Would a debt collector rather go to court than accept my payment?

[jkl]

What is the name of your state? MI

I've got a debt of about $1750 that was bought by a collector at the beginning of September 07. At the time this was happening, my wife and I were making arrangements with a non-profit credit management agency to pay the debt off. We had actually made two $45 payments before we actually found out that the debt had been sold.

So, the guy from the collections agency calls, and he's a bit belligerent with me. He seems annoyed, and apparently didn't appreciate having to deal with the credit management agency, and is not willing to accept the terms that they put forth for payment of the debt. As I said, we didn't know the debt was being sold at the time, so...

I calmed the guy down. Explained to him that, yes, we acknowledge that we owe the debt, and would be willing to make arrangements with them to get it paid off. They're willing to knock 30% off of the debt, and accept two payments. Failing that, we could also pay the full amount, but in six total payments. I ask him to give me a couple of days, so that my wife and I can go over our finances, and figure out how we can get the debt paid off, and what would be the best option for us.

After going over our finances, it's clear that there's no way that we'd be able to make a payment to him in October. We can make one at the end of November, and make subsequent payments afterward. I talked to the guy today, and asked him if this would be acceptable. He made it clear that there must be a payment made in October, or their only other option was to take us to court.

Does this seem like reasonable behavior Is it reasonable to turn down our offer and take us to court, considering:

1) We've fully admitted to owing the debt
2) The debt was only acquired one month ago
3) WE'RE WILLING TO PAY THE DEBT, we're just asking them to delay for one month

This being said, what is most collectors' experience here with what a judge would do in our situation? Why would the collector try to get a judgement against us if we're willing to pay the debt?What is the name of your state?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by jkl

Does this seem like reasonable behavior

Trying to put reasonable with debt collectors is like thinking a Hillary as president would be good for America.
The two concepts simply don't work together.

Is it reasonable to turn down our offer and take us to court

Or more accurately.... turn down the promise to pay (from someone who already lied about paying)..... in return for having a court judgment in hand giving the creditor far more legal 'tools' to enforce the debt... and have a MUCH longer SOL.

[jkl]

Originally Posted by JETX

Trying to put reasonable with debt collectors is like thinking a Hillary as president would be good for America.
The two concepts simply don't work together.


Or more accurately.... turn down the promise to pay (from someone who already lied about paying)..... in return for having a court judgment in hand giving the creditor far more legal 'tools' to enforce the debt... and have a MUCH longer SOL.

Why bother calling to try to collect the debt from us if the collector is automatically going to assume we're not going to keep our word?

Isn't going to court going to cost the agency more (and take a longer time) then if we just agree to pay it off. We don't have any savings that they can attach to, no equity in our house, two vehicles that are leased, I am on unemployment, and my wife is on a limited work schedule due to medical problems. I understand that the collectors generally are not concerned with what we are "going through", but why turn down our offer to work with them, when it's clear that they'll have difficulty getting anything from us if they go to court?

I understand what you're trying to say here, but wouldn't an agency be happy to try to work with a debtor who is actually willing to work with them?

[Debt Guy]

I understand what you're trying to say here, but wouldn't an agency be happy to try to work with a debtor who is actually willing to work with them?

As a general rule of thumb, yes.

But, the debt is in default and the creditor has the right to demand payment in full immediately.

The CA does not have full authority to make decisions -- the OC gives them a set of guidelines. What you call "working with you" could, in their view, be entirely unacceptable.

You never know until you try. Don't expect the CA to care much about your problems.

You can only do what you can do. The chips will fall where they fall. Don't be talked into agreeing to do something that you can't do as it will only make the situation worse.

Good luck.