Question:
1. When you receive a letter from a collection agency, is it the SAME
thing as a legal attorney's office? The wording and appearance makes it
appear so.
2. You've opened the letter, and "no response in 30 days indicates you
agree to our terms blablabla" what is that?
3. Will companies try to sue for a damage claim or to seize assets for
any amount owed? Wether Disputed or not?
PS. It is a three year old issue that I thought I was done with.
Answer:
-This doesn't apply to your question but may be helpful and is in regard
to harrassing phone calls. My ex-neighbor owned a collection business.
He told me that (at least in Pennsylvania) if you send the agency a
request to not call (certified mail) and they then called that you
could sue and win for damages.
-I had a credit issue arise last year. In 1999, I paid a final cell phone
bill over the phone with a debit card, and then cancelled the phone service
(don't pay your bills over the phone, btw). The cell phone company
charged my card, but never credited my cell phone account. The cell
phone company was then absorbed by some other cell phone company.
So last year, I was contacted by a collection company with a law-firm
sounding name, claiming I owed ~$350 for this cell phone bill that I
had paid five years prior. I remembered paying the bill, so I knew that
this was bogus. I dug through my files and found my bank statement
reflecting the charge to my debit card, which I faxed to the collection
company as proof of my payment. The company told me they couldn't
read the fax, and asked me to mail a copy.
I sent a registered letter with a copy of the bank statement. The
collection company then told me that a bank statement doesn't
qualify as proof-of-payment. The amount on my bank statement
was exactly the amount the collection company claimed I owed.
If somebody somewhere along the line had tacked interest onto
the collection amount, I would have been screwed. I was then
told by the collection company that I would need a letter from
the cell phone company stating that the account had been paid.
So now I'm responsible for getting a letter from a cell phone
company that no longer exists. I contacted the company who
had absorbed my old cell phone company, and they could find
no record of me anywhere in their files (since I had never had
an account with them). When I asked the new cell phone
company to write a letter stating that I didn't owe them anything,
they refused, because they could find no record of me ever
having an account with them.
After months of going back and forth between the collection
company and cell phone company, I finally reached somebody
with the cell company who had access to the old cell phone
company's records, and who determined that I had actually
called any paid my bill. The cell company sent a letter to me
and the collection company, stating that I had actually paid the
bill five years ago. This whole process began in April 04 and
was finally resolved in October of 04.
What's the point? I don't know. but it's a good idea to contact,
and stay in contact with, the collection company until the issue is
resolved. If you do have to pay them, get the terms in writing. You
can always try to make a deal, many collection companies will settle
for much less than the amount owed. Get a letter from the collection
company once the item is closed acknowledging resolution. Keeping
good financial records and getting everything in writing is key. I think
the fact that I paid the bill over the phone was a big reason that my
account was never properly credited.
