majortom1 Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Hi,I am in the state of California. Last week I got a letter from a CA stating that they were assigned my debt and they wanted me to pay it off... This is a medical bill from my dentist (2.25yrs ago) which I thought was settled. The bill is for a small amount (around 500$ total) however they have added about 20-30% interest on it. I would prefer to pay off at most 30-40% of the bill if that will resolve the matter quickly. Should I first send a debt validation letter and then 4-5 days after that letter send them a negotiation agreement? Or should I straightaway send them a negotiation agreement letter without sending the debt validation letter?I have another question: What address should I be sending the correspondence at? The letter that I got from CA has two addresses on it, one address on the top left corner of the letter and the 2nd address is the address they want me to mail the payment at. The CA in question is Fidelity Creditor Service (http://fcscollect.com/collection-rates.htm) and it seems to me at least from their website that they don't buy junk debt. Although the letter says they are assigned the debt some of the other posts in forum has left me confused whether assigned debt is bought debt or just CA acting on the behalf of the OC. Any help in this matter is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomassl Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Generally an assigned debt is one in which the OC utilizes the CA to collect the debt. In order to determine if this is the case, you should contact the original creditor. They may be using the CA for collection purposes and if so, only the OC has the authority to remove the debt from your credit report after payment is received. You must have such agreement in writing as well. It won't do any good to pay it and have it sit on your credit report as a "paid collection". First determine if the OC still owns the debt and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA Exorcist Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 I too suggest you talk to the OC but if you truly owe on this debt then you should negotiate to have the debt completely removed for 100% payment on the debt (possibly a reasonable interest fee as well since they had to wait for their money)If the Dentist performed his/her service properly then they should be paid the original agreed amount for time and material they spent on your pearly whites.If you go for a reduced settlement, then I would expect that they should want to leave the bad mark on your credit. Put yourself in the Dentist's shoes, if you force them to settle then why should you have a clean credit. That doesn't seem fair now does it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMGWhatHaveIdone Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Hi,I am in the state of California. Last week I got a letter from a CA stating that they were assigned my debt and they wanted me to pay it off... This is a medical bill from my dentist (2.25yrs ago) which I thought was settled. By settled, do you mean paid off? If so, why would you want to re-pay any portion of this debt? I would search for all of your documentation showing it was settled then DV the CA. I would not sit on this either. You have up to 30 days of your initial dunning letter received from the CA to DV and get a timely response from them and put a stop to the collection during the DV process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom1 Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks everyone for their honest opinion it is really appreciated and believe me that I am considering paying the full amount as one of the realistic option but I am also playing a little devil's advocate to explore all my options. OMGWhatIhaveDone, what I mean by settled was that this guy never billed me before, i.e. i never got a bill from him then until last week. CA Exorcist, I understand what you are saying but I do feel slightly cheated for a few reasons. First as I explained above, the bill although quite manageable did blindside last week and now I have to pay penalty on it. On top of it, when I checked the dentist records with the old insurance I saw that he couldn't get claim approved for something that was optional and he had assured me that he will get approved from the insurance. He didn't refile the insurance explaining why it was necessary (as per him). I know technically the onus for non-payment falls on me and I should have followed up as well but I do feel a little setup. Thus I want to minimum amount possible and still not have a mark on my credit report. My reasoning is as follows: It is a smallish debt and for that they are unlikely to take me to court (AFAIK they cannot goto small claims). So I am thinking that if I send a negotiating letter paying 30-40% of the total they might accept. However I read on this website that (1) always dispute first even before you negotiate(2) never appear too eager to negotiate. Hence my thinking is that I should send a DV request and then after a few days without waiting send a negotiating letter in good faith. If the amount was a larger amount then I know I would send a DV and then wait for their response and so on. After reading the first set of replies it is clear that even if I plan to pay in full I should first DV so that I can assure myself that I am paying the right party....Edit: Just to be clear what I want people to chime on is:For small debts when you want to pay as little as possible without any credit implications, what is best way to handle the situation? Direct settlement letter OR send DV then wait for reply then waste a little more of their time and finally send settlement letter OR send DV and before they reply send the settlement letter in good faith? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMGWhatHaveIdone Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 After reading the first set of replies it is clear that even if I plan to pay in full I should first DV so that I can assure myself that I am paying the right party....Edit: Just to be clear what I want people to chime on is:For small debts when you want to pay as little as possible without any credit implications, what is best way to handle the situation? Direct settlement letter OR send DV then wait for reply then waste a little more of their time and finally send settlement letter OR send DV and before they reply send the settlement letter in good faith?To help you out: Contact the Original Creditor as thomassl suggested. See if they would be willing to pull the account back from the CA, since you are willing to work with them. If they agree to this, get everything in writing, including having them remove the negative TL from your CR's once the bill has been paid in full. This is called a Pay For Delete or PFD. See if you can work out a monthly payment agreement with them. Again, get this all in writing. If they do NOT want to work with you, but instead refer you to the CA that currently has the debt then move to step 2. Make sure you get the CA's correct contact information from the OC.Send a DV to the CA, CMRRR. Wait until you hear back from them regarding the verification of the debt. There are some very good samples of DV letters in the stickies on this forum. Read through them, then tweak them around a bit to fit your situation. Don't forget to make a copy of the letter and keep it for yourself.Once you have the information from the CA, then you need to make a determination if you want to settle with them or challenge their authority to collect on the debt. If you think the information is wrong, then challenge it. If it's right and you agree with it, then send a PFD settlement letter. I would not offer to pay the full amount as they most likely got the debt for pennies on the dollar. If they agree to the settlement, make sure to get everything in writing. Don't ever take a CA on their word. They lie 99.99999% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom1 Posted January 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2009 Thank you everyone for being so patient with me. I mailed the DV yesterday to the CA but now I am wondering if I mailed it to the wrong address and if I should mail the DV again. Here is the issue: 1. Address #1 - Where the initial collection letter came from. It is a PO BOX address in Corcord, California2. Address #2 - This PO BOX address in Glendale, California is where the payment should be sent to according to the initial collection letter. This address is also the address that the company specified in the California govt. bussiness portal when registering as a corporation. This address is also specified on their website.3. Address #3 - According to BBB and the collection agency is located in Glendate, CA (i.e. address #3). This address is not a PO BOX address. This address is also the address that the company specified for "Agent for Service of Process" when registering as a corporation with California state. This address is also specified on their website.Now I mailed the DV to address #1 and now I am wondering if my return receipt would even be useful and whether I should have mailed to address #3. Should I mail the DV again to address#2 or #3 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts