Is it ever a good idea to pay off a Collection Agency in hopes off someday erasing the dispute off of your credit report ? Please help, I think I'm losing my mind and the little funds I have to start fixing my credit.
Paying a collection agency can be really tricky, once paid and if not done properlly your credit will not improve and it will be harder to remove.
So what can I do ? I made the fatal error off calling them and agreeing verbaly in someone else's name to settle for a certain amount off money.
Well, this is my girlfriend's problem which she has been avoiding for years. So I decided to call the collection agency and see what could be settled. They gave me a settling price to which I agreed and they said they would send out papers and I had 25 days to make the agreed payment. Thing is my girlfriend never talked to them or authorized them to talk to me about her financial debt.
Well, it seems like it is something she needs to deal with and face. Don't mean to sound cruel but you helping her doesn't necessarily help her. Anyways, you mentioned that she had this for years.... i've recently entered into owing money and collections and such since i was laid off... my question is, how long do these people give you time to pay them back before they take you to court?
ampris: There is no way that anyone can tell you how long, or IF someone will take a matter to court. However, if you do the same types of educated guesses about the situation, as they do when or if they decide to file you can decide this for yourself. The things to consider are: The amount of the account (the higher the amount, the more likely litigation will be on the table) The age of the account (the newer the account the more likely litigation will be on the table) How far the company is from you (this presumes that the account is at a collection agency, which is required to sue you locally; the more they have to travel, or to obtain council close to you, the least likely they are to litigate) There is nothing precluding anyone from filing against you, even for a 'small' account, but keep in mind that they have to pay to sue, so they will probably go through the questions above to decide whether or not it is worth it. (If you owed me a buck, I could go to the local district magistrate or small claims court, file against you, have you served, but I would have to pay court costs to get a court date, so I would be spending WAY more than the buck to file; granted if you do owe me a buck, and I can prove it, you would more than likely have to pay all of the court costs, but you get the idea... Would you actually file a case over a buck? )
thanks jam237. some of the collection agencies my accounts have been given to are out of state. i saw a great book called "to pay or not to pay / an insiders guide to the credit industry" and they spoke about how creditors and collections see it strictly as a money issue. "Will I lose money or gain money by going to court". He also had written how you can turn the tables and sue the creditors and collectors. In fact it is so good and informative here it is , check out the reviews at amazon.com To Pay or Not to Pay: Insider Secrets to Beating Credit Card Debt and Creditors by Stanely G. Hilton
Re: Re: Collection Agency paying off how many years? this could very well be out of SOL. what kind of debt, and what state are you in? whats the name of the CA? are they licensed to collect in your state? is this on her Credit Reports? whats the DOLA? how much were they willing to settle for? less than half the original amount? you could have a violation right there. {§ 805 (b)} if this is out of SOL, have your GF write a letter saying, "after your phone conversation with my BF concerning account #XXXX, I went thru my records, and I discovered that this debt is not valid because it is past the statute of limitations for the state of XX. Since you cannot legally collect on this account, please delete it from my credit profile with TransEqEx immediately." Then, see if they continue collection efforts, or maybe even pull your CR. then you'll have them on a few more violations and you can use that as leverage to get the TL removed. if it IS still within SOL (and since this IS her debt) and if its a significant amount of money, and they're willing to settle for less (sounds like they are) you may want to try to settle for deletion.
Re: Re: Collection Agency paying off One of the problems with talking to a CA is that there is no record. They may claim they talked to her. The problem with the SOL is that a payment, or even payment arrangements, may restart the SOL.
Re: Re: Collection Agency paying off arrangements made by someone else tho? i know they can claim they talked to her, but it could end up being up to a judge to decide who is telling the truth. I think if you send the letter, make sure you put the part about 'after you talked to my BF' because then you could say 'look judge, i even mentioned that they talked to my bf in the dispute letter i sent them.' in fact, that may be the most important sentence in your entire dispute letter.
Re: Re: Collection Agency paying off Possibly an even better idea... You write to them... including that... "This is to follow up on your phone conversation with me on XX/XX/XXXX."
