Collection agencies charging interest?

To determine if the collection agency can add additional charges onto your debt, consult your original contract. If you agreed to pay "collection costs," the agency can add reasonable charges such as attorney fees, court costs, or credit reports.

I don't know what he's doing. All I know is when I made arrangements with him, I agreed to pay $150.00 a month, and they TOOK $150. I'm going to call him today and figure this thing out. I can't afford to have my money go no where--The close to $40 that is gone could have went to good use somewhere else--Other bills...Even gas for my car. I'm going to get it settled today.

I agree with 2kid. It depends upon the contract, however, I'm quite sure that they are charging some fees, or interest w/e.

It will be better if you can call them and ask for clarification. Do let us know how they respond to you.

I called him, and they're charging me the 24.75% interest that CareCredit was charging me. I asked if he could waive that, and the only way he would is if I would pay it off in 3 payments of around $600--Which I told him would be IMPOSSIBLE right now. I asked what the difference was between paying it off with 3 payments and 12 payments, paying it off and he got huffy and said, "What do you want to do? Cancel the payment plan?" And I said, "I WOULD LOVE to do that...Except I'm TRYING to take care of this in the best way I can. I'm giving you more than I can afford right now as it is."

I'm going to get it paid down a bit more and start bothering him again.

I bet if you keep bugging him about it, eventually after regular payments he will maybe drop the interest. I hope anyway! :)

~Mary

I'm going to wait until a couple more payments go through...And HOPEFULLY by then I'll know more about my accident settlement. Just waiting on the doctor's report, and then we can start proceeding with the insurance company. With my lost wages alone, I can pay this bill off completely. (And hopefully get enough out of it to get all the rest of this junk out of my life.) It's pretty sad when a car accident settlement is going to be the best thing to ever happen to you...lol

You are not the only one out there in that situation! I have a friend in the exact same place as you. He is waiting for a settlement to be able to pay off some of his bills. It's totally a waiting game, and it's not fun.

~Mary

It's been a year already, but with my injuries being on a weight bearing part of the body, which takes longer to heal, I had to wait this long to be totally released from Dr. care. I'm not expecting to become a millionaire, I just want my bills paid off and to be caught back up. A lot of this payday loan nonsense came about from being out of work with my accident, and money was stretched pretty thin before that, so it just got worse every month. It's looking up though. :)

Totally understandable, it's cool that you are not all "sue happy" like some out there. You just want to be in the same position that you were before the accident!! I don't think that is asking too much at all.

~Mary

Is this a collection agency or a payday loan company?

It's a collection agency. Arrow Financial.

Have you tried dealing with the original creditor on it? Sometimes you can bypass the collection agency and deal with the original creditor.

Yeah, I tried that, and they told me I have to deal through Arrow.

I've dealt with Arrow and they are not easy to work with. They actually turned it to a law office so now I have a judgment that I am paying on and have been for quite a while. Mine was on a Providian credit card that they sold to Arrow. Arrow wants it all in a big hurry. Keep paying them what you can and hopefully they'll drop the interest. It seems like it takes forever but the balance does drop. Mine started at about 1900 and I think I have about 800 or 900 left.

How long have you been paying on it?

My balance was 1908..I started paying a couple of weeks ago, $150, twice per month. My second payment will be on Wednesday.

Who did you deal with there? I'm dealing with Carlos..He has a real attitude problem. lol

I"ll have to think about who it was. Most of them do have attitude problems. Like I said they turned me over to a law office who was actually better to deal with than them. I think I've been paying on it forever, no not really but I'll think about it and see if I can find my records and PM you later today or tomorrow. My favorites are Academy, have you ever dealt with them? You can't believe how fun they are!! NOT!! What a bunch of idiots and they actually get paid...hard to believe. I'll let you know.

One positive note about a different agency, is I just talked to the sweetest lady at Midland--My original guy is no longer there. I didn't get her name though. :(

You also need to research your state uniform Commercial Code to see if you state allows additional fees, charges, interests etc to be added by collections agencies (basically see if fees are permitted by law) In Illinois, Collections Agencies and Attorneys cannot collect more than the original debt, and are prohibited from assessing additional charges, fees or interest.

Ok, after my second payment getting robbed with the interest fees, which basically makes my payment useless, I called them today, (Saturday) towards the end of his shift.

I got him to agree to take the interest off my account in exchange for upping my payment to $250 twice per month, ($500 monthly) which will pay it off quicker, and I won't pay so much interest.

This will make things very tight financially for the next few months, but I think I can do it. :) It's going to be a rough couple of months, though.

Anyone with any spare points that they would like to donate, I'd be your best friend..hehe:)

Cross your fingers for me!

I incurred a unbelievable medical bill of $350 for a single 15-20 minute office visit to a Dr. where nothing was done, not even an examination. Purely exploring if the doc did the operation I needed, which he didn't. I initially refused to pay and one made an effort to get it reduced, but with further health issues and convalescent circumstances, I did not get it resolved before it was sent to collections.
For several reasons, I'm will pay it to get it off my back, but they've tacked on a $27 fee out of the gate. With no written "contract" per se with anyone, am I legally liable for the additional fee? What can they do if I refuse to pay it, but do pay the principle?