I was contacted by a collections agency regarding an old Sprint account. This account is well over 2 years old. I explained to the collector that my agreement to pay was with Sprint and I would deal directely with them. The collector says "you can send them a million dollars, and we would still call you every day". If I were to send the payment to Sprint and they accept it, how would I handle the collector? I have decided to deal directly with creditors from now on, if possible.
Now why would you decide something like that? First of all, if a creditor turns you over to a collection agency you have no choice but to deal with the collector in most cases. So the decision as to who you will deal with usually isn't yours to make. Secondly, in this case why would you want to deal with the creditor when dealing with the debt collector could make you good money instead of you paying out hard earned money? Bet that raised your eyebrows, didn't it? Well, here is what you really need to do and why. You don't owe either one any money. You don't owe Sprint and you don't owe the debt collector any money so you should send the debt collector a demand for validation. Regardless of what they come back you should refuse to pay them. Let them take you to court if they are foolish enough to do that. In fact, you should beg them to sue you for the debt they allege you owe. While you are waiting for them to sue you the goal you should be trying to reach is learning all you can about Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). You hope and pray they have been putting adverse information in your credit reports too. You should also be doing all you can to learn how to defend in court so you don't have to hire a lawyer to do it for you. It isn't hard to do. When they send you to a lawyer to file a lawsuit you should be all ready to file a lawsuit against them in federal court and be starting to gather your evidence to sue the lawyer and the both of them in federal court as well. If you think that can't be done then consider the fact that more than 28,000 people have done it already with about a 95% successs rate. Most of those cases were settled out of court with an average settlement price of about $4,000 paid to the people who sued them. So what would you rather do, pay them what you don't owe in the first place or force them to go away and leave you alone and make them pay you a few thousand for having bothered you and put you to the time, trouble and expense of learning how to file the lawsuits?So you tell me which you would rather do, pay them or make them pay you instead? If you want to make them pay you then just say so and I'll tell you how you can do that.
I am going to disagree with Cap1 on some minor points. If this is for a cell phone account, then the statute of limitations has passed. You can still be sued, but it will be up to you to raise the affirmative defense of the SOL passing. I disagree with Cap1 on the issue of you owing the money. Presumably you entered into a valid contract with Sprint. Terms of said contract were fulfilled. Then, for what ever reason you chose not remit payment. If you had issues with poor service, billing dispute, etc., you should have worked it with Sprint. But you did not and Sprint has a liability on their books with your name on it. So, until you settle with Sprint you still owe the money. Both Sprint and their assignees can attempt collection in perpetuity, except in those states which have a statute of repose. I agree with Cap1 that you need to dispute and demand validation from the collection agency. By doing so, most likely they will slither back under their rock. Cap1 espouses the notion of letting them violate and you suing or let them sue you. You want to stay out of the court. If you sue on any violations, under Federal law damages can be awarded up to $1000, that means anything between $0 and $1000. Now if there are egregious violations, then by all means, release the hounds. Courts and Judges can be fickle critters. There been an article in the American Bar Association magazine where a Judge in open court admonished an attorney for improperly stapling a pleading. Lawsuits at the pro se level can and do take over your life especially if you are a neophyte. What's my point: 1. DV the collection agency, if they go away, good, if not then C&D them. However, by C&D'ing them, you only leave them two options, shut up or lawsuit. 2. Get your ducklings in order, prepare for a lawsuit, especially if the amount due is large enough. 3. Contact Sprint to see if they will settle for 10-15%. 4. Do nothing.
No, you don't disagree with me at all. I assumed that it was a cell phone bill because it was Sprint that was mentioned. I may have been wrong on that point. So if it was a cell phone bill then we agree and if I incorrectly assumed facts not in evidence then I would be wrong. I thought of that possibility a couple of hours after I made the post but I've been so busy rat killing on my computers these last few days and as a result have more on my plate than I can say grace over.
