what goes around... This is a fun forum to read. While I don't advocate skipping out on an obligation, I don't have much sympathy for people who try to leverage and bully someone into something either. It's amusing to see the same collection agents who have no problem taking someone to court over a debt complain when they are taken, not only to court, but to the cleaners, for not following the law. In one thread (I can't find it, right now) one poster said their strategy was to get (i.e. guilt) people to agree to new payment terms or a promissary note to pay off their debt. This has the effect of creating a new debt and starts the "aging" clock all over again. So, even if the old debt might have been out-of-statute, the new one is fresh and renewed. In those cases, anything having to do with the old debt becomes irrelevant because it's been paid off by the promissory note. Not that the unsuspecting debtor realizes this or not. So it goes.
Seems like the only way to win is through the use of dirty tricks. That's true no matter which side of the equation one is on. It is a dirty trick to harangue people constantly calling the multiple times a day. It is a dirty trick to play on their sense of morality to get them to pay. It is a dirty trick to abuse them in any way to get them to pay up. Either they have the money and are willing to pay what they owe or they aren't. There are loads of dirty tricks debt collectors play and what is fair for one is also fair for the other.
