Collection Agencys

I would like to know If I could stop a collection agency from
trying to collect money from me under the fair debt collection practices act which contains an
empowering tool in the provision of public laws 95-109 and 99-361 by writing the agency and
stating that I will not recognize any collection agency and will deal only with the original
Creditor am not sure what the laws state so if anyone can tell me where I can get that info too
It will help allot.
Thanks
P.S. I live in South Carolina; the agency is in GA.

[racer72]

Collection agencies don't work that way. What happened is your original creditor was unable to collect the money from you. Rather than going through the expense of trying to collect themselves, the debt was sold to the collection agency, usually 40 to 50% of the outstanding balance. Now you original creditor is has at least part of the money and trying to collect is out of their hands. The collection agency is now the legal creditor and because of lower overhead, they will spend whatever it takes to collect. The collection agency will take you to court, they will garnish your wages, they will place leins against any and all property and they will suck all of your money out of any bank accounts, retirement accounts etc. till the debt is paid. There are 3 ways to stop them, pay them off, file bankruptcy, or win the lawsuit they bring against you. If you check with the original creditor, you will find that your account is now closed.

[JETX]

Sorry, racer72, but your response is probably not correct.

Very few of the debts being pursued by Collection agencies are actually owned by them. The original creditor contracts with the collection agency to attempt to recover 'non-performing' accounts. In return, the collection agencies keeps a contractual percentage (between 30-50%) of the monies recovered and forward the remainder of the funds to the original creditor. The fact that they are not the original creditor means that they have NO real legal power... only the ability to harass and harangue a debtor hoping for payment. In fact, they cannot even change the information that the original creditor filed with the CRA's (credit reporting agencies).

Now, there are a few (probably less than 10%) of the debts that are actually sold by the original creditor, and these are usually long after all attempts for collection have been exhausted. For these very few cases, the collector actually has purchased the debt outright and is afforded the full legal processes, including filing suit and obtaining a judgment.

I suggest that you read the FDCPA and the FCRA at [url]http://www.ftc.gov[/url]
Also, [url]http://www.budhibbs.com[/url] is a good site for learning about the 'credit biz'.

Thanks for your replys but can you tell me about the codes?

[JETX]

Okay, you confused me with that one.... what codes???
Is this the same as "What's the frequency, Kenneth??"

they are provisions of public law under the fair debt collection practices act (95-109 and 99-361)I find mentions of them but no details.I read that under these public laws one can stop an agency from trying to collect and put the debt back into the original creditor which happens to be a hospital.I guess they got tired of waiting for me to get my settlement from a car insurance company so now the agency will have to wait but I would love to put this back on the hospital for screwing me.

[JETX]

It appears that there is some confusion about what "Codes" you are referring to.

The FDCPA was "Public Law 104-208" and is now 15 U.S.C. §1692.

I am not aware of what you are referring to as "(95-109 and 99-361)". Could they be your State laws and not the FDCPA??

[racer72]

Halket, my response depends on state laws. In Washington state, buying the debt is a common practice. Buying the debt is not legal in most states and the collection agency is acting as an agent for the creditor. I stand corrected.
As far as the debt to the hospital, it must be paid whether the insurance has paid you or not. At some time during the hospital visit, either at admitting or when you left, you were required to sign paperwork including what the hospital expected to be paid. The hospital does not have to wait for you to collect from the insurance company, you owe the money, not the insurance company. And in the agreement between the hospital and the collection agency probably states that the hospital cannot accept any money on the account. The account now belongs to the collection agency. I just read the entire act and find nothing about telling the collection agency to get lost except this part:
c) CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except --

(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector's further efforts are being terminated;

(2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or

(3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy

And I can bet the collection agency won't choose option #1. And I would assume the remedies as stated in #2 and #3 would involve hauling you to court as soon as possible. If you would like to read the complete act, go to: [url]http://www.financeadvocate.com/collection/FDCPA.htm[/url]

Thanks racer, I do understand that i owe the money that is not the problem,I was in contact with the hospital ever time I received a statement they knew what the deal was but never contacted me for 4 months then turned it over to the agency to collect,I thought ever thing was fine the hospitals have dealt with these kinds of things before,i fill they should have contacted me within the 4 months then i could of at least started making payments.Can I start sending the agency payments to stop them from taking further actions?

[racer72]

Most collection agencies will work with you to pay the debt. Most hospitals hire the meanest coldest person they can find to run the financial dept. so they really don't care about sob stories. I had a similar situation as yours and the woman at the hospital that ran billing was so cold she could start another ice age alone. You may want to check your state laws concerning who can charge interest. In some state collection agencies cannot charge interest on the money owed, only a primary creditor can charge interest, a secondary creditor can't. Good luck.