotal evidence: so many people in the US have lovely credit due to the recession that it (and even bankruptcy) does not carry the social stigma that it used to in the boom times. Yes, almost every serious employer checks credit history. Yes, every property company will check your credit before they lease to you. Yet, while the former might be a problem for people applying to financial positions, I have yet to know anyone who's been turned down for a job because of their credit score (I know it happens, just saying it's not often). And most places are far more concerned about your income than your credit score because any sensible person would pay their rent before anything else.

Case in point: I have mostly good accounts, but a few chargeoffs and collections accounts, and an insane amount of student loan debt, yet landed a decent job (10 months ago when my credit was about at its worst) and was approved to rent a decent (not extravagant, but well within my means) house just last month. I have a friend who declared medical bankruptcy twice, yet was approved to rent an even bigger home and got a very good ($70K/yr) job. Loans are a different issue - you will absolutely not get a loan for anything - car, mortgage, etc if you have lovely credit, no doubt about this, unless you willingly take a bad deal, and you may have to deal with higher rates on car insurance and have problems renting cars as well. However, as a general case, necessities like housing are more focused on your income more than your credit, although credit is absolutely considered. But if you are in the position where you have to borrow money in order to survive, you have a bigger problem than just a lovely credit score.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2011 04:54

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

AndrewP posted:

Well that's scary. Scary enough to convince me to cancel my auto-pay on my Discover Card.

I will never, ever sign up for autopay on anything, except for my rent (since I can't very well live without that). Maybe a car (although a new car is far, far off in my future) because I can't live without that either, and sometimes you get breaks on it. It is notoriously hard to cancel with some businesses (24 hour fitness anyone?) and if you go through a hardship like getting laid off and spend your remaining $/savings on food/bills but your cable TV and internet is still on autopay, you can end up in Chexsystems through not only killing what remains of your bank account but eating tons of overdraft fees that you can't even stop. Chexsystems entries last for 5 years, are notoriously difficult to get out of, and they may send a CA after your rear end as well. This is opposed to just stop paying your bills, let them go to collections, yes your credit will tank, but credit history even with bankruptcy can be brought up to a fairly decent level in maybe 2-3 years (with a lot of effort, of course) and you'll still have a bank account.

PS: yes, I am in Chexsystems for 2 more years. Yes I have tried every trick from Creditboards and everyone else. They keep retaining the information with no proof that I owe the debt besides some lovely looking faxes from Wellsfargo where the amount shown does not equal my charged off balance. Chex doesn't give a gently caress.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2011 02:49

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

I pulled all my credit reports from annualcreditreport a couple of months ago and have gotten some threatening calls (no dunning letters) from some new collections agencies. I called them back, admitting no responsibility for the debt, and left them my mailing address.

Heres an interesting question I dont believe i have seen posted. Ive burned my free credit report for the year. Say I go into a bank to intentionally apply for a loan I have no chance of getting (not hard with my subbasement score). When they deny me, can I get three more reports due to FCRA? Would this be considered fraud? I do know a hard pull is a slight negative, but at this point I dont think one in the last three years will make much of a difference.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2011 21:19

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

EAB posted:

So if collections is hurting my credit score, but if I pay collections, and purportedly it will still hurt my credit history for its 7 year period, then whats the point of paying collections? Should I just ride out the 7 years if paying or not paying makes no difference to my credit score anyways?

You're right but it's worse. If you have a $191 debt sold to rear end in a top hat Collections, Inc by Time Warner, for example, you wait 6 years and 11 months, and decide to pay ACI the $191, that tradeline won't drop off after 7 years. It will continue on file as "Paid in Full" for 7 more years. So that is 14 years of a douchebag collections agency on your credit reports.

There are two cases in which paying collections agencies might help you:
1. They agree in writing to delete the debt from your credit reports, NOT just mark it "paid in full" (I've always heard of people doing this but never tried it myself so take it with a grain of salt)
2. They are going to sue you for a non-trivial amount of money and have their poo poo together and will win a judgment against you and can enforce the judgment. This is unlikely because large amounts don't really get sold to collection agencies that much in my experience; original creditors deal with these accounts themselves. If you stop paying your $56,789.00 balance on your Chase card Chase bank will be the ones to sue your rear end rather than get pennies on the dollar. If you stop paying your $200 balances on a Macy's card it'll end up in collections.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2014 00:42

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Sub Rosa posted:

stuff

Sorry, I stand corrected. I should point out though that although I'm sure it's illegal I've heard stories of some scummy debt collections agencies collecting the payoff amount and then selling the debt to another 3rd-party collector therefore effectively extending a black mark by another 7 years. You can dispute it off with the proper paperwork but a lot of people don't know that and just pay thinking it will make everything go away, which triggers all sorts of poo poo.

EAB posted:

I have a $130 collections for cox cable, I figure I should pay it in case I move to an area where I would have to be their customer again... Still if paying this crap got it removed from your credit report wouldn't it encourage a lot more people to actually pay collections?

Does cox cable still own the debt? If they sold it to a collections agency paying the collections agency would do nothing for you with respect to them. If the original creditor still owns the debt it's best to pay them or try to work something out if you can.

Hilariously in 2007 I ended up owning Time Warner like 600$ for a TV service my deadbeat roommate at the time signed up for in my name. In my youthful brilliance I just said gently caress it and never heard anything again. Fast forward to 2013 and despite never having paid them I signed up for cable internet without any problems (they even did some sort of background check on me to make sure I had a good track record with them). I've been pulling my annual credit reports every year since 2009 and it's not listed as any collections, seems like it just disappeared :iiam:

# ¿ Oct 21, 2014 20:18

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Hugbot posted:

Smaller balances are the majority for sure, but OCs can and do offload many medium to high balance files. Maybe even more surprising is that many, many totally collectible* files don't even get sued until the third or fourth placement**.

I handle one low-volume state in a multi-state firm working purchased debt, and I have about 6,000 files. Of those, about half are above $1k and maybe 20% are over 10k. It's pretty common to see five figure purchased debt. My largest file is $250,000.

The typical commission for attorneys is 1/3. If collections agencies only worked $200 files the overhead alone would shut the firm down in no time at all. Files below a certain balance get sold off or subcontracted to what I presume to be the absolute dregs of the industry.

Anything between $1-10k is a pretty good bet for a debt collector. It's worth pursuing from the collections side, but not a hopeless situation for a debtor.

(*meaning, the debtor has a well-paying job/career that is verified to be current and is an unlikely bankruptcy candidate)
(** this is usually, but not always, because the first one or two placements are by bulk purchasers who then divvy up the files by state/region and resell them to agencies operating in those states/regions)

Wow, I'm pretty surprised but completely believe you. I can't help but wonder why OC's aren't more motivated to take these people to court themselves over these larger (5 figures+) accounts, is it really just not worth it for them even with the sums involved? Seems it would be so much easier for them to sue than for a CA since they presumably have all of the data on the account (contracts, delinquency dates, complete payment history, etc) neatly and it would be a slam dunk case.

Sorry to all about the inaccuracies I definitely did not trying to spread misinformation with my post. I have a lot of experience with credit, and dealing with debt collectors but it seems my picture is obviously far from complete.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2014 12:46

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Centripetal Horse posted:

Early this year, I had some medical tests done and ended up getting a BiPAP machine and an oxygen concentrator. I went out of pocket $800 or $900. My insurance deductible at the time was $1k, and the split for this sort of thing was 80/20. I lost my job and my insurance about a month after that. Today, I got an email saying I owe money for the equipment, and containing this paragraph:

"Also, I need to inform you that we never receive any payments from your insurance for the 2 equipment.
This is due to some documents that we failed to provide to prove that your machines are medically necessary.
Your Balance is now increasing so we decided to make use of your visa card on file to transact the payment.
Instruction came from the Billing Supervisor and Upper Management. Once it gets through, I am going to send
your Billing Statement as well as the receipt."

I logged into my bank account, and, sure enough, there was a charge for about $200 from this company. I have been out of work since February, so this is a Big Deal. I do not recall ever putting a card "on file," but I did use a card to pay the up-front cost for the equipment. I suppose anything is possible. I am not sure how them loving up paperwork means they get to take money from my bank account, though.

The company name in the email signature shows up as a Nevada LLC, but I cannot find any information about them. The website URL in the email signature does not exist, and has never been registered according to a WHOIS search. The email address the email came from does seem to be related to the company I paid for the equipment, but combined with the rest, it seems shady. I don't know if this is an internal collections department I am dealing with, or something else. I do not have a phone, currently, and I don't want to respond to the email until I have some plan of approach.

If I demand they not levy any more charges against the account until they provide proof that I authorized such, do they have to respect that? As long as they do (if they do) have the paperwork, can they just suck out the last few dollars I have without bothering to prove to me that they have the authority to do so? If I did not sign anything authorizing this, what recourse do I have? Also, this is not strictly collections-related, but does anyone know if I am responsible for the full amount of the equipment, given that I was covered at the time I made the first payment?

This all sounds super shady, given what you've described and the hilariously bad grammar/capitalization of the e-mail. If you are confident that you never signed anything in writing authorizing a payment I'd dispute it with your bank ASAP. As much as I hate the big banks (BOA Chase etc) they are very efficient about reversing these charges so if you are with one of those you're in luck. It sounds more like you're being scammed than anything.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 00:21

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Scenty posted:

Hi thread, I'm slowly working through this thread but would like some insight on my specific situation. I see there has already been some discussion on this very page about this topic! And just as I have found everywhere online there seems to be no real consensus on whether you should pay your collections or let them roll off.

Here are my current scores and their sources:
608 from capital one credit tracker
632 from credit karma (transunion)
642 from mint.com

I would like to get my credit score (at a minimum) over 660 to start with. I have one measly master card that capital one bought from HSBC with a credit limit of $320. It had $255 on it and I just tonight paid it down to $10, so I expect that to help a little bit. Beyond this, I had plans to open a secured card for $1,000 with my credit union as I read on credit karma that this was a good way to re-establish/repair credit.

Now, getting to the collections.
These are all medical collections from when I was very sick and my lovely student insurance didn't cover a lot of things. I'm kicking myself because my husband and I tried hard to actually stay on top of and pay the bills, but there were so many coming in that a few apparently slipped through the cracks.

$271 - scheduled to fall off June 2017
$87 - scheduled to fall of Feb 2019
$156 - scheduled to fall off June 2017
$329 - scheduled to fall off Jul 2015
$344 - scheduled to fall off May 2016

I also have one judgement (medical bills of $1,289) on my report which was paid in full a year ago and is scheduled to come off Aug 2017.

They are all fairly small amounts, so I am tempted to pay them, but will doing so actually help my credit score? My husband and I would like to apply for a loan from my credit union in about 8 months or so, and I haven't had a chance to talk to them yet, but what sorts of credit scores to banks and credit unions typically look for for a personal loan? My husband and I would like a loan for about $10,000 for infertility treatments. I have heard various things that once they are on your credit report, paying them won't help anything and it's best to let them fall off. Some websites talk about pay for delete and others say that's a myth and it doesn't exist/work. Then some say even if your credit score is good if you have a collections account that you can't get a loan so it's best to pay them off anyway. Basically, every piece of advice out there conflicts with the next article I read. So what do you say, goons? I live in Oregon if it matters.

Edit to add: our cars are both paid off. We don't have a mortgage. Our only debt are credit cards that we are paying down (highest is $2700 for husband's capital one, and a kay jewelers card with $1,600 from our wedding ring purchase and that's it) and federal student loans.

Congrats on starting to get your stuff in order!

I would start by getting your FICO credit score from myfico.com. My understanding is that the FICO score is used by most lenders to determine creditworthiness so that's the one you want to look at. Unfortunately it's not free but it's not that expensive.

The following is anecdotal evidence: I haven't seen my credit score go up any from paying small (< 1,000$) accounts with collection agencies. When I had really crappy credit (back in 2010) I paid off "$3000" (balance plus their bullshit fees) spread across four collection agencies, same as you. Of course after lots of letter writing and annoyance I settled only paid about $800, and they were marked paid, but my Transunion credit score didn't change, it stayed in the high 500's even with accurate reporting. I'm in the high 600's now after a lot of work.

Nobody is going to sue you over any of those amounts. I've heard (again, unfortunately anectodal) stories that some lenders do look at your whole credit report and not just the score, especially for larger amounts. So paying them off as a goodwill measure might help you in the long run even if it doesn't raise your score. I was mistakenly under the impression that paying it resets the 7-year clock but apparently that is not true. At least it'll stop them harassing you but be sure to pay everything with $ orders not personal checks, do NOT give them your signature, and get proof in writing that it is paid in full and follow up with credit bureaus that it is accurately reported (some debt collection firms are incredibly shady in their practices).

Getting a secured credit card is definitely a good idea. Obviously you will have to pay an annual fee and get pound me in the rear end interest rates but that's just par for the course and isn't going to hurt you that much if you just use it once a month and pay it off. Just make sure you shop around. Low 600's isn't terrible enough that you can't get a decent deal (my secured card is $29/yr with no benefits but whelp that's the mess I got myself into)

Credit utilization is a huge chunk of the pie so keep paying those cards down and NOT using them. If you have self control it won't hurt to call and ask for a credit line increase to lower your % credit utilized.

Pay for delete, I haven't had any success and I've tried with about 7 different collections accounts. I've heard it works for some people, I dunno, maybe I'm just not lucky.

Can't really say more about getting a 10K unsecured loan but low 600's is not likely to cut it unless you are willing to get reamed on the interest rate. I understand obviously if it's for fertility treatments you probably don't have a lot of time to sit around piling up cash and improving your credit score.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2014 14:35

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Scenty posted:

Thanks so much for the advice. I signed up for myfico.com and it's better than I thought [that 608 from cap1 credit tracker scared me]. 628 from experian, 633 from transunion, and 639 from equifax. Not wonderful but not as bad as I was bracing for. I don't know how accurate their little simulator is, but all of them put me at about 670 if I paid off my credit card. I just did that and plan on using it intelligently so I should see how that really worked out soon enough. Additionally the secured card should help my utilization rate, yeah?

Sadly, what you said is what I figured. Paying off my debts won't help my score but it can act as a goodwill gesture. I don't understand why they don't bump up your score for paying debts, give people an actual incentive, bleh.

Sure, maybe some people can comment further. I am not an attorney or financial advisor just a guy who has used a lot of internet to fight collections activity and improve his credit so perhaps someone wiser than me can give some more detail or better answers.

Also I reread my post and wanted to clarify something might make you feel a bit better: I raised my credit score from a shittacular 500 something 100-150 points over 4 years but that is a really bad outcome. Why? I had a major family emergency in 2012 where I had to use every penny of my available cash and ended up being as late as 60 days on some payments. It pissed me off severely and was not the financially sound choice but I was extremely ill and stressed at the time and not thinking clearly. Making your payments on time for any loan (mortgage, student loan, revolving whatever) is priority #1. Taking repayment of CCs aggressively, trying to open some more lines of credit but NOT using them, and negotiating with debt collectors to pay less what they claim you owe (sending one CMRR letter is all it took for me to settle a $919 balance for $275 if I remember correctly) so you can put on that secured card, it's not far fetched your score could be in the high 700's or even the magical 800 in a year or two.

Wish paying off collections improved your score, too. Why isn't it that way? My personal theory is that creditors want that money paid back to them on time, which means they want high credit scores. If it goes to a collections agency they've written it off as bad debt on their books for pennies on the dollar and don't want to deal with people like you again until you can reestablish your creditworthiness. If you pay the CA, which lenders don't care about, and it improves your score, it'll muddle their ability to evaluate that creditworthiness. So it doesn't. I might be totally wrong on this one that's just my theory.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2014 20:39

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

Michael Corleone posted:

OMG, someone from a collection agency just called me and said they are going to notate my account because I told them it was over 7 years old and off my credit report, and that they can't sue me after 6 years in Ohio. I am freaking out now. They said they are going to call me back. gently caress, on the mail I get from them it says they won't sue or report to collection agencies bc of the age of the debt. Did I just reset the clock by answering their call? OMG, FML! I also told them I was going to talk to a lawyer and I know that was a real bad move.

e; i know ohio is 6 years and VA where Cap One is is 3 years, so they can't gently caress with me i think. Someone please respond soon, it is my bday and was having a fun day and looking forward to a fun night.

Calm down dude its just a scumbag DC trying to use scare tactics. What were your exact words to them? I mean, is the debt actually over 7 years old? If so they can't legally report it and if you're in ohio it's outside the SOL. Unless the account is like 6000000$ you are being way too freaked out about this.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2014 00:10

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 11:55

seacat: Dec 9, 2006

agarjogger posted:

Hey holy poo poo I�ve already had an agency admit a mistake and have something stricken from all three bureaus. About to get it in writing. If you have a cable company in Nebraska, this apparently happens all the time (where they report your paid account as having gone to collections, when it never did).

Now my two largest creditors have agencies telling me that they collect for the institutions directly (hospital and a university), and are not authorized to negotiate on the debt beyond 10-20%. What�s happening here. One said I could send them any settlement offer and they would pass it to the hospital. All the items on my credit report are valid, and the amounts are reasonable. I just want to pay and be done.

They�re saying they don�t buy debt, and just collect it. Truth or lies?

Yeah, this happens. As far as your credit is concerned it's actually a really good thing since the "lender" still owns the debt. It happened to me with a $1K student loan when I ran into financial problems. If you can manage to work something out with them, it won't end up as a bad debt in collections.

The 10-20% thing, there's really no way to be sure if that's their hardline stance. All you can do is try to negotiate, I really don't think it will hurt to try to settle at least once for more of a "discount" than that.

I would call the hospital and university's financial depts. and make sure they are indeed working with that collector and you're not getting tricked by a CA into paying them for a written-off debt. If it has been written off 80-90% settlement is pretty ridiculous. I know it seems paranoid but collectors do some shady (and illegal) poo poo sometimes.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2014 23:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Ask me about dealing with/suing/being sued by debt collectors!