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Last month I made a written offer to settle a debt claimed that I owe by Credit Control, a collection agency acting on behalf of JH Portfolio Debt Equities, a JDB that had apparently purchased debt from a charged off Chase account. I received a response in writing from Credit Control stating that they were authorized to agree to my offer and that once my payments were complete, the account would be settled in full. They also sent me the complete agreed upon payment schedule and stated that my first payment must be received "on or before" November 29th by check, check by phone, debit or credit card by phone. As it was already close to that date by the time I received their response letter, and also a holiday week, I opted to make the first payment by phone and not trust the mail to deliver the first payment on time. I called to make the payment at around 10am on the 29th, (thinking that this would satisfy the "ON or before" due date that they had stated in their letter) and I was told that JH Portfolio had reclaimed the account and placed it with another agency. Is that even legal? Before the due date of the first agreed upon payment had even passed? A week later I receive a letter from a new collection agency, Alpha Recovery Group, requesting that I pay the original amount in full (what happened to the reduced amount that Credit Control had agreed to?). Alpha Recovery's letter was dated November 29th, again showing that this account was placed with them before the due date of the first payment per the previous agreement had even passed. Very confused, and this all seems more than a little shady to me. Not sure what my next step should be. Validation letter? Sit back and wait for them to sue me so I can submit this info to the court? I don't really see the point in trying to negotiate a settlement again if they're just going to accept and then renege before the ink is even dry on the agreement.