Anyone ever dealt with a debt collector?

[omgyou8myrice]

A while back I sold some stuff on ebay, and was charged ~$200 in fees for selling the stuff.

After $150ish of it was paid, I had an issue with my CC and got a new card. Since the number changed, the remaining $40ish sat in limbo. Long story short, I never got around to paying it as I was irked about how much ebay was charging me, and figured they'd drop it.

Well, I was wrong, and it seems like they sold it to a debt collection agency ($40?! I still can't believe it). I'm extremely worried this is going to trash my debt now, but the agency is demanding I hand over my CC info to pay it, and I don't feel comfortable doing that. Can I pay them another way? Tell them to take a hike?

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[SimplyMars9]

I'm assuming you're worrying about identity theft...but did you contact eBay and ask them about it? Maybe you can give them their $40 directly rather than going through a third party. Explain how you don't feel comfortable about handing over your info.

If they say no, then ask for proof it's a legitimate company. They will keep badgering you until they get their money.

 

[omgyou8myrice]

I was worried about them just having my CC info in general.

I jumped the gun on making this thread. I went through ebay and just paid the fees. Hopefully the calls stop now because those people are mean, mean *******s haha (for good reason, I know).

 

[eablackwell]

I was worried about them just having my CC info in general.

I jumped the gun on making this thread. I went through ebay and just paid the fees. Hopefully the calls stop now because those people are mean, mean *******s haha (for good reason, I know).

I had this problems when one of my loans came due. A loan company (which will remain nameless) likes to send no notice until 3 months out, then they send you a 3 month overdue notice stating that you've been sent to a collections agency. I understand completely. They are not nice to deal with. If the debt is paid they should lay off you soon.

 

[Damia]

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[Kaustikos]

Debt collectors are s***** scum. Don't talk to them or give them any info whatsoever. Demand they send you everything in writing, via certified mail, no emails. Half the time, they will try to trick you into "making a payment" and then run your debit for the full amount. Never, ever give them any card or account info.

Debt collectors are doing their job. They're the last straw before you're screwed. I had hospital loans that were too high so I filled a form to ask for help and they never replied and instead sent me to the debt collectors agency. They basically offered me a low monthly payment installment and I didn't have to deal with the hospitals bull****.

OP, they're not trying to scare you. They're there for a reason, despite the trash talk on here. If it wasn't for them, it'd be far worse. I mean, for ****s sake, it's $40. Pay it and be done with it.

 

[wristbandMD]

This last year I had about $30,000 in medical bills that I shouldn't have had to pay. Due to coding issues, the bills had been sent to a bill collector. I ignored it and ignored it and ignored it and now it's only $350.


Moral of the story: Ignore your debt and it will disappear!

 

[omgyou8myrice]

You know, I was honestly going to ignore it.. I mean c'mon.. they really sold my debt to a collections agency over $40?! In the end, I'd rather just pay $40 and not have something pop up on my future credit check and deny me a loan or something of that nature.

And yes, debt collectors are huge jackasses, but they need to be, so I can't fault them for that. If they were nice and pleasant to the debtor, they would never collect.

 

[PremedGunner]

don't give the debt collection agency any information. i'd be worried about screwing up my credit if i were you. anyway, maybe you could tell ebay about your mcat score and they will bow down to you and never bother you agian.

 

[HockeyDr09]

If it has been quite a while and debt collectors are on you, odds are it's already on your credit report. First thing I would do (and did do, when something similar happened to me) was to check my own credit report via anyone of the free sites on the internet. You are legally allowed 1 check of your credit for free a year (not credit score, just a report). See if the collection agency is on there. If they are, it can hurt your credit score tremendously (especially if you are young with a small history of credit.). The trick is that these agencies are legally allow to completely delete the issue off of your credit report if you're nice to them. In my instance, I struck a deal. I would pay off my bill only if it was deleted (NOT MARKED AS PAID IN FULL) DELETED, as in no one would ever know it was there in the first place. If you pull your report and see it on there, your only bargaining chip is to not pay unless they meet your demands. Seems like you may have already paid already, but it's still a thought. Good luck

 

[willen101383]

The reason for this thread has been resolved...but I figured id throw in my .02. When I bought my house a year ago I signed up for credit monitoring to make sure everything was good and I would have no issues getting a mortgage. Long story short...I kept it.

I had two minor minor things I kept getting collection letters over. One being a dentist bill and one being for car insurance I never paid. I read all over the internet that they would never contact the credit bureaus over such a minor amount. WRONG

Bam two references on my credit report of the collection accts. I had to pay it...but ultimately it is still there 3 months later. My credit score took a 30 point hit....and all it says is "paid" next to both.

So seriously guys....your debt will not just go away and if you can afford to pay it at the expensive of maybe staying in one nite...just pay!! Getting a mortgage is a PITA with anything on there. I was fine...but literally had to write a note to the mortgage company over EVERY instance of anything on the report...even down to stupid little 30 day late CC payments from 5 years ago!!!

 

[link2swim06]

How can something appear on the OP credit report if they dont have his social security number?

Pretty sure you dont give out your SSN to ebay to sell and unless the collecting company is doing some intense records research (which would cost a large fraction of that $40) then they can do crap to him.

That being said OP if you want them to stop calling, then call ebay NOT the debt collector. If you pay ebay you KNOW you are not getting ripped off.

 

[kami333]

It's a common myth that you need a SSN to be able to list a debt on a credit report. All you need is identifying information, most common is to use the name and address (and DOB if available). Now sometimes mistakes do happen and the debt ends up on the wrong credit report, but that's what the validation process is for (at least theoretically).

NEVER pay a collections agency without negotiating payment for deletion (from your credit report) in writing, otherwise all you are accomplishing is delaying when your credit will improve. Derogatory marks stay on your credit report for 7years after last activity so if the debt is already a few years old not paying it would make if drop off your credit report faster than paying it and resetting the 7year clock. There's certain situations such as applying for financial aid or getting a mortgage where the lender will stipulate that you can't have any unpaid collections, but for the most part there's no difference to your credit whether you have an unpaid or paid collections, they are both equally bad.

Never call. All communication should be in writing, via certified mail. If you get a call from a debt collector, get their address and send a cease and desist letter via certified mail.

Always send a validation letter via certified mail (see the trend?). They are supposed to provide written notification to you within 5days of initial contact that you have the legal right to contest this debt for 30days, after 30days you will have assumed to be in agreement with the debt blah blah blah. Once you send it, they can't contact you further until they provide documentation of the debt and for smaller amounts they usually can't provide it. One tactic I've seen is the use of handwritten letters on colored paper, screws up the OCR and forces them to process it by hand (at least that's the theory, not sure how effective it is). They have 30days to respond, if they don't they can't pursue it further and have to delete it from your credit report, or if they don't you can contact the credit reporting agencies and have them remove it.

One thing to remember is that collection agents work on commission and have frequent performance evaluations, a lot of agents will only go after low hanging fruit and if you show that you know what you are doing and know what your rights are they may just move on to a easier account (at least initially).

PS: pay your bills, deadbeat

 

[Kaustikos]

You know, I was honestly going to ignore it.. I mean c'mon.. they really sold my debt to a collections agency over $40?! In the end, I'd rather just pay $40 and not have something pop up on my future credit check and deny me a loan or something of that nature.

good. Pay it and be done.