Question:
I need help in dealing with a nasty collection agency for American
Express. I want to settle my debt but they refuse to negotiate a
lower settlement payment. Is it my right to know if the agency bought
my account or is just working for American Express to collect the debt
for them? I do not want that agency profiting on my hardship if they
bought the account for less than value while harassing me for the
entire balance. In other words, for example, if they bought it for
50% of the balance originally owed to American Express, then I would
think a fair settlement would be 75%. Still a nice profit for them.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not denying that I owed American
Express the entire debt but at this point I do not think that this
collection agency morally “deserves” the entire debt,
legally or otherwise, especially after harassing me and getting into
my personal business.
Answer:
-If you bought a Treasury bond at depressed prices during a bond bear market,
would you accept the government refusing to pay you back the full amount it
owes on the bond because it reasons that you'd still make a profit at 75
cents on the dollar?
Nope, didn't think so.
If you need a "moral justification" for any discount they may have gotten on
your account, it's that they (1) have to spend extra time and money
harrassing you just to get money that you legally owe them anyway and (2)
the substantial risk that despite being in the right, they'll still end up
with less than the full value.
And the fact that they got a discount for those drawbacks does not give you
a moral justification for creating or perpetuating said drawbacks.
-Whether they bought the account from American Express or are
collecting it on commission is really neither here nor there to you;
if the debt is not in dispute, you owe someone the entire amount.
Since AmEx appears to have assigned it to the collection agency, you
apparently owe it to them. AmEx has no obligation to forgive any part
of your debt, nor does the collection agency. Nor are you a party to
whatever contract there is between them.
Now a collection agency does have to play by the rules, particularly
the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA); and if they've
violated any of these, you may have some grounds to dispute their
right to collect from you. But apart from this I don't see what legal
obligation they could possibly have to forgive any part of your debt,
and the idea of a collection agency honoring a moral obligation is
quixotic.
