Account just went into collections
Date: Tue, 02/02/2010 - 01:56
1. Call the credit card company to find out if the account is held by their collection department or sold to a third party collection agency.
2. Ask for the account to be pulled out of collections.
3. Try to settle the amount owed.
We are willing to pay the whole amount off. What is our best course of action? She is also willing to pay off the account, if it is held by a third party collections.
You can call up the creditor and verify if they have sold the ac
You can call up the creditor and verify if they have sold the accounts off to the collector or have just assigned them to collect on them. If the accounts have been charged off by the creditor and sold to the collection agencies, then you might have to deal with them. Try to negotiate a settlement with them.
If they sold the debt, you have no choice but deal the the agenc
If they sold the debt, you have no choice but deal the the agency unless you want it on your credit report. they cannot legally sell the debt without a legal chain of title. It allows the agency to prove in court that they own the debt. The agency has 30 days to supply you with the paperwork apon request. The downside is that demanding this paperwork, is often enough to get them to sue you for the balance in full, plus lawyers, court fees and other interest and penalties. It can get very expensive very quick. Reluctant or not, the agency needs only contact you once to verify that you have no intention of taking care of it voluntarily. This can lead to many problems as some agencies are also lawyers offices. If that is the case, they buy debt with the intent of sueing you. Lets face it, this isn't $200 your talking about.
You might get real lucky and squeeze through, but I don't think any agency will give you any more than 20% off. If it makes it to court, you'll pay $9,000 in a heartbeat.
Call the Agency, they will prob settle for $5,000, lump sum. Don
Call the Agency, they will prob settle for $5,000, lump sum. Don't try payments, the time for payments was when you had the card. Pay it off in full, get a PAID IN FULL LETTER and never lose it, in case you have to dispute future claims.
Wow...debt free ....so much bad information. Collection agencie
Wow...debt free ....so much bad information.
Collection agencies cannot sue.....so they dont have to prove anything in court. Only a law office or attorney can sue and have to prove anything. A collection agency assigned 3rd party generally does not buy individual accounts...they are sold in bulk and obviously if a CA cannot sue, what is the sense of them buying it if you refuse to pay?
Settlements can run up to 80%...dont know where you are getting the 20% figure...just read this forum.
OK. I got some more information this morning. It looks like the
OK. I got some more information this morning. It looks like the accounts are 90 days late. Both accounts are with citi. When she calls one of the accounts, they give her a 1800 number to call. The other account is now being handled by a collection agency. They already sent a letter notifying her that the account is in collections. I'm guessing the accounts are still held by citi. I wouldn't think they would charge it off only after 90 days. The odd thing is that both statements say the payment is due in full in mid feb with payment slips.
What should we do at this point? Should we just work out a settlement with collections? I'm trying to do some research on pay to delete. All of her other credit cards are current.