Anybody here work for a collection company?

[nightruans]

What can you tell me about collection company tactics?

Dude calls me saying they are going to freeze my account and take me to court

anyone have experience? it doesnt show up on my credit report BTW

 

[mojodmonky1]

i dont work for a collection company, but i do work for a sub-prime lender with our own collections dept, which needless to say, is constantly busy trying to collect our money.

for the most part, collections agency in general are more bark than bite. when we cant collect on our own debt, we will send the account to a collections agency. we dont pay for the service. we only get paid if they manage to collect any of our money.

collections agencies main tactics are to scare you into thinking they actually have the power to do something.

how long has it been in collections? the fact that its not on your CBR might work in your favor. If they havent managed to track it to you and put it on your CBR (assuming its been in collections for awhile), then I would just tell them to piss off.

If they specifically said that they are going to freeze your account AND THEN take you to court, they are 100% BSing you.

If you dont mind me asking, how big is the debt? It costs money for a lender to sue you and get a judgment against you to try and collect that debt. It costs them even more money to legally attach the judgment to your bank account so they can draw the money out from it. Unless you've already been served (ie. youve been sued) and if its not on your credit, I wouldnt worry too much about it.

 

[nightruans]

5k i have not been served, and it was on my credit for a bit and now its not there anymore...

 

[nightruans]

I think they may have sold the account to another agency... they called me this morning saying they were going to take my assets lol

 

[mojodmonky1]

wait til you get sued. $5K is arguably enough for them to pursue legal, so who knows. That being said, let them make the move, you dont need to do dicc until you actually get sued.

What type of debt was it? Credit card or other form of unsecured debt? Do you have other tangible assets that they can go after (stocks/bonds/mutual funds, real estate, cars)? The thing is, civil judgments like this are worthless (to the secured party) if you dont have anything to go after. If your credit is already crappy and you dont care about it, I wouldnt be too concerned. If you do care about your credit and want to eventually repair it, then I might try to negotiate a payment plan with them.

 

[soversotowel]

nothing to do here

 

[freakydestroyer]

I read somewhere that collection agencies just buy the debt for pennies on the dollar, and you can usually negotiate a lower price with them to settle the debt, any truth to that?

 

[color me green]

I worked for a collection firm for 3 days. and within that 3 days of training, all I could remember is that after 7 years of unpaid debts, you can clear any negatives on your record with the credit bureau. I'm not sure if applies to large debts.

 

[nightruans]

i dont have any assets, btw i heard that they can garnish your payments... its a medical bill btw

 

[nightruans]

i pulled my credit and nothing is on there at all?

 

[mrsneakerman]

Originally Posted by color me green

I worked for a collection firm for 3 days. and within that 3 days of training, all I could remember is that after 7 years of unpaid debts, you can clear any negatives on your record with the credit bureau. I'm not sure if applies to large debts.

My boss just told me this like 2 weeks ago, but he said 5 years. Anyone knows which one is correct?

 

[rex ryan]

i owed ebay/paypal close to $6,000 back in 2005. they froze my account for no reason other then that i was making too much money.

i told all the buyers who's money i didn't have access to, to file claims and chargebacks and didn't bother paying the ebay fees since they didn't act in good faith when my account was frozen.

they took me to collections, i asked them to send me proof that the debt existed and if they couldn't to stop harassing me and that i would take legal action against them for harassment. i never heard from them again after that.

over 6 years later my credit is great and i got another ebay/paypal i've been using for the past 4 years or so with no problems whatsoever.

 

[la lakers 8]

Originally Posted by color me green

I worked for a collection firm for 3 days. and within that 3 days of training, all I could remember is that after 7 years of unpaid debts, you can clear any negatives on your record with the credit bureau. I'm not sure if applies to large debts.

So after 7 years of an unpaid debt, I can hit up the credit bureau and they will clear the debt jus like that?

 

[mojodmonky1]

Originally Posted by nightruans

i dont have any assets, btw i heard that they can garnish your payments... its a medical bill btw

they can, but again its a long and sometimes complicated and expensive legal process to do so.  the first thing that they (creditor and/or debt collection agency) needs to do to pursue that course of action is to sue you.  if you havent been sued yet, then youre not in any danger of garnishments... yet.

  

 

[cels the younggod]

P4L

 

[la lakers 8]

Originally Posted by Rex Ryan

i owed ebay/paypal close to $6,000 back in 2005. they froze my account for no reason other then that i was making too much money.

i told all the buyers who's money i didn't have access to, to file claims and chargebacks and didn't bother paying the ebay fees since they didn't act in good faith when my account was frozen.

they took me to collections, i asked them to send me proof that the debt existed and if they couldn't to stop harassing me and that i would take legal action against them for harassment. i never heard from them again after that.

over 6 years later my credit is great and i got another ebay/paypal i've been using for the past 4 years or so with no problems whatsoever.

That's wassup!

 

[dmbrhs]

I've had one parking ticket on a private lot go to collections. The ticket was complete BS though and I even proved it to the company that ran the lot (walked into the office with my bank statement and everything). A-holes took my info, then still sent my ticket to collections. It's only about $70, and they stopped sending notices a long time ago.

 

[romedadude]

In my situation I have an $800 charge (roommate's fault) from my last apartment. The collection agency calls 3x a day about three days a week. I wanna pay it, but how long before it hits the credit report?

 

[Jordan8]

After you pay off debt how long before your credit score goes back up.

I heard I have to write a letter to the collections agency to post my cleared debt to credit agencies

 

[freshkrn]

Originally Posted by romedadude

In my situation I have an $800 charge (roommate's fault) from my last apartment. The collection agency calls 3x a day about three days a week. I wanna pay it, but how long before it hits the credit report?

this

 

[romedadude]

Bump

 

[color me green]

Originally Posted by LA Lakers 8

Originally Posted by color me green

I worked for a collection firm for 3 days. and within that 3 days of training, all I could remember is that after 7 years of unpaid debts, you can clear any negatives on your record with the credit bureau. I'm not sure if applies to large debts.

So after 7 years of an unpaid debt, I can hit up the credit bureau and they will clear the debt jus like that?

If the debt has gone unpaid for 7 years, then it can no longer legally remain on your credit report

 

[solechaserdmv]

I have worked in collections and judgments for several years, plan on opening my own collection agency in the near future so I'll try to help you out...

If they are threatening you about freezing your bank account and seizing assets, they better make good on their promise otherwise you can sue them.  Different states have different laws, but whatever state you are in, all collection agencies must abide by the FDCPA which is the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.  The collector can't threaten you to pay the bill by telling you they will take you to court or freeze your accounts unless they really intend on doing that. Before any of this happens, they have to take you to court and obtain a judgment. If they do take you to court, make sure to go otherwise they will have a default judgment against you.

Some of our clients will sue you for 100$ (attorney and court fees are more than the principal) and we have other clients that wouldn't sue you even if you owed 20,000 (won't even report to the credit bureau).  Some clients will report to the credit bureau for a 50$ bill after 6 months being delinquent and others won't report a 2,000$ bill that's 2 years old.  It all depends on who you owe the money to....

Are you getting calls from a collection agency or law firm? A lot of times accounts will change hands MANY times depending on how old it is.  How old is the bill and do you really owe the money?

 

[solechaserdmv]

Originally Posted by freakydestroyer

I read somewhere that collection agencies just buy the debt for pennies on the dollar, and you can usually negotiate a lower price with them to settle the debt, any truth to that?

There are different type of collection agencies out there.  Some buy the debt in bulk for pennies on the dollar and some essentially "lease" the debt.  Basically, the original creditor turns it over to collections and if they can't collect anything, the agency will return it to the original creditor.
  

 

[solechaserdmv]

Originally Posted by freakydestroyer

I read somewhere that collection agencies just buy the debt for pennies on the dollar, and you can usually negotiate a lower price with them to settle the debt, any truth to that?

ALWAYS try to negotiate a settlement.  The older the bill, the more of a discount you can get.  Only bad thing about a settlement is, yes you save some money, but it will still remain on your credit.  Say you owe $500 and you negotiate 50% off.  The remaining balance of 250$ will remain on your credit and will be updated as "settled in full."