I have an account with an old school for about $6500 which they have upped to $8000+ in fees. They just recently hired a CA to collect and I have gotten a couple notices from this guy but nothing certified. The other day he calls me and asks if I'm the debter. I tell him no (didn't even confirm that I was whom he was asking for) but he proceeds to tell me that I am and that he is going to sue me. I told him I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about and could he send me verification of the account. He says no and that he is going to sue me. By luck, I am actually going to be able to pay this bill at the end of the month. However, I don't want to be sued before then, I don't want to pay that jerk - just the OC and I want to make sure the account doesn't hit my credit report (it's hasn't hit them yet). I know an offer to settle is part of this scheme with the OC but what else should I be doing? I need to waste some time cause I won't get the funds till the end of the month. Thanks in advance for any advice. misterman
So the CA is collecting for the OC and didn't purchase the debt, correct? Based on how much of a jerk he was being, sounds like a JDB to me. From my experience, when they're collecting for someone else, they're nicer. They still lie and threaten, but in a nicer way, if you follow my meaning. Either way, you may not be able to work with the OC save just sending them a check, in which case you are just rolling the dice as far as whether this will hit your CR's or not. When an OC sells a debt, it's no longer theirs and they couldn't care less if they get a dime of the money. My wife had a Sears account charge off a few years back, and literally the month after the CO, she tried to pay Sears in exchange for bringing the account current and leaving it open (she had been a customer for 9-10 years). Sears wanted nothing to do with her or her money, which I find strange. If it were me, and someone offered to pay in full, I'd be all over it and buy the account back from the JDB, but I guess they don't work that way. Anyway, if they are merely collecting for the OC, you might not have much room for negotiations, but you could try to "settle" for the original amount owed. From my experience, they usually like getting to sound magnanimous by "settling" for what you actually owed, as opposed to the ridiculously inflated amounts they pad accounts with. If the CA actually bought the debt, you could have a lot more wiggle room in the negotiations. You didn't say how old the debt was or what state you lived in, but the closer you get to the SOL, and especially past the SOL, even more power for you in negotiations.
Thanks for the response. The debt is only a year old and I actually don't know if the debt was purchased or not. I was going to send the CA a letter asking him to tell me but I can't find one here to do that and I don't trust myself to make one up. I was going to "settle" for the original $6500 and ask that they not report it if it was still owned by the OC. Does that sound like the right action? Thanks again. p.s. I live in washington.
And this alone is grounds for you to sue him. It's obvious he either never heard of, never read or doesn't care about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Why not talk with the college directly and see what they say? If they say "we sold the debt" then you know you are dealing with a JDB. If they say they still own the matter explain the situation and see what the OC is willing to work out. the end of the month isn't that far away. Regardless, after the debt is paid, I would sue this jerk just on principle.
