Why won't the original company I owe to speak with me??

Question

I was sick for about 6 months and out of work so I got behind on two credit cards and had to cancel a cell phone early. I am trying to get these paid now that I am better but they are all with collection agencies. I have heard NEVER to trust one of these agencies, yet the original companies I have the debt with won't talk to me about them because they have been sent to collections? What the heck am I supposed to do. The cell phone particularly. They say I owe them $1800... That is insane! The collection agency won't give me any information so I called the cell phone company and they won't talk to me because it is in collections. I have never seen an itemized list of where $1800 came from and no one will provide me with one. I would also like the credit card companies to try to work with me on the late fees in some of the interest because in 6 months.. my debt went from about $1200 to almost $1900 with one of them. I'm just not sure who I talk to, the collection people can't be trusted and won't give me the info I need or anything and neither will the companies! Help!

Answer 1

The original companies sold the unpaid accounts to the collection agencies.  The original creditor no longer has any info on your account and has no way to help you.  Calling them is a righteous waste of your time and energy.  

The collections company must mail you an itemized statement of the bill - the principal, interest and their charges.  If they call, tell them you have received nothing in writing from them and without proper verification in writing, their phone call is "deemed fraudulent."  If they legitimately have your old account, they have your mailing address, so if they ask for an address, do NOT give it, say "IF you you were a legitimate collection agency, you would have that information, and you would have sent a proper written statement."

Once you have the written statement, compare it with the final bill from the creditor, and start negotiating a settlement to get it paid off.  Make sure in your negotiations you stipulate that if you pay as agreed, they must report the account on all three credit reports as "Paid As Agreed."

Answer 2

Most of the time when bills are in collection you can usually request to pay a certain amount of that bill and the company who owns the account will usually settle for that amount making a positive reflection on your credit report.  

Answer 3

They legally cannot talk to you about it because they have sold your account to the collections agency.  In other words, instead of the original company being owed the money, the collections agency gives them the money you owe them, in exchange for your account.  From there, the agency can tack on whatever fees they have, etc.

If you're persistent enough, the cell phone company should be able to get you a call back from what they call an Accounts Liaison.  That person is pretty much the go-between with the cell phone company and the collections agency.

If the first CSR you speak with cannot help you, ask to speak to a supervisor.  That's what they're there for.

Answer 4

The cell phone company sold your overdue to account to a collection agency, so legally they can't take money from you anymore as you lost your position with them by not paying in the first place.

what you need is a debt validation letter from the credit bureau (the collection agency doesn't do it). Once you get the details of the debt, hurry and negotiate a settlement, payment in full or monthly payments.

Answer 5

The original companies no longer own your accounts.  Your account has been sold to a 3rd party collection agency.  The good news for you is that you now have a bit more wiggle room to negotiate downward.  If you can come up with a bit of money, you could settle for half or even less than what you owe.

Work with them, they will accept a lot of different payment options.