made an agreement

Hi Guest,
A bit more specification, of your debt is required. Kindly help us with some details, so that we can help you back.

i owe a creditor the sum of 1,600.00 dollars. it has been asigned of to the collection agency of Tate and Kirlin; the contacted me at work ( i told them I can not get calls at work). I told them that i just got demoted down and i am not making the money i used to. and i agreed to pay 100.00 dollars a month. but that was before I knew my hours was gonna be cut down to 32 or less.
my electric bill is 125.00 a month
my gas bill averages 225.00 in the winter
the cable /internet/phone is 130.00 a month
my car payment is 321.00 a month
gas for two weeks is 75.00
house/car insurance is 158.00
i make 11.00 an hour

anyway the collection agency said i have to make automatic payments out of mt bank account. with this shortage of hours my paycheck is getting smaller.

my question is can I stop the automatic deductions and start paying by money order. i know the will tell the original creditor to sue for refusal to pay but Iam not refusing to pay just trying to change the way i pay. any suggestions

i am looking for another job to work in the morning

It is up to you how you pay, not them. Did you ask for validation when they contacted you, to make sure they are the ones legally collecting on this? You can stop the automatic withdrawals by sending the company a certified letter stating that they no longer have authorization to withdraw money and from now on you will be sending in your payments via money order. I am curious, did you get this agreement in writing or was it done over the phone? Whatever agreements you have, it should always be in writing.

Also when you send the letter you can explain your financial situation...you need to take care of yourself first and foremost and since your hours were cut it is not unreasonable to lower your payment a bit (plus you want to make sure all these payments are not just going to interest or fees)...you can mention that if they feel the need to sue because you need to reduce your payment a little or that you are switching how you pay, they are free to do so but that the judge may not look favorably on the company wasting court time because you want to pay it a different way and in fact the judge would likely set you up on a payment plan even lower then what you currently have, it is not a total bluff because a judge would look at all your expenses and determine a payment arrangement you can afford.

thank you goldenbast. the agreement was over the phone. thanks again

Ok they could say the agreement was anything...this time get it in writing. Heck, the fact they said that if you tried to change the way you pay they would mark it as refusal, well that would be reason enough for me to bring everything to a halt. You have rights. Use them.

Send them two certified letters, one is the no authorization to withdraw money from your account. The other should be asking for a full accounting and the fact you want your agreement in writing. Explain you have been making payments in good faith and did not appreciate being threatened when you wanted to change the method of payment which is your right under the law. Tell them you also want proof they are legally able to collect upon this account such as agreement/contract signed by you and a last statement showing what you owe. You can also write that while you are out of the 30 day window, these are extenuating circumstances because you believe they are not treating you in a lawful manner and that until you have these items they will not see one more payment from you.

Also say that while they have the option to sue, that you will just ask for the same information in Discovery where they would have to provide it and would ask the judge to set you a payment plan that will likely be much lower then what you were on and that you can show the judge that you were making payments and wanted an accounting and proof that they refused to provide.

Good advise goldenbast however I would add that the guest should check their state laws for small claims court. I just settled with Cap One through a collection agency (in writing). In my State they were able to sue under small claims and in Massachusetts there is no discovery allowed in small claims. Also don't let the collection agencies bully you. Try to stay emotionally disconnected from the negotation, that is why you should write not talk to the entity you are trying to settle with. In addition, it helped a great deal to read up on debt collection from the point of view of the person trying to get money. You get to read and study their playbook before you start to write/talk with them. And much of what they say and do will become clear when you read their playbook! Hope this helps Good Luck