Re: I don't want to pay the collection agency

Posted by EricW (198.179.227.50) on November 26, 2002 at 15:46:20:

In Reply to: I don't want to pay the collection agency posted by Jaylin on November 26, 2002 at 13:54:30:

I have some limited experience with this; my debt was for an old federal college loan, which is much different than a credit card, but I got the college to pull the loan away from the credit agency.

No, you can't be sued for attempting to go to the original creditor; if indeed your account is assigned (which means that the CA-credit agency-- is working on commission for the original creditor) instead of sold (which means that the original creditor cut their losses, sold the debt and essentially gave it to the CA), then you may be able to talk them into pulling your account back. The worst that could happen is that the original creditor either refuses to work with you, or no longer has the ability to work with you. You may still be stuck working with the credit agency. The more recent the default on the debt, the more likely it is that you'll get them to pull the debt back from the creditor.

If you have the money, you may offer to pay the original creditor back a certain percentage of the debt amount immediately as a way of establishing good faith. I paid a 1/3 of what I owed on the college loan, and that gave them the incentive to act immediately.

However, as Why Chat says, get it all in writing. And your first step should also be to verify that the debt is still within SOL before you agree to anything.

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