Debt Negotation with Collection Agency

[Handyman69]

Hi,

I have a $2,600.00 debt from some Yellow Pages advertising I ran back in 2004. I paid the first & last month's payments and nothing else (for a variety of reasons). Yellowbook USA turned the account over to a lawfirm who sent me a variety of letters and followed up with a few phone calls. Today I received a certified letter from district court (which is all the way on the other side of the state). I've heard that taking somebody to court is rare. But I guess this is one of those rare times?

So now I'd like to contact the collection agency (law firm) and negotiate a settlement. What I'd like advice on is how exactly to go about doing this. I read on one website to send them a registered letter where you lowball them and offer 25%. They'll probably reject the offer and highball me in return. Then we do that dance for a while until we meet in the middle. In theory, I should be able to get away with paying less than the full amount.

Any tips or suggestions? Does anyone have a good letter to send? How do I motivate the collection agency to accept my offer?

By the way, the certified letter from the courts said that the hearing is schedule for 6/28/07. So the clock is ticking. I'd rather settle this out of court.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[willingtocope]

"Yellow Pages Advertising" implies business credit, which is beyond the scope of this board. The usual protections of the FDCPA and FCRA and the "...I've got a friend who..." kind of advice you find in most internet sites don't apply.

However, some of us have had some (bad) business experience. Therefore, I'd suggest you first need to find out who owns the debt. If its still with the orignal creditor...talk to them, not their lawyer...unless you've got a lawyer of your own to do the negotiating. They probably will not settle for less than the full amount unless you've got a very good reason why they screwed up, or they expect to do even more business with you.

[Handyman69]

I called Yellow Book USA and spoke with them on the phone yesterday. After reviewing my account, they told me that the account has been transferred to an outside agency and I would have to deal with them. I replied by stating that since they were the original creditor, I can still work it out with them. They wouldn't budge. I asked who I have to deal with and she told me (Dun & Bradstreet). Does anyone here have any experience dealing with them?

As with anything else, I'm sure that this is negotiable. But before I proceed, I'd like to get opinions from others on how to approach this.

Thanks!

[bigjohnstud4200]

I called Yellow Book USA and spoke with them on the phone yesterday. After reviewing my account, they told me that the account has been transferred to an outside agency and I would have to deal with them. I replied by stating that since they were the original creditor, I can still work it out with them. They wouldn't budge. I asked who I have to deal with and she told me (Dun & Bradstreet). Does anyone here have any experience dealing with them?

As with anything else, I'm sure that this is negotiable. But before I proceed, I'd like to get opinions from others on how to approach this.

Thanks!

Dun and Bradstreet is the like the CRA for business credit. I guess they do collections to. If the OC is telling you they won't work with you, it's probably b/c they don't own the debt anymore.

[willingtocope]

Okay, so D&B is in the collections business. And, according to their web site http://smallbusiness.dnb.com they use RMS to do the collecting.

Well...if I were still in business...I would call Yellow Book again. I would explain that my contract was with them...not RMS...and I will gladly negotiate with them, but, as a matter of standard business practice, I do not deal with collection agencies. If they want my money, they can either deal with me directly or sue me...and we'll let the courts decide if I am in anyway a party to their agreement with RMS.

[Handyman69]

I'm pretty sure that Yellowbook USA no longer owns the debt. So I'm going to contact the law firm who's suing me. Here's the plan. I'm going to send them a registered letter tomorrow offering to settle the debt out of court. I'm going to lowball them by offering them 25% of the total outstanding debt. I anticipate that they'll reject the offer and counter with a highball offer of their own. Then I'll suggest that we meet in the middle. Perhaps I can knock the $2,500 debt down to a $1,250 settlement.

Once we agree upon a settlement amount, I'm going to mandate that they sign an agreement where the debt is considered "paid as agreed" (so they can't play games with my credit later on).

What do you all think? Is this the correct approach? Is there anything that you'd add or do differently?

Thanks!

[willingtocope]

I'm not absolutely sure, but I don't think either D&B or RMS actually buys debt. Unless you have something in writing to the contrary, I'd assume Yellowbook still owns it. Again, I'd suggest calling them again, and work your way up the food chain until you get someone who'll listen...