COLLECTIONS AND COLLECTION AGENTS: Ask me anything! (Official RFD Thread)

[popbottle]

Yep he has a few, apparently we were on a contract with Grand Alarms, and so they continued to charge us after we moved out of the house, I'm guessing we either pay it or wait for it to expire right?

Yes thats right, either a) borrow the money from a credit card and pay it off all at once or b) ignore it totally until it disappears in a few years.

Paying for a part of it will trigger something that causes it to reset the 'disappearing time'(around 6 years total). So thats if you pay for a part or all of it, it will remain on his report for 6 years

[answer11]

What is the best way to pay a Debt Collector after reaching a settlement? Obviously giving away banking info is definitely something to avoid. How exactly do Money Orders or Bank Drafts work and what is the process to using either one to pay back a debt collector? They seem to be the most secure services available, but are more costly than some of the other options. If you pay through online billing on your Online Bank Account, does your Account # show up to whoever receives the payment? This would be the best option if privacy could still be maintained.

[nyder74]

What is the best way to pay a Debt Collector after reaching a settlement? Obviously giving away banking info is definitely something to avoid. How exactly do Money Orders or Bank Drafts work and what is the process to using either one to pay back a debt collector? They seem to be the most secure services available, but are more costly than some of the other options. If you pay through online billing on your Online Bank Account, does your Account # show up to whoever receives the payment? This would be the best option if privacy could still be maintained.

Well first of all get the agreement in writing, so they are forced to live up to their side of the agreement. Ask them if you can just deposit the money directly into a bank account in their name.

Nyd

[answer11]

Well first of all get the agreement in writing, so they are forced to live up to their side of the agreement. Ask them if you can just deposit the money directly into a bank account in their name.

Nyd

Yeah, I would never pay them anything without a written agreement. How would depositing money directly into their bank account work? Have never done that, so have no idea what the process would be like. I just do not want to give away any banking info and potentially allow them access to my accounts.

[dougboswell]

Just helped my dad get his free credit report. There is no public record information, but he has a collections record. It is from Grand Alarms, and is from September of 2008. It's a pretty big amount (between $1000 and $2000). I don't know the details about it, I think when we moved into a new house they kept sending us bills which we never paid. Anyways, how do we get this removed from the credit report? Dispute it? If that fails, negotiate with the collection agency?

If your dad is holding a mortgage on the new house he needs to pay this collection off. If he wants to refinance or take out a mortgage in the future and an unpaid collection is showing, he will have a very difficult time finding a lender.

[answer11]

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[linda99]

HI RFD!

I work in the collection industry. Have for the last 7 years. Multiple agencies, clients and creditors.

If I can be of any assistance in:

-Debunking collection myths
-Helping with collection issues
-Answering common questions
-Saving you money

please let me know. I am here to answer anything you can throw my way from credit bureaus, to stopping live/automated calls even how to use/abuse credit.

Lets have at it.

I have a client who owes me money. It is at 9 weeks, but I have reason to believe he has serious financial problems and may declare bankruptcy so do not want to let things go too long. Is there any way I can check his credit report? Thanks in advance for any info. you can give me.

[nyder74]

I have a client who owes me money. It is at 9 weeks, but I have reason to believe he has serious financial problems and may declare bankruptcy so do not want to let things go too long. Is there any way I can check his credit report? Thanks in advance for any info. you can give me.

You need his permission to check his credit, which I doubt you have.

Nyd

[linda99]

Hi thanks for your reply. If I put it into the hands of a collection agency, would they be able to legally tell me what his credit report says?

[mikeymike1]

Hi thanks for your reply. If I put it into the hands of a collection agency, would they be able to legally tell me what his credit report says?

No

Besides that most 'registered and licensed' collection agencies probably won't exercise any legal procedures for personal debts unless there's a court order or judgment.
With that said you best route would be to seek a judgement in small claims court then have that order forwarded to collections and/or skip tracers/licensed bailiffs to serve the order.

[Syne]

No

Besides that most 'registered and licensed' collection agencies probably won't exercise any legal procedures for personal debts unless there's a court order or judgment.
With that said you best route would be to seek a judgement in small claims court then have that order forwarded to collections and/or skip tracers/licensed bailiffs to serve the order.

If the person is declaring bankruptcy, even with a small claims judgment, it's more headache than it's worth. At best you'll get a fraction of a settlement amount behind a long list of bigger and badder creditors, at worst you get nothing and eat the legal costs on top of it.

Linda, consider the good karma of just forgiving the debt. Nobody takes out a loan for goods or services with the intention of screwing people. Let it go, then you can put the whole thing behind you and you know you've helped ease someone's burden.

[mikeymike1]

If the person is declaring bankruptcy, even with a small claims judgment, it's more headache than it's worth. At best you'll get a fraction of a settlement amount behind a long list of bigger and badder creditors, at worst you get nothing and eat the legal costs on top of it.

Linda, consider the good karma of just forgiving the debt. Nobody takes out a loan for goods or services with the intention of screwing people. Let it go, then you can put the whole thing behind you and you know you've helped ease someone's burden.

Oh great, more bad advice from the delinquents of this forum who don't even have 2 nickels to rub together
Its extremely ignorant of you to even suggest to her to forgive the debt without knowing how much she is even owe'd of if its even an amount she can absorb.
Which brings me to another point... LOL at you to even state its a headache to file a judgment. What would you even know? Except probably being of the receiving side of those judgments

What part of 'may' within Linda99's post don't you understand??
She has a 'client' which owes 'her' money which most likely tells me she is BFS
If she is BFS then the debt owe'd to her is probably more personal than if the money owing was to a large business or corp.

Linda, file the claim within the courts. If he does or 'may' proceed with a BK your filing of claim gives you that much more power to seek monetary damages. If he does have assets the BK courts will and may order liquidation to satisfy creditors and judgement claims. No one goes BK scott free.
Also, your judgement holds power for garnishment if your client further ignores your attempts or the collection agency you've commissioned to serve

Lastly don't pay any attention to the poster above. The guy is pro-non-payment, pro-freeloading, pro-delinquency-activist because that's how he lives is life. Any and every chance he gets he will advise others of the same.
Just laugh at the dude trying to advise you to suck up your losses and call it a day.
Read for yourself:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/credi.../#post13842331
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/crimi.../#post14902946
and oh there's a whole lot more, comical

[Syne]

See linda, this is what happens when people can't let things go. It eats at you.

Take mikeymike for example, gulping his hatorade and using the word 'whom' improperly in a failed attempt to sound sophisticated, implying that the value of my opinion should be linked to my economic status.

You're better than that.

[maryjane462]

Hi everyone,

My daughter just told me this morning that she got a letter from a collection agency for her credit card. She owes the collection agency $1800 approximately. The woman at the collection agency she spoke to told her that if she doesn't pay the debt, the amount owed will increase to $4500 when interest and legal fees are added, plus 20 years of bad credit. The balance is owed by tomorrow. (My daughter has been ignoring their previously sent letters).

She asked me to help her pay this, and the collections agent has asked to speak to me directly. What do I need to know before I call this woman?

[nyder74]

Hi everyone,

My daughter just told me this morning that she got a letter from a collection agency for her credit card. She owes the collection agency $1800 approximately. The woman at the collection agency she spoke to told her that if she doesn't pay the debt, the amount owed will increase to $4500 when interest and legal fees are added, plus 20 years of bad credit. The balance is owed by tomorrow. (My daughter has been ignoring their previously sent letters).

She asked me to help her pay this, and the collections agent has asked to speak to me directly. What do I need to know before I call this woman?

Sounds like the damage has already been done, the bank has already sent this to collections, so the account is now reporting as R9 Bad debt/Skip/Written off sent to collections. Her credit is ruined for 6/7 years.

The collection agency will lie to you and threaten you and try to scare you into paying the debt immediately. Them saying the 20 years of bad credit and the charges ballooning up to $4500 are perfect examples of that.

I'd try to deal with the original creditor first, if they refuse then you'll have to sort it out with the collection agency. You can pay the debt off, and it will be still on her credit as an R9 for 6/7 years but marked as PAID. If you don't pay it will still report but with a balance owing, which is the kiss of death, as no one will touch someone with an outstanding collections item that owes a balance. Regardless, PAID or owing an R9 is an R9 and its a serious black mark for 6/7 years.

Paying it all off now really doesn't help you much, I'd make her pay it off herself, or you can try to settle with the collection agency. Usually settling for less than the original amount happens after the debt has aged, and the chances of collecting have diminished.
Also settling the debt for less than the original amount will have the debt marked as SETTLED on her credit bureau.

She really screwed up, I hope you didn't co-sign for her, she won't be able to qualify for loans, or new credit, and stuff like getting an apartment or mobile phones will be troublesome to obtain without a a big cash deposit. Some types of employment are now out of reach for her as well.

Nyd