I need help with a past payment.

Super - welcome to the forums! We are a site dedicated to assisting people with their financial and debt-related issues.

This site has no connection to Sprint or TMobile. My suggestion would be to research (through your credit report) who the original creditor was, and start by contacting the collection agency to set up payment. If, like you mentioned above, you have the money to pay the bill in full, I would suggest doing that as quickly as possible.

Debtor's prison no longer exists. You will not go to jail for not paying this bill. However, it can damage your credit if not paid, as you've already discovered.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

If you have the money to pay it, then find out who the bill was with and call them, see if you can find out the account number (it was probably a variation of your phone number) and pay them back directly

Ah, I stand corrected! You may either pay the collection agency or the original creditor - the collection agency will quite possibly have added charges to it, I believe.

Thanks Ashley!

You can do that right, if a bill is old like that but you can pay it off and have acct numbers, can't you pay the creditor directly and avoid the middle man aka CA?

I think you're correct, Ashley - which would eliminate the fees the collection agency is charging. I have run into one company that wouldn't do that though - I contacted the original creditor, and they informed me the account had been sold to a collection agency, and that I HAD to pay the collection agency, not them. Perhaps that's an unusual one, though. Other than that situation, I don't see why a creditor would refuse to allow you to pay them directly.

I am just curious though if you had all the account numbers and references for the original debt, sent them the payment would they absolutely refuse to cash the check

I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't - especially if you didn't contact them beforehand and tell them you were sending it. Just send it with the account information, then call later to be sure it was applied properly? Although that might be a little risky if the account is very old - you run the risk that a mistake could be made once they receive it.

Yeah I guess it would be how old the debt is. Maybe the best rule of thumb is not to try this for something over 24 months but that is just an idea.

I have an atty who is sending me letters about a Bellsouth bill from 2 mos ago and states that I need to pay them but make the check out to Bellsouth.. HA I sent the check to bellsouth with the bill that was still on my counter, I would bet money BS cashes the check

I received a bill in the mail that in no way is mine I want some answers ( ref. no. 0082***** ) . I want the address where the bill was made and who the original creditor is , original acct. mz 405 72025*****.

Personal info removed for your safety - Mike

Pamela -

I'm sorry, you have not reached the company you were attempting to contact. However, we are a community of people dedicated to helping people get out of debt and solve credit issues.

If you would be willing to post the name of the company (no account numbers, personal phone numbers or personal e-mail addresses, please - they are deleted for your safety and will not be seen by anyone), we might be able to help you with the contact info for the company so you can handle this issue.

thx for the information on paying back my debt and not going to jail. The answers were very prompt. I didn't expect an answer. i'll probably go to t-mobile and try to pay my bill. I would probably have excellent credit if wasn't for this shiznit phone bill. thx for the help.

Hi John -

you're very welcome! We're glad we could help - enjoy your holidays!