Questions tagged [debt-collection]

For questions related to debt collection, debt collection agencies, unpaid debts, etc.

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Sending a 1099-C with missing data to a deadbeat client

I sent a demand letter via email to a client for a $500 balance they owed. They offered a token amount, by email, to settle. Their token was so small that I would rather send them a 1099-C. My ...
RJo's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
48 views

Determining the Amounts Owed for an Australian Personal Loan

Lately, I have been lending someone from Australia money online. It has been going on for more than a year, and Alex (the person I lent money to) pays me back from time to time. However, he failed to ...
wilbur377's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

UK - Money Claim Online for Non-Resident

My (non-UK) client (UK) hasn't paid me for over 2 years now. We connected via famous freelancing platform, but they don't help. There's no debate over my right in the money, but back then when I had ...
OldEgyptian's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
175 views

Can I apply to a credit card company that I had debt with

My credit card debt was sent to collections 7+ years ago and now the collection agency doesn’t bother me and my credit is much better. What I want to know is can I get a credit card from the same ...
Dwight Walker's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
64 views

Trust tax/debt concerns

I live in the US, and have been appointed as the trustee of an irrevocable trust with my father (who also lives in the US) as the beneficiary. My father is potentially in some debt/behind on taxes, ...
jesse_b's user avatar
  • 334
1 vote
1 answer
106 views

If i pay a creditor directly can a collector still sue for fees?

We paid a creditor the full amount that was owed plus interest. The collector is charging $9000 on a $13000 debt. We feel this is exorbitant. Can we still be sued by the collector?
D scott's user avatar
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2 answers
189 views

I got a court notice from a debt collector. What do I do now?

I had some medical bills in 2018/2019. At the time, I was able to make monthly payments to the hospital, but the monthly amount was not enough for them so they sent the account to collections. The ...
Ash's user avatar
  • 3
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0 answers
20 views

Does cumulative medical debt to collections over $500 affect credit score?

The new update to credit score calculation means that medical debt under $500 in collections won't affect the score. So if one gets a $400 debt sent to collection and then another $400 debt sent to ...
JobHunter69's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
250 views

What will happen to a tiny debt if I ignore it?

I received a medical bill of $150.00 and I made a payment of $149.99 (just as an experiment) so technically I own the clinic $0.01. I am curious what will happen to this tiny debt. It will cost them ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 1,567
3 votes
1 answer
154 views

Can debt collections show up on my credit report if the collectors haven't contacted me first?

Can debt collectors report to credit bureaus when they haven't contacted me yet?
JobHunter69's user avatar
36 votes
4 answers
10k views

If a debt collection company refuses full payment is the debt still valid?

I was charged on a closed account for a service I never received. It is only a couple hundred dollars. I never paid it because it was not a valid debt. I am trying to fix my credit. I called up the ...
RobC's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
3k views

Credit card charge off : Can creditor take away the electrician's toolbox and the car even if the car was paid off a long time ago?

Here is the situation: Suppose a person owes a credit card company $10,000, can't pay it any longer, and after 6 months, the credit card company decides to charge off this credit card. Suppose that ...
Job_September_2020's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
329 views

What do I do after requesting and receiving a debt validation letter for a medical debt I don't recognize?

I received a debt collection call a few months ago from a professional debt collector for a debt I didn't recognize, followed by a written notice. I wrote back that I dispute the debt and requested ...
Robert's user avatar
  • 499
29 votes
6 answers
4k views

How can I know if a debt collector is holding onto a debt?

Some time ago, I was contacted by a debt collector. A prior landlord had claimed I had owed them six months of rent. The landlord sold the debt to a debt collector, who then silently held onto the ...
Village's user avatar
  • 2,649
28 votes
2 answers
8k views

Taking college classes to avoid student loan payments indefinitely

My sister-in-law has decided she wants to take part time college classes so she doesn't have to make payments on her private student loan and her plan is to do this until she dies. She graduated from ...
Erica Grant's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
262 views

What is the best way to collect money from friend who owes me some money

I have this person who tries to run away from me and not paying me back as he promised. Since this is not my area and never involved something like this, don't know what to do. Please advise me some ...
user avatar
36 votes
11 answers
7k views

Bill payee can't find my payment and threatens debt recovery action

TL/DR Bill payee can't find my bank transfer and threatens debt recovery action. What to do? A family member is studying at a major UK university. Quarterly or so, the university raises tuition bills. ...
Bennet's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
179 views

Can my property be taken as a payment for a relative's loans?

My aunt went to several loans to which she isn't capable of paying as of now. Now, the lenders are visiting our house and trying to find her and she currently lives in the same residence with me, ...
Kaixzer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
147 views

Recovering money owed by an unresponsive online business

I did business with an online business based in New Zealand, PredictIt, which has a firm in Washington, DC, called Aristotle, Inc., that handles their monetary transactions. I'm in California. They ...
user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
809 views

Reapplying for same credit card after collections

My Amazon's Chase credit card bill was sent to collections in March 2019 due to some financial issues I had. I paid off the debt completely in collections and my credit rebounded. My credit card ...
newmathwhodis's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
63 views

How many "Charge Offs" can a company put on a single debt?

A while ago I took out a loan and couldn't pay it off due to loosing my job. I got another job, and before I could start making payments, a collections agency called me up about the loan. I paid it ...
Blerg's user avatar
  • 121
5 votes
1 answer
273 views

Identity Theft: Counterfeit Checks but no Traceable Bank Account

I've been dealing with an ongoing identity theft problem for the past 4 months. Back in March, somebody stole my wallet at a restaurant and it was returned to me by the staff completely empty. All I ...
Karthik Gururangan's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
2k views

How can one be financially devastated by unsecured debt?

My question is theoretical, I don't understand why people say that big piles of debt are dangerous. If one has a lot of unsecured debt and ends up defaulting on it then one does not even have to ...
sequence's user avatar
  • 227
2 votes
3 answers
429 views

Disputing a collection on an account that is current, but the collection agency wants the original debt amount

I have a surgery bill (Original Balance: $2,757) that I have been paying off for the past 2 years with auto-drafted monthly payments. Every month on the 1st a payment was auto-drafted from my checking ...
Jeremy's user avatar
  • 257
-1 votes
1 answer
73 views

Debt collection payment

In 2016, I rented a apartment for my then boyfriend.I was living at my parent's house and only stayed at that apartment from time to time.Long Story short, he failed to pay one month rent, I got ...
Carielle's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
502 views

Comcast Sent Me to Collections

Long story, but I will try to shorten it. I have been a Comcast customer for two years in the regions (northwest Indiana) for approximately two years before all this happened. For the past year, my ...
Dustin K's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
772 views

If I really did owe the bank a billion dollars, what would happen? [closed]

There's a saying that goes like "If you owe the bank $100 dollars, that's your problem; if you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem." Let's adjust for inflation and say that I owe the ...
personjerry's user avatar
19 votes
11 answers
15k views

Urgently need pre-paid debit card to pay debt collector

I owe a sum of a few thousand dollars to a debt collector. I've already gone through the steps of getting a confirmation of the debt and it is a debt I know I'm accountable for. I need to pay this ...
SP812's user avatar
  • 403
1 vote
0 answers
66 views

Impact on credit score of paying off a debt very late

We went through a rough patch a few years ago after a disabling accident and got behind on some payments. When things turned around, we squared our accounts with our creditors and our credit report is ...
Hildy Johnson's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
276 views

What happens to small bills if they are unpaid?

I understand that bills are sold to collection agencies if they are unpaid. But what about very small bills then? For example, say if there is a bill of less than $10.00, will the company bother to ...
Zuriel's user avatar
  • 1,567
10 votes
1 answer
491 views

Medical bill sent straight to collection agency

I was very surprised to receive a letter from a collection agency regarding a medical bill incurred during my wife's pregnancy last year. We never received any correspondence via mail, e-mail, or ...
cmevets's user avatar
  • 103
2 votes
0 answers
116 views

How to collect a judgement in Maryland?

I have a $30,000 judgement against an individual in the State of Maryland. The case was adjudicated in Small Claims Court in Maryland. I'd like to collect the judgement but the individual is not ...
jww's user avatar
  • 384
3 votes
2 answers
377 views

Negotiating with a collections agency to remove a valid, small debt from credit report

I just found out that my wife had a debt from a doctor related to our recent pregnancy go to collections. I found out because credit monitoring picked it up - I haven't heard from a collections ...
conman's user avatar
  • 681
2 votes
2 answers
81 views

Is there a prescription/stipulated time for an invoice to be collected?

Is there a time frame to collect an invoice? I have a client I need to collect a bill from. They are always making excuses. Do I have a time frame to collect the bill? Does the debt have a ...
Beatriz's user avatar
  • 21
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

Does deleting a tradeline mean the account is wiped from credit report

A collections agency wrote: Within approximately 30 days of your final payment successfully posting, we will request that the three major credit reporting agencies delete our tradeline related to ...
Jinzu's user avatar
  • 113
0 votes
0 answers
115 views

Credit card debt

A Russian-Norwegian dual nationality person I know took up 20000 pounds of credit card loans in Norway. He then went back to Russia and has lived there for 1 year now. He has not heard anything yet. ...
robert's user avatar
  • 1
3 votes
1 answer
227 views

Does not paying a collections company affect credit score?

From a discussion in comments, a question came up. For the purpose of this question, all I care about is my credit score. I got a credit card, used it and did not pay it back. The credit card ...
Tolure's user avatar
  • 415
1 vote
2 answers
209 views

Should I pay off a credit card or a collection balance first?

I have a collection and a credit card with roughly the same balance. I received a bonus and I am able to pay off one of them completely. Which is more beneficial to pay off first?
Jeremy's user avatar
  • 257
2 votes
1 answer
292 views

Improving credit: what should I do about very old debt; ignore, settle, or pay it in full?

I have about $6,000 of very old debt. It went into collections about 3 years ago when I was in college. Today I have a good job, and I am thinking about the future. I am now interested in improving ...
Tyler .'s user avatar
  • 195
3 votes
2 answers
158 views

How to negotiate a debt in collections?

I have a debt that has been in collections for a significant period of time (>10 years). The debt is from a college loan that defaulted when the lender (a private school) didn't send the deferment ...
Roy's user avatar
  • 31
87 votes
6 answers
31k views

I co-signed on an apartment for a now ex-boyfriend who refuses to pay. What can I do?

I co-signed on an apartment with my ex-boyfriend when I was 18 and he was 21. We broke up. I am now 26 and it has been in collections for years. He refuses to help pay the debt. I am now stuck with ...
Kodi Canty's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
153 views

Student loans paid already but collection agency claiming loans are in default

I paid off my student loans via pay garnishments and the IRS taking 3 to 4 years of my tax refunds. Unfortunately, I have moved 5 times in last 2 years and I cannot find my files confirming this. ...
C Prandini's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
169 views

Does an unpaid medical bill that is sent to collections have any adverse affect besides affecting the credit score?

I know that an unpaid medical bill affects the credit score if it is sent to collections. But is there any more adverse affect that it creates?
morpheus's user avatar
  • 949
0 votes
2 answers
230 views

Can a sole proprietorship start a debt collection business

Can I buy bad debt under a sole proprietorship? I've considered the costs of an LLC versus a sole proprietorship. However to dig deeper, I am unaware on "who can buy debt", and where to find these ...
Josh's user avatar
  • 1
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

Original creditor forwarding payments to collection agency

In 2017 I had back surgery performed at an orthopedic specialist surgery center. During the billing process I set up auto-draft for all of the bills so that I would not have to worry about missing a ...
Jeremy's user avatar
  • 257
4 votes
1 answer
365 views

14 year old charge on utility bill

I recently bought a house and signed up for utilities. I then go to sign up for automatic payments on their webpage, and it says I owe over $400 from when my account was last active in 2004. I know ...
fishybell's user avatar
  • 216
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do I need to get it in writing when paying off collections accounts?

I have a credit card in collections with a balance of $1972. I will be able to pay this off in a couple of weeks. I have read a lot of articles that say that I can negotiate to have the balance ...
Crazy Cucumber's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
4k views

Medical bill with wrong name sent to collections

A few weeks after my wife gave birth, the medical bills started rolling in. One of them was addressed to "BB Last Name)." Our last name is not common but there are other people in our city with the ...
user13803's user avatar
  • 121
4 votes
1 answer
298 views

Better to pay debt collectors or original provider?

I was having a conversation with a colleague about repairing credit. He believes if you have a debt that went to collection, that it's best to pay the original provider of the goods or services. ...
Keltari's user avatar
  • 143
3 votes
2 answers
204 views

What is the most efficient way to dispute an invalid collection on a credit report?

I had a surgery and a ton of medical issues. All but one thing went through insurance. The healthcare provider for that one thing went straight to collections. I contacted them, and my insurance ...
user441767's user avatar