My wife had a lease vehicle she turned in a had balance of about $800.00, mileage did not lease again so lease loyalty, what ever. We did not have the money at the time. So now that we have the money, Chrysler Financial says they wrote it off, we can't even pay them, but some collection agency has been calling and doing the usual stupid threatening phone calls. So Chrysler wrote it off, do I have to pay this collection agency? Also are they allowed to report on my wife's credit report. Thanks for the help... I love this site.
Welcome, and glad you like the site! Yes, you'll have to work with the CA to make payment now, and they can report a collection on your wife's credit report in addition to the charge-off that Chrysler is likely already reporting. Before you pay anything off, be sure to negotiate how the CA will report this on your wife's credit report after payment is made. Remember, credit scores basically treat an unpaid collection the same as a paid collection - they're both equally negative marks.
See I thought that the collection agency had no right to collect. We don't owe them the money we owe Chrysler.
Many would like to believe that since they have no contract with the collection agency they have no right to collect. Of course it should be obvious to one and all that they must have a right to collect or they would not be in the business of doing so. If they had no right to collect then judges would be shooting them out of the proverbial saddle every time they reared their ugly heads. Naturally that don't happen. Can they be in your wife's credit report? Maybe and maybe not. Have they proven the debt? Have you challenged their right to be there by disputing with the credit bureaus? Have you sent a demand for validation in a timely manner? Have they obeyed all the laws or have they broken a few? If I were in your wife's shoes I would be certain that I demanded validation of the debt. Personally speaking I would not pay them a crying dime no matter what they did. Why should I? They got the car back didn't they? Why should I pay for something I will never get any use out of? That's the way I look at it. Vehicles are much different than something like credit cards. With credit cards they lose actual cash money if you don't pay them back. With vehicles they at least get the vehicle back which they can sell at a profit. I am currently in a fight over a vehicle repossession. I did not pay the debt collector so have now been sued. I may very well end up losing the case. In fact, I went into the court battle expecting to lose. It makes no difference to me either way, win, lose or draw they still won't get a crying dime out of me. In my particular situation the court does not even have the power to force me to pay. Not everyone is in that somewhat unique position so while I may be able to make that kind of statement you and/or your wife may not be so don't think that just because I can do that she can too. Her situation may be very different. First of all you are talking about a lease and I'm talking about a repossession so the laws are very different for each type of situation. Another difference may be whether or not she is employed or has assets of her own. What you should do and how you should proceed can and probably does depend on a number of different facts which we don't have here as of yet. On the other hand, regardless of those possible variations I still wouldn't pay them a crying dime if it were me. I'd figure out what my rights are under the law and if they violated them I would sue them for that and see if I couldn't make them go away and leave me alone. That can usually be done. Pay for something I don't have and never will? I don't think so! Not in my lifetime.
