Balance going up not down

What is the name of your state? California

I had a debt for $1500 sent to a collection agency. They then tacked on $200 something. I began making payments of $100 six months ago. So $1700 minus my $600 payments brings total to $1100 right? WRONG!!!!

Today when they called for my check by phone payment I said I'd like to have some sort of statement from them showing my payments and balance. I was informed that "we are not a bookkeeping agency, you should have canceled checks." I said "well by the way just what is my balance?" Her answer "$2,337." I almost had a heart attack.

She refused to send me any kind of statement, mumbled something about interest and charges when I asked why my balance was going up not down.

How can $1700 get to $2300 in six months when I've paid $600.

I am totally astounded and if my balance is going up by $100 every month I'll owe them millions soon.

Fury

[Ladynred]

Did you have a written agreement for these payments ?

How old was the debt to start with, when did you last pay the ORIGINAL creditor ?

The interest rate sounds ridiculous for sure on that amount of debt.

My suggestion - write them a letter, demand a FULL accounting of what THEY say you owe and give them 30 days to produce it (or less its up to you). Send the letter certified, RRR so you have a paper trail. If they fail to do so, I think I'd stop paying them anything and turn around and demand validation. Validation is not only proving that the debt belongs to you, its also producing proof, in the form of a FULL accounting, of what they allege you owe.

Since there is no 'straight line' accounting here - they're adding interest and other charges (which could even be illegal !), you'll never be able to figure out what you owe !

Thanks for your advice Ladynred.

There is no written agreement concerning payments. It's a very long story of how this came to be. When they first contacted me they demanded I give them $1000 right away. I told them no way could i do that. They told me i had until the Friday of that week at 5:00 pm. I told them i could make payments. They said no. They didn't get their $1000, needless to say. At least 9 months, if not more, went by before I heard from them again. At that time I told them if they'd have accepted my payments the debt would have been almost paid off by now. I agreed to pay them $100 a month on what I thought was $1500 and some.

I have paid the $100 a month for six months until this month when I asked for something in writing from them to show me my balance and show they were crediting my payments. That's when I was informed they were not a booking service and they wouldn't send me a statement. I asked just what my balance was and was hit with the $2300 amount. They refused to send me anything and asked me if I was refusing to pay the payment. I said yes I was until I got a statement from them. So my last payment to them was last month.

This just can't be right...... I can't believe I have been paying them and what I owe has gone up by the amount I paid.

Fury

[Ladynred]

Yep.. send them a validation demand letter, certified RRR as I mentioned. If you use that instead of an oral request for a statement, you may have a bit more sucess - its at least worth a try.

You can find good info and sample letters on Validation at [url]www.creditinfocenter.com[/url]

Thank you for all your advise, I really appreciate it.

This is making me crazy, but at least you've given me a place to start.

Thank you again.

Fury