collection agent offers and letter...???

Background:
valid debt, $5400, in collections since April, received first notification Nov 1.

So, the 'manager' I get automatically transferred to is a jerk. I called to get a feel for the account and while he offered to settle at 60% he refused anything in writing. Then, two days, later said he'd email/fax me 'something'. He never did. THen he pretended that he couldn't find my file because 'it's gone to legal'. All of this was during the week of the first notice. Oh, he also hung up on me when I said that I need something in writing before I send *anything* to them. Am I assigned to this CA now? What can I do so I can deal with someone else?

I sent a settlment offer last week, certified with RRR. I'm offering 40%, pfd, pif.

If I don't hear anything about my offer what do I do? Resend the offer every few weeks?

I've now been getting home calls at 7:50pm sharp every night. "Out of Area' so I don't pick them up.

I don't want to do a C&D because I do want to deal with these people.

I looked up the CA with my local courts and they are sue crazy...and win about 98% of the time. Again, I want to deal with this OUT of the courts.

Get it in writing. Make sure that it says that it will be considered paid in full!! So that you are not passed onto another CA.

Oh yes. I'm aware of that, PIF and requesting removal from CRA.

Have you been able to look at your credit report to see how they are reporting? If it's been in collections since April, it would seem to be that something would be reported by now.

Do you remember how much the original debt was for and how far behind you are in payment for the original creditor? If it's now in the hands of a CA, there are probably a lot of fees/interest that were thrown on top of the original charge.

I agree that it's in your best interest to handle this outside of court if at all possible and I think you're doing the right thing by staying on top of this...and making sure that a move isn't made until you receive an official statement in writing. They'll try like to hell to avoid that and scare you into paying something on the fly ~ stay strong

As far as sending your letters, it's a great that you've done them by RRR. Keep all receipts and copies on file...if you do go to court...it's something you'll need. I'm not sure how often you should be sending them in order to be effective ~ but I think that it's important to have record that you honestly did everything you possibly could in order to get this resolved in the right way. The certified receipts will show that. If it was me, I would probably send them once a month.

~ Debra

Thanks Debra.

Good grief this is stressful!

The original debt and this CA account are on my CR. The amount of the last OC bill is the $5400. Though the OC did end up adding about 1k in fees/interest etc.

I feel like I'm wrong in avoiding them on the phone, because I want this over with, but what do they expect if they are going to hang up on me?!

Seems they did get the letter. I got 3 calls, out of area, last night. I have no idea why they call the house phone when I only ever contact them through my cell.

Dount you wil get a PIF or a PFD with only a 40% settlement since this sounds like it is still w/in SOL. In collections since April? Has the account been CO'd yet? I think the best you might hope for is a settled for less than full but doubt you could get them to agree not to issue a 1099-c or sell off the remaining balance.