Should I pay the original company owed or the "collector"?

[mcwjjm]

What is the name of your state? Ohio Not sure if this is the proper forum for this question but here goes. I have a few outstanding bills that I need to settle up with. These are all well-past there due dates and have been turned over to collections. Should I pay the companies I have these debts with directly or do I need to [now] go through the collection agencies they turned my account over to? I would like to avoid any fees they may charge on top of the original debt but at the same time have the account reflect being paid in full. Thanks in advance.

 

[seniorjudge]

You have to pay whoever owns the debt.

Ask them to prove in writing that they own the debt.

 

[TigerD]

What is the name of your state? Ohio Not sure if this is the proper forum for this question but here goes. I have a few outstanding bills that I need to settle up with. These are all well-past there due dates and have been turned over to collections. Should I pay the companies I have these debts with directly or do I need to [now] go through the collection agencies they turned my account over to? I would like to avoid any fees they may charge on top of the original debt but at the same time have the account reflect being paid in full. Thanks in advance.

The bill isn't paid until the collector gets paid.

 

[mcwjjm]

I have a bill from both. I'm not questioning that I owe them, my question is if I can avoid paying the "collector" of my debt and pay the company I orginally generated the debt with directly possibly avoiding any additional fees.

 

[mcwjjm]

Looks like we posted at the same time. So you're saying I need to pay / go through the "collector".

 

[TigerD]

I have a bill from both. I'm not questioning that I owe them, my question is if I can avoid paying the "collector" of my debt and pay the company I orginally generated the debt with directly possibly avoiding any additional fees. **from next post ** Looks like we posted at the same time. So you're saying I need to pay / go through the "collector".

Yes. A collector may not add any fees to an account placed with them unless the fees are authorized in the original contract. And frankly, if there are fees authorized by the contract the OC is not likely to let you slide on them anyway since they have already committed to paying the collection agency.

Here's how it works in my experience. Generally when a debtor pays the OC instead of the collection agency, it takes two to six weeks for the money to be posted to the collection account. During that time, the agency is still calling, sending letters and reporting to your credit bureau.

DC