What is the best way to fight a collection agency?
544277
While Icsowesmemoney is mostly correct, and is a professional collector who knows the law, let me correct a few things.\n\nHe implies that if you do not respond to a collection agency within 30 day of the innitial contact, you are considered liable for the debt.  This is incorrect. \n\nThe Fair Debt Collection states "The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer."  \n\nThe purpose of the warning is to give the consumer the right to demand the debt be validated.  During that time, the collector must cease all collection activities.  Failing to respond within 30 days is NOT an admission that you owe the debt, but simply places a bar date on when the collector can begin collection activities.\n\nEven though I apparently don't know the law, and can only "cut and paste", this does seem fairly clear to me.\n\nThe law is also very clear on how long any investigation takes place.  The credit reporting agency has 30 days to respond to a dispute, and either reaffirm the entry or delete it.  I see nothing in the law allowing a "reasonable amount of time" for the creditor to respond.  \n\nOK, now that we have cleared that up...\n\nSUE THEM!\n\nFirst, you need to read and understand the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as it outlines exactly what the dispute procedure is.  If you don't follow it to the letter, you will mess up your court case.\n\nSend all letters by certified mail, so you can prove that they were sent and received.  \n\n1) Send a demand letter to the Credit Reporting Agency (CRA).  Give them any proof you have to dispute your case.  In your case, you claim the listing is about being late?  Send them copies of any bills and checks to prove it.  The CRA has 30 days to "investigate" this charge.  All that means is they will contact the creditor and ask them if the listing is correct.  If the creditor says "yes", the listing is now "verified" and the listing stays.  On to step 2....\n\n2) Send a "Demand for Validation" letter to the creditor.  The creditor has 30 days to respond.  They must send you copies of bills, receipts, contracts, and everything used to calculate your debt.  This will be the evidence they use in court if you sue them, so look it over carefully to see if you still have a case.  If you still think you are right, and they still refuse to remove the listing...see below.\n\n3)  If they don't respond at all, send a copy of the "demand for validation" letter plus another demand to remove the listing to the CRA.  Tell them that the creditor has failed to "validate" the debt.  If the CRA still does not remove the listing, you can now add them to your lawsuit also.\n\n4)  File a small claims suit against these guys.  You will need to investigate how your local small claims court works.  Generally, pay a small fee, serve the process, and go to court.  If you can convince the judge the entry was incorrect, you can collect $1000 from both the creditor and the CRA, plus any damages the judge awards.\n\nYes it works, I'm in the process of doing it right now.  Already have a settlement with one of the parties.\n\nDo your homework, and read the links below.
839375
What seems to be happening here is,the company you had the actual debt with has not closed the account and it has therefore gained small interest,these files are then sent in bulk for a collection agency to sort out,the amount which has been paid still remains as unpaid when sent to the collection agency,so what you need to do is make contact with the persons,company or who ever the debt originated from and in turn they should inform the collections company,the fact that you say you continue to get them off different companys also backs this,has what is also happening one you explain the situation to one collection company and they then send it back to the originator who then sends it to another collection company,this is because the left arm hasnt got a clue what the right arm is doing and in any case dont worry about it,if seven years have passed you can tell them to take a run and jump
964486
If  you call a local collection agency in your area they will ask for the information of the person owing you the money and they will send out notices trying to collect. This is not the most effective way, most people throw the notices away...be warned collection agencies charge a fee and or a percentage of what you are trying to collect. You will more than likely end up not receiving the full amount owed to you. You are better off taking these clients to small claims court. I believe in most states it is around $35.00 to file a motion. In the end it is cheaper and with a strong case you will receive all monies owed. If and when you file be sure to include that you want to be reimbursed for court costs.
352334
Take the time to read the link below.  It describes the Fair Debt Collections Act, and the rules that collectors must follow.\n\nIt also says what you need to do to prevent their harrassment.
1093197
I would contact the better business bureau and place a negative report on their business. Next I would contact the credit card agency and ask them how to dispute this charge. Since this is from December 05 you might have a hard time getting them to do anything since that is almost 6 months ago.\n\nAs far as small claims court goes, you have 2 choices in filing a case. You can report it in your precinct where you live and if they will not go across state, which i do not understand as i have done this several times with medical collections....then you can file in the precinct where the business resides. You would need to call the county clerk for that county or the sherriff's dept and they can tell you which precinct that address would fall under. Best of luck.
212783
go to the court that issued the judgment, and have them enforce it. they could garner wages or confiscate property from them. Or, sell the debt to a collection agency. You will only get a small amount, but its better than nothing and then its no longer your problem.
827552
Lets start with discussing what a junk buyer does.  They gamble.  They are betting that for $100 they can collect $5000 from you.  Not bad for a Vegas bet.  So why would you expect them to accept $100?  That's an even money bet for them and they will obviously refuse it.\n\nIf you have any intention of negotiating a settlement, you better aim at 50% and go up from there.\n\nNow about the lawsuit.  Be aware that if you actually owe them this money, and you do sue them, they will definately countersue you.  Why not?  They have you in court and will probably win.  The best you can hope for is to win your lawsuit, win $1000, and apply that to their debt.  Sorry, facts are facts.\n\nEven worse, a smart lawyer may counter-sue you because of a frivilous lawsuit.  Be sure you have a good basis for a lawsuit before you start playing games with them.\n\n\nSo how do you file?  You need the following:\n\n1) A certified dispute letter to the credit repair agency.\n\n2) A certified letter to the creditor/collection agency demanding validation of the debt.\n\n3) A second certified letter with your intent to file a lawsuit if they do not validate the debt.\n\nIf you have this, you can now prove that they failed to follow the Fair Debt Collections Act and you can proceed with a lawsuit.  See the link below for some guidance.  But you need to search for your states court rules regarding small claims court. \n\nMany states have brochures and forms available on-line.  You must follow the filing rules exactly.
317036
Here is a method I used once to get rid of a legitimate debt that I owed. You may be ablet to adapt this and use it for yourself. \n\nI owed a $485 bill to AT&T that I refused to pay until they took down a cell phone tower that had been illegally erected right next to someone's back yard. Of course they ignored me, so I ignored them right back and things went round and round for a few years like that. finally the debt was sold to a collection agency and then to another one and finally to one in Florida. Up to this point none of them had reported it to any of the credit bureaus. Suddenly one day, there it was! A festering puss-filled sore right in the middle of my credit report! I immediately wrote a letter to the collection agency saying that the debt was not mine, that this was an old debt (by now it was over five years) that was being shopped around until they could stick it on somebody. I told them this was very damaging to my credit, that I had no other late payments, and I demanded they remove it immediately. Also, I said, at the time this debt was incurred there had been two other people living in the same county as me with exactly the same name as me, and it must have belonged to one of them. Again I demanded that they remove this thing from my credit report. About two weeks later I got a very apologetic letter from them saying how sorry they were for the mistake and yes it would be removed from my credit report immediately. It was and I never heard from anyone about this again.\n\n"Hell no," said Tom. "I'm not paying this. You can take this bill and shove it!"
47000
contact the creditor. If it is a large firm ask for the collections department. Attempt to negotiate a settlement that includes elimination of the negatively reported information. Start by saying "can you help me with this". Explain the original problem and staate that you want to make it good. Sometimes they will be sympathetic. At a minimum, if you pay they have to report it as originally charged off but paid.
195335
By law, the collection agency must "validate" your debt.  That means that, upon written request, they have 30 days to supply you with copies of contracts, bills, receipts, and anything that was used to calculate the amount that you owe.  If they fail to supply this, they must remove your information from the credit bureau, and must stop bothering you.\n\nYou are about to go to war!  Do NOT fight these guys unarmed!  Knowledge of the law is your only weapon, go read the links below and GET ARMED!  \n\nYou got an easy slam dunk case here.\n\nFrom this point on, keep a log of every call you make/receive regarding your debt, and copies of all letters.  You will need this if you wish to prosecute.\n\nUse the sample letter I supplied below on how to write a request to validate letter.  Send it by certified mail to the collection agent.  \n\nAfter 30 days, if they do not respond, send letters to the credit reporting agencies, along with a copy of your validation letter, and demand that they remove any negative report that is in your file.\n\nIf the collection agency does respond back, and the information is not given or incomplete, send them another letter and demand it again, but this time threaten legal action if they place anything on your history.\n\nJust keep the credit bureau's informed of the problem, and if they don't remove the history hire a lawyer and sue under the \nFair Debt Reporting Act.\n\nI'm going to bet that you don't owe a lot on this, right?  Less then $200?  They won't even bother to sue you.  They will send it back to the original creditor.  It's not worth the time of the Collection Agent to sue you for that small an amount.  The only weapon they have is your credit history, and if you follow my instructions will stop that.\n\nGet armed!  Read the links below!
238913
It's going to take a lot of letter writing and research.\n\nGo to the links below and study up on the laws.  There are links to sites that will give you step-by-step instructions on what to do.\n\nThe quick walk-through:\n\nGet a copy of your credit reports at www.annualcreditreports.com.  Check for errors or negative reports.\n\nWrite a complaint to the credit agency requesting they be removed.  They will then contact the creditor and "verify" the debt.  If no reply in 30 days the report gets removed.  \n\nNote there is a differance in "verify" and "validate".  "Verify" simply means they will contact the credit and ask if it's a valid debt.  "Validate" means that all records, logs, receipts, and anything that was used to calculate the debt must be produced and a copy must be sent to the consumer.\n\nSo, your next step is to contact each creditor and demand that the debt be "validated".  \n\nMany times, the creditor either does not want to mess with the time and paperwork involved in looking this information up.  Other times the records were destroyed.  If they do not send this information to you, contact the credit bureau and demand that the report be removed because the creditor failed to validate the debt.\n\nIf the report still stays, you have grounds to sue both the creditor and the bureau for damages, and violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.\n\nKeep a log of all letters and phone calls you make.  Do NOT let the collection agencies push you around, you have the law on your side.  Make them prove the debt or remove the report from your credit history.\n\nJust keep in mind....if it is a legitimate debt and everyone follows the rules, the report will stay on your records, no matter what you do.  It will stay for 7 years.\n\nGood luck\nGET ARMED!
931628
Go the legal route. Talk to an attorney or tax advisor. If you go to your ex-employer's home, call him, etc. he can file a harassment suit against you (and that would be much more expensive and look bad on your employment record/background check). You can send him a bill/invoice (make sure you keep a record of this) for collection purposes. Make sure it is straight forward and there are no personal jibes, threats, etc. as that could be used against you later. Just state the amount owed, what it's for, and a timeline it needs to be paid within.\nYou might be able to put a lien against his business, etc. and make him pay for any attorney fees/court costs depending on how much is owed and what kind of documentation/proof you have. Don't wait too long to do this because the statute of limitations on this is rather short.\nThe important thing here is not to look like a disgruntled ex-employee. You want to come across as a professional just looking to recoupe what is truly owed.
975925
Keep a log of the date and time when the collector calls.\n\nAfter you read the site listed below, you should send a letter by certified mail to the collector's business address. In that letter, state the following:\n\n"You are to cease and desist all further contacts with me, pursuant to the Fair Credit Debt Collection Act."\n\nYou will be given a receipt for the letter at the Post Office. That with a copy of the letter you wrote will be your proof that you notified the collector, in wrting, that it was in violation of the law.\n\nIf the collector continues after you recive a recipt that they got the letter, You can sue a collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date the law was violated. \n\nIf you win, you may recover money for the damages you suffered plus an additional amount up to $1,000. Court costs and attorney's fees can also be recovered. A group of people may also sue a debt collector and recover money for damages up to $500,000, or one percent of the collector's net worth, whichever is less.\n\nYou must, however send the certified letter to the collector, and see whether they continue to violate the law.If possible, get a recorder for your phone. If the collector calls, you must notify them that you are recording the call for use in a lawsuit against them. State the date and time after you say this.\n\nThey would be extremely foolish to continue calling after that time, or otherwise contacting you, because of he lawsuit threat.
193733
Go back and read emt815's answer again.  That is one of the most honest responses from a collection agent I've read to date!\n\nNow my turn...\n\nYou do not even have to deal with collection agents, unless they have purchased the debt.  Send them a letter to not contact you again.\n\nIf you contact the original debtor, they may be more receptive to working out a deal.  \n\nVERY IMPORTANT!  Do not pay a dime unless they agree to remove any negative report from your credit reports.  You are paying them in order to improve your credit, remember?  If that report stays there, it doesn't help at all.\n\nIf they don't want to deal with you, let them sue you.  They will probably win, but the judge will allow you to make payments that you can afford.  I had one person who owed $2000, and the collection agent was a total jerk.  It went to court and they won...the judge ordered $5 a month payments.
701810
Check the "THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT".\nI had to do this once to a creditor harrassing us for a bogus debt. Harassment and threats are against the law. Send them a letter telling them to stop and threaten to copy your local consumer protection agency and better business bureau. They are in violation of federal law so trust me, they will stop.\nAlso, I can't remember where I found it, but somewhere on the internet is a sample letter you can even use and tailor it to fit your exact situation. Good luck.
640363
Almost all the info you have here is not correct.  Collections agencies do not buy accounts, they work on a contingent basis.\n\nSome of the info is right.  Once the account is assigned to a 3rd party the original creditor does not have the ability to negotiate any longer  \n\nYou must deal with the collection agency.\n\nHere are some hints.\n\nDo not tell the collector that you are trying to buy something on credit (ie a house or car) and you need this to be paid.  This take away your leverage as they now know that you HAVE to pay it and they don't have to take a settlement.\n\nSimply tell them that you are trying to make good on your past mistakes and take care of your responsibilities.\n\nMost agencies will take a settlement offer, start low and they will counter, don't play too much or it will irritate them and then may just say "forget it, pay it all."\n\nGood luck!!
871777
They are full of crap, tell them to get bent, it would cost them more to sue than what you owe, collection agencies are all full of hot air, send them a cease and desist letter and never give them any bank info or info of any kind