Collection Agnecy..........Help!

broloco

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

drtyfrnk29

broloco wrote:

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

Call them up and ask them if you were to pay the amount right then and there if they would take some of the amount down a bit. You can save as much as 40 percent this way. Also, ask them, after you pay to have it removed from your credit report. Get it in writing.

Fifthelement

Pay them! They can fuck your credit rating up for years. We got sent to a collection agency seven years ago for $10 overdraft - just seeing the light now in terms of credit ratings. If you can find the original invoice showing that you paid it - great. Otherwise your screwed. Good Luck!

Get_Right

its a fine line

do you think you will need a mortgage in the future?

if so, negotiate it down and pay it.

if not, screw it

GraySaturday

broloco wrote:

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

This exact thing happened to my husband. And, it was actually 300 too.. We let it go for a while and started getting letters from their lawyer and they said that they had a specific date that they'd send it in to screw our credit up for all of eternity.

We ended up sending them documents, that they tried to tell us weren't right, but we knew they proved that we really didn't owe the money. They told us it didn't prove the right thing, but they left us alone since then. I think by that point they were hoping we were scared and would pay, but they really couldn't come after us further because of the proof of payment.

If you don't have that, I totally suggest paying it. You DO NOT want to screw up your credit. A negative thing like that can really hurt you when you try to get a credit car, car loan or mortgage. Trust me, it was hard getting a car loan in this economy this past weekend, and I don't have a late payment or anything negative on my report at all, just open accounts. One bad thing and they told us our interest rate could have been 20% :eek: Not worth it over 300 dollars in the long run.

Pearls&Stones

broloco wrote:

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

I work in a loan department for a reputable bank (I'm still kind of learning the ropes in that department). If you can prove that the only delinquency on your record is for medical, we might grant you a loan (we'd encourage you to pay it however).

Honestly though, pay it. A collection is a collection and any lender can use it as a legit excuse for denial.

Anon

call them, work something out, make payments, $300 is not worth a low credit score and a high interest rate on your next loan.

patrickredeyes

broloco wrote:

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

tHE best thing to do is call them and talk to them. If you can't pay it all at once work out a payment plan. Yes they can fuck up your credit. If you work with them they will work with you.

Allie

and they will keep calling and sending letters!

brain of c

it's only three hundred dollars. pay up.

Heineken Helen

brain of c wrote:

it's only three hundred dollars. pay up.

Agreed... if it were a substantial figure it might be worth discussing... but $300 to risk your future credit? :eek: Nah!

SENROCK

brain of c wrote:

it's only three hundred dollars. pay up.

agreed. Pay it now before they hike up the charges. It can get ugly! :eek:

given2fly78

Pay it off!

They may settle, but either way get proof of payment and even if the collection agency says they will report to all credit reporting bureaus, send proof of payment anyway! Send it return receipt so that you know the agencies received it!

To get a mortgage, they won't require a medical collection to be paid, but any collection outstanding will bring down your scores so it's worth paying off.

appliedlesson

http://consumerist.com/tag/debt/?i=5010475&t=woman-loses-home-over-68-dental-bill

Sonya Capri Ramos says her Salt Lake City home was sold out from under her in 1996 to pay a collections agency seeking payment for dental work performed on one of Ramos's daughters. And despite the fact that she had made three years of payments on a $51,000 mortgage, the title changed hands for just $1,550 at a sheriff's auction.

The bill blew up to $950 from legal and collection fees, and in 1996 she was sued by a collection agency named North American Recovery. She didn't contest the lawsuit—she claims she was never notified—and the judge ordered that some of her non-exempt real property should be sold to pay off the debt. "But because the real estate at stake was Ramos's home, which by law is considered 'indivisible,' the title to the entire property was sold at auction," to a company called Jarmaccc Properties—which has refused to give her back the title, even after she paid them the $1,550 through a bankruptcy restructuring in 1998.

broloco

It sounds like the best bet is to just suck it up and pay over time. $300 isn't all that big a deal, but in this economy I just hate forking it over.

Thank you all for the replies.

stu gee

Dont ignore it anyway. Would be terrible if some years down the line you cant get credit for a car or house because you didnt nuckle down to pay a bill of 300 quid. Speak to them, payment plans can often be set up so it doesnt have to be paid at once. Definitely dont ignore it though!