Collection Agencies = Paper Tigers
I just thought I'd mention this in passing, for everyone's benefit.
In the vast majority of cases, when your debt is sold to a collection agency, consider it paid off and continue with your life.
Collection agencies can't do shit to you. They have no legal contract with you. The company that sold your contract to them was not legally permitted to do so without your consent. That's THE LAW!! So if you didn't give them express permission to sell the debt to a collection agency...or even DISCUSS IT WITH THEM, and they did, then they violated the law and the collection agency is STUPID because they just paid someone's debt and can only hope to get their money back by trying to intimidate.
I say "the vast majority of cases" because, from what I've been reading up on the government websites, concerning the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, I'm not sure there are any exceptions at all. It doesn't look like it. In reading between the lines, what I gather is that any organization that has a legal contract with you and that you owe money to, can get it by going through the courts and having your wages garnished. Of course, that costs money, so if the cost is more than your debt, then they sell it to the collection agency just to get some money back. If the debt is more than the court costs, then they will simply go through the courts. And if the debt is more than the court costs, but they sell it to a collection agency anyway, then it wasn't a LEGAL debt in the first place. See how that works?
So the collection agency calls you and makes threats to take legal action. These threats are empty. They can't take any legal action. This is where you get to have fun being an asshole. Tell them to hold while you "go get the person" and then leave the phone off the hook for however long it takes until you hear the dial tone again. Take the opportunity to practice your skill at talking dirty. Repeat everything they say right back to them until it pisses them off. Recite some bad poetry to them. Tell them an off-color joke. Demand to know their names, job titles, phone numbers, supervisors and their phone numbers, address, and whatever else you can think of that makes it look like they are the ones in trouble and not you. Whatever. Just don't comply. Don't let them lead the conversation.
See, if everyone understood this, collection agencies would go out of business. It is only because people are ignorant of the law that they are bullied into paying money to someone they don't owe it to. Collection agencies are just paper tigers.
In the vast majority of cases, when your debt is sold to a collection agency, consider it paid off and continue with your life.
Collection agencies can't do shit to you. They have no legal contract with you. The company that sold your contract to them was not legally permitted to do so without your consent. That's THE LAW!! So if you didn't give them express permission to sell the debt to a collection agency...or even DISCUSS IT WITH THEM, and they did, then they violated the law and the collection agency is STUPID because they just paid someone's debt and can only hope to get their money back by trying to intimidate.
I say "the vast majority of cases" because, from what I've been reading up on the government websites, concerning the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, I'm not sure there are any exceptions at all. It doesn't look like it. In reading between the lines, what I gather is that any organization that has a legal contract with you and that you owe money to, can get it by going through the courts and having your wages garnished. Of course, that costs money, so if the cost is more than your debt, then they sell it to the collection agency just to get some money back. If the debt is more than the court costs, then they will simply go through the courts. And if the debt is more than the court costs, but they sell it to a collection agency anyway, then it wasn't a LEGAL debt in the first place. See how that works?
So the collection agency calls you and makes threats to take legal action. These threats are empty. They can't take any legal action. This is where you get to have fun being an asshole. Tell them to hold while you "go get the person" and then leave the phone off the hook for however long it takes until you hear the dial tone again. Take the opportunity to practice your skill at talking dirty. Repeat everything they say right back to them until it pisses them off. Recite some bad poetry to them. Tell them an off-color joke. Demand to know their names, job titles, phone numbers, supervisors and their phone numbers, address, and whatever else you can think of that makes it look like they are the ones in trouble and not you. Whatever. Just don't comply. Don't let them lead the conversation.
See, if everyone understood this, collection agencies would go out of business. It is only because people are ignorant of the law that they are bullied into paying money to someone they don't owe it to. Collection agencies are just paper tigers.