My wife and I purchased a house last Novemeber, and we moved out of our lousy apartment with some time left in the lease. We have no problem paying what was due, because we signed an agreement. It was handed over to a collection agency and we were paying $50 a month. The balance is now $1000, and today I get a call from a gal saying we need to pay more than $50 per month or she's going to put it on my credit. Now why did she have to go get me all fired up when everything was going just fine? What can I do legally regarding my situation to stop her from doing this and just to make things smooth again with nothing going on my credit? Thanks for any advice!
Unfortunately, she can put it on your credit. If you had an agreement to pay $50 a month, then she should have to honor it, but you probably have no documentation of that. I would talk to them and try to work out payment arrangements. If you don't have the money, she can't get it from you. I would point out that at least you're trying to pay it off. One good point...these kinds of things are the easiest things to dispute and get removed from the reports, as these people don't report things to the CRAs often and don't have automatic verification procedures.
We could afford to pay her more if we had too. Do you think I should call her back, make an agreement of a payment that would keep it off our credit, get it in writing and just pay it? And by dispute, you mean after it's paid correct? Thanks!
You're aware of your situation. Negotiate the best terms with her that you can. I would dispute it from day one. Make her do the extra work to keep it on there.
First off, the balance of $1000 after paying since last November, paying $50 a month ($600 in payments) sounds a bit off. I say you need to get an itimized bill from the CA to figure out how they came up with this figure. I find it highly unlikely that anything in your agreement states that they can charge interest, and the state laws limit the amount of interest that can legally be charged if there is no agreement to do so. When you made the agreement with the CA to pay $50 a month, was that unfortunatly over the phone, or do you have that agreement in writing? Keep paying them the $50 a month, that way if they try and sue you or do anything else you can show that you were trying to make good on your agreement. Have they been sending you updated statements of some sort? Others on the board are much more knowledgeable than me on this, but I think the first thing to look at is if they are legally collecting, and if not you have ammunition to have it just vanish. A collection agency can put a ding on your credit report at any time, and most of the time if you talk to a CA on the phone, they will tell you anything to try and get some money out of you. If the CA calls again, insist that whatever offer they want, they must put it in writing and send it to you. If they expect you to pay $100 a month or something like that, when you've got a verbal agreement with them to pay $50 a month, they better come up with a valid reason. And by the way, threatening to put it on your credit report if you don't pay more isn't illegal, but it shows the type of skumbag collection agency you're dealing with. A company with that little respect doesn't deserve to be treated well. I say fight them for it, and as long as you keep paying the previously agreed $50 a month, they can't do too much that won't be easily undone. You may end up having them ding your credit, then sue them. Just find out if they're charging interest or other fees that they can't legally charge, then you have them where you want them. ChrisB
Well, unfortunately I don't have any written agreement, when this all started the first woman asked what my payments would be, and I said we'll pay $50 per month. Then they began sending statements with the balance, and the amount due for that month, which always said AMOUNT DUE: $50.00. I'll keep sending them $50.00, and if I see anything on my reports I'll immediately dispute it. Any recommendations on the reason for the dispute?
