Complaint Review: Arrow Financial - Lincolnwood Illinois

It is illegal to add finance charges on purchased credit card collections. But this is what they did, 6 years ago I had a credit card go under, I didn't understand credit cards, it was an Aria Visa, it came to me maxed out and I didn't know it. Lucky me, I lost my job and the card went under. I have been credit due to the medical incidents that surround that time. So I ordered my credit report a few months ago and have been contacting creditors and paying them off. Arrow was the worst call I ever made. The woman on the other end was beyond rude, she laughed at me and said that they will charge what they want I will pay it or live with it on my credit for the rest of my life. Now I know the laws, I work for a mortgage company so in a few years they can't legally report the collection any more. They are charging me 1200.00 on a 619.00 collection. They said interest is accruing. They wouldn't tell me what rate; they called me ignorant and said I didn't know how credit cards work. I do. When they are closed, you don't get charged interest anymore. I told them I would not pay more then the original collection notice. We fought and I hung up. The next day a manager called me and had my credit report in hand. He said "with all the fraudulent accounts on your credit report, how are we to believe this one is any different I said "Simple, you are the ones perpetuating the fraud. You can not legally charge me more then I owe. I will only pay what I legally owe." We argued and then I hung up. They called again. The circle repeated and they said they would send me a pay off letter for the amount. I felt vindicated. So their "pay off letter" came. It was a minimum payment due in 30 days notice. It said very clearly that the minimum payment was 619.00 and the total due was 1,200.00. Needless to say, I didn't pay it. Oddly, they never contacted me again. I think it's because I stuck with the law on this one, they know they can't do what they are doing. Here's how it works - most collections agencies report a very low collection success rate, Arrow reports and industry high rate. That's because they asses charges on top of the collections to increase gains on those who will pay to compensate for those who won't. I recently repulled my credit and they are reporting an outstanding balance of around 795. I'm still not paying. Here's what you do. When you go bad on a debt, you get to dings on your credit report. The person you owe will report it to your credit, and then sell it to the collection agency who will give you 30 days to respond and then do the same. If you pay your original creditor - by LAW the collection agency will have to delete the collection - not change its status, DELETE it because you don't owe them anything and they are attempting to collect on a paid debt which can't be done. I've done this with success. Other collection agencies are reputable. I had fun driving NCO up the wall, I sent them letter stating I could only pay $50.00 a month on a 600 ambulance bill. They sent me a letter back stating that I am not authorized to have a payment plan and that I must pay this amount immediately. Legally, they couldn't do anything, I was paying and they already reported to my credit bureau. So they would call 3 times a week on my cell phone, I had the number stored and I would click the F-U button when they called and they sent about 3 notices the month. The reason I enjoyed this? NCO had to pay those employees to harass me and they never got their money any faster for doing it. They cashed every check and reported the collection as paid in full. End of story As for Arrow, I'm tracking down the original creditor and paying them - then reporting the collection to the bureau as inaccurate - that I don't owe that agency money because I paid the original creditor. They will have to delete it and hopefully that nightmare will be over.