Debt Collection

[Godot]

How much money must you owe before a company will send a bill to a debt collector? I would think that a debt collector's service wouldn't be cheap, and it would not be reasonable to pay for the service unless the bill was for a significant amount.

A company is threatening to send my $400 debt to a collection agency, and I want to know whether I should be worried. I have no way to pay this at the moment, so if you have any stalling tips, please let me know.

[murd0c]

You will go to collections for that. Enjoy three times a day phone calls.

[handl3r]

You have no business with the collections agency. Ask them for the contract you signed with them. they don't have on and are fucked. the only people that cant take the money from you is the company you dealt with. I can get you some more info on this if you want.

[Magus]

You have no business with the collections agency. Ask them for the contract you signed with them. they don't have on and are fucked. the only people that cant take the money from you is the company you dealt with. I can get you some more info on this if you want.

OK, handl3r. While that may be true in your magical fairytale land called Canada, over here in the real world when you owe money to a company, they CAN and WILL do everything in their power to get it. That includes phone harassment via collection agencies, overly high interest rates, and the occasional pipe bomb in mailbox...

Actually, wait. I have no idea what the heck I'm talking about. Maybe I should just stop posting. I'm going to bed now. Carry on.

[ApprenticePhreak]

I owe a thousand and some odd dollars to Visa for a credit card that was supposed to be paid off a long while ago. Five years round abouts. Story was that I really wasn't too well with my cash and only had a 200 dollar credit limit. I bought that Gameboy Advance SP that looked like the Nintendo and a game with it that rung up around 130 bucks all together. Some where along the line my money stopped going to the credit card company for whatever reason, and then the interest started piling up.

So eventually I had 130 dollars turn into a thousand and some odd dollars. During the day I would receive various harassing phone calls claiming I would never be able to open my own business, get a car or a house because of my debt. This went on for a few months until I stopped being home and the phone was shut off. Eventually I started to get harassing letters, too. How they would never allow me a house or car or things like that. I shrugged and didn't care. I tried making payments to them again but they wanted all the cash at once. Eventually I informed them that I had no money or job and they hit me with a lawsuit.

I was never informed of the lawsuit. So eventually they went to court, judgment was sought against me and they were only awarded 600 and some dollars. Now if I ever plan on paying them back for my gameboy it'll be around 600 and some dollars.

A lot of the time there were hopes of being roughed up by a bad-ass motherfucker for my gameboy. But it never happened. There really should be no worry over a debt collector or a repo man coming your way to get whatever it is that you have purchased. For the most part you get harassing phone calls and mild legal threats. Enjoy until payment is fulfilled.

[Jo Nathen]

...........and if this is never paid off the next time you goto get a credit card, car loan, or rent an apartment good luck! (If it turns into over a grand........) You will start getting denied for things.

[MattGSX]

I've never been forwarded to a collection agency, but the public library has threatened to send a debt of $75 over for "lost books" they never sent me notices for.

Are you unable to pay anything on the debt because all of your income is already accounted for, or because you don't have any income? If you're making money and just not paying it, and if you ignore the collection agency, your creditor may try to get your income attached. If you can deal with it, just offer with your creditor to have your income attached at a realistic percentage (5-7%), and give them some assets as collateral.

Because of current market and economic conditions, things could go one of two ways; A) the creditor may be willing to bargain with you, because any immediate recovery could be better than no recovery (and if you manage to dick them around long enough, they'll have to write it off) B) They'll go after you with a vengeance because they need every last penny they can get.

[Jo Nathen]

I've never been forwarded to a collection agency, but the public library has threatened to send a debt of $75 over for "lost books" they never sent me notices for.

Are you unable to pay anything on the debt because all of your income is already accounted for, or because you don't have any income? If you're making money and just not paying it, and if you ignore the collection agency, your creditor may try to get your income attached. If you can deal with it, just offer with your creditor to have your income attached at a realistic percentage (5-7%), and give them some assets as collateral.

Because of current market and economic conditions, things could go one of two ways; A) the creditor may be willing to bargain with you, because any immediate recovery could be better than no recovery (and if you manage to dick them around long enough, they'll have to write it off) B) They'll go after you with a vengeance because they need every last penny they can get.

I love the commericals on TV and ads on billboards for "low payments". These make your "collateral" your house or you pets. ...but hey! You can always RE-FI at a lower percentage rate today!

[MattGSX]

What the hell did what I say have to do with what you said? I think people who take on debts they can't afford and use their basic means of living collateral, essentially living off of credit scum.

I'm saying, attach your own salary (which isn't a low payment - the court takes out a percentage of everything you make to give to your creditors, which is guaranteed payment for a creditor) and then hawk some shit or give it to them to hawk. If you offer to do it before they take it to court, there won't be any debt collection service fucking your credit up, and your offer to bargain and circumvent the collection agency may save you a few dollars.

[Jo Nathen]

What the hell did what I say have to do with what you said? I think people who take on debts they can't afford and use their basic means of living collateral, essentially living off of credit scum.

I'm saying, attach your own salary (which isn't a low payment - the court takes out a percentage of everything you make to give to your creditors, which is guaranteed payment for a creditor) and then hawk some shit or give it to them to hawk. If you offer to do it before they take it to court, there won't be any debt collection service fucking your credit up, and your offer to bargain and circumvent the collection agency may save you a few dollars.

I was not attacking what you said ...just added a reply. Ive seen people off of this message board who can't budget their lives for shit - getting negative net worth 10 months after buying houses. I have stayed out of your fourm since then so play  nice here.

[MattGSX]

Dude.. I was just saying it was pointless to quote me, since your comment really didn't have anything to do with mine. Then, since I have a bad habit of being wordy, I re-phrased my original statement for anyone who didn't catch it the first time.

[linear]

You have no business with the collections agency. Ask them for the contract you signed with them. they don't have on and are fucked. the only people that cant take the money from you is the company you dealt with. I can get you some more info on this if you want.

this agreement is always in the disclosure of the bank/institution you're doing business with. The agreement/terms of the account will say the bank/financial institution can at its sole discretion send outstanding balances to a collection agency and by having the account you agree to have a lien placed on your account where in the institution/collection agency are stakeholders…. Blah blah blah.

[handl3r]

You have no business with the collections agency. Ask them for the contract you signed with them. they don't have on and are fucked. the only people that cant take the money from you is the company you dealt with. I can get you some more info on this if you want.

this agreement is always in the disclosure of the bank/institution you're doing business with. The agreement/terms of the account will say the bank/financial institution can at its sole discretion send outstanding balances to a collection agency and by having the account you agree to have a lien placed on your account where in the institution/collection agency are stakeholders…. Blah blah blah.

check to make sure, and its a fucking game boy. those things cost like $100 just pay it already

[linear]

i work in a bank so i know everything always.

[SloFuze]

Here is what I was told by a relative who has experience with credit repair..

Get an email address for the creditor and offer to make a reasonable payment plan (like $50 a month)
If they refuse.. send them a certified letter with a check for the $50 payment along with a letter telling them if they cash the check they agree to accept your payment arrangement. After you verify that they cashed the check you can call them and have them take it off of your credit report since they agreed to the terms. Keep bothering them with emails and calls, but send your payments on time. He has done this and it helped his credit. He also recommended the book "The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair"
Hope that helps.

(And after you pay them off, don't forget to send them letters on stationary that you rubbed all over your asshole and make sure to let them know that...at the end of the letter "smell my letter")