I have a question about a settlement offer that was made by Financial Recovery Services and it appears their trying to pull a fast one. They offered a settlement offer (by letter) and we agreed to the terms. On the letter they sent, it doesn't say anything about being good for only 30 days, or you have until XX date to respond. The letter was sent out by them 2/4/05 and they signed for the settlement check on 3/18. The representative is now saying that they want the payment in full because the offer was good for a certain period of time (which she didn't disclose in the letter or on the phone). She further stated that they wouldn't take it off, but would list it as "partial payment made". My question is can they do this? If the letter doesn't provide the timeline and she doesn't give one. What do I do to make them honor the settlement?
If you do not have the agreement in writing, it is going to be pretty hard to get any solid answers out of this collection company. Most collection agencies try and collect on old debts because they count on the debtor to not know about the statute of limitations for collection and judgments. The collection agency will also count on the debtor not knowing about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or the asking for Debt Verification and/or Debt Validation. Collection agencies count on the ability to confuse a debtor so that the debtor may agree to make a payment which starts the Statute of Limitations [SOL} over again.
They sent us the settlement letter with NO deadline date. It doesn't say that you have xx amount of time to respond or anything of the like. There were no verbal agreements, it was based on their letter to us.
