Steve
Bradenton,#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, July 11, 2006
Don, These are worse than debt collectors, they are JUNK DEBT BUYERS. They buy debts of this age and type for far less than a penny on the dollar in large portfolios. Most of these debts are not even legally collectable, and those that are, they cannot prove as they do not have the documents to verify them in court. This is why they twist your arm for a reduced payment. Under the law when you make a payment or an agreement to pay, you just validated the debt. Not only did you validate it, you restarted the SOL for collections, and restarted the 7 year negative reporting period on your credit report. Thats right. I said NEGATIVE reporting. Paying an old collections account hurts your credit more than just letting it go. And paying it does not remove it from your credit report, but keeps it there 7 more years from date of payment as a paid collection! The basic rules for dealing with a debt collector are to never speak to them on the phone, and never pay them anything. Always make them sue you. 99% of them won't. The 1% that will, has a about a 1% chance of winning and they know it. Thats why they use trickery, fraud and lies. By paying them a partial payment, they can legally now collect the rest. You might as well pay it now as you have re-affirmed it already. But wait until they send you a bill. Stay off the phone! Remember the last deal you made with them on the phone? You would not be in this situation if you would have done everything in writing. It's a small amount, and the damage is already done. Just pay it and look at it as an investment in knowledge.