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I owe a person some money.(it is a recent debt, within the last year)

They have referred it to a collection agency. Ficka and Associates.

Ficka keeps calling and threatening to take legal action.

I actually mailed a partial payment of a few hundred dollars to the person directly last month. (Not to Ficka)

If I keep sending the person checks directly, will it keep Ficka and legal action off my back or can they still a) attempt to get a judgement and b) report me to credit bureaus?

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:29 pm Subject:

You need to send a debt validation letter to them immediately by certified mail with a return receipt. Here is a link to a good template. you will have to edit it appropriately to fit your situation but all the info you need to demand is there.
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about216.html

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:31 pm Subject:

The validation letter requires them to prove that the debt is theirs to collect and requires them to show how they arrived at the amount they say you owe and also any payments you have made to the original creditor after they had the debt. They will not have that info. They have to stop collecting until theu can validate it.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:22 am Subject:

A collection agency can not threat or harass you, if you feel they are bothering you then you can make a complaint at your state attorney general’s office. In my opinion you should send them a debt validation letter via certified mail with a return receipt request. And DO NOT pay them a single penny until and unless they validate the debt.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:18 am Subject:

A collection agency can not make threats they do not intend to follow though with.

sycamore · Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:37 am Subject: old debt

OK. I will mail that letter.

But after they do validate it, my original question still stands.

If I keep mailing the original person I owe it to and that person cashes the checks. Does that keep the creditor off my back.

How soon before they can report me, does it have to go 30 days without mailing them a payment?

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:42 pm Subject:

From my own experience, I have a medical debt and am contacted by OSI. I continue to pay the hospital directly, and OSI sends a statement that does show my lower balance, and other blah blah stuff, but they do still call me regularly even though I spoke with someone that said "yes I see you are paying, just keep doing that" I don't respond to the calls, I just plug away at the balance - but I write the checks to the hospital & send it to their address, not OSI. So I think that unless you send them a "no contact except through the mail" certified they will prob still call you. I would not send a cease & desist, because I think that might trigger them to go further. They usually call me once a month. But you need to make consistent payments also...hope that helps a bit.

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:54 pm Subject:

They can report you at any time. A bad debt is a bad debt and one of the consequences of having a bad debt is having it reported on your credit report.

You can continue to mail payments to the "creditor" but the collection agency will still call.

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:00 pm Subject:

They can report you at any time just as stated above.There is really no reason to deal with the collector if the oc are accepting payments.The collection agency are receiving their commission directly from the creditor.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:07 am Subject:

If the original creditor is encashing your check, then you do not need to deal with the collectors. It is always better to deal with the original creditor. The cease and desist letter is the best way out to stop the collection agencies from calling you. Send the letter via certified mail with a return receipt requested and keep a copy of the letter for your records. Sending the collectors a cease and desist letter does not mean that you can not be sued on the debt. So, you have to pay off your debts to show the debt as paid on your report.

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