Am I dealing with BOTH the collection agency and original creditor?

[timothyjb]

I refused to pay for an unjust bill from a satellite TV company and ended up dealing with a collections agency. However, from the last letter from the collections agency, I'm not sure whether the account has been sold off to them or if they are just working with the satellite TV company. Therefore, I'm not sure if I should send them a pay for delete letter because I'm not sure if I should be addressing the collection agency, the satellite TV company, or both. Also, from the collection agency's letter (below), it doesn't appear as though they have reported this to the credit reporters yet. So I don't know if I should be asking them to remove it or not to have it added, or both.

Latest letter from collection agency:

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Notice of Report to Credit Bureaus

Please be advised that we have been instructed by the above mentioned creditor to report this amount to a local credit reporting agency.

You are hereby notified that a negative credit report reflecting on your credit record my be submitted to a credit reporting agency if you fail to fulfill the terms of your credit obligation.

To be sure of proper credit, make your payment payable to XXXXXXX (name of OC)

The total account balance as of the date of this letter is shown above. Your account balance may increase because of interest or other charges. I so provided in your agreement with your creditor.

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[willingtocope]

CAs don't buy debts. Junk Debt Buyers (JDBs) buy debts. CAs work under contract for both OCs and JSBs to handle the hassling.

If you're going to pay this off, call the OC and pay them directly.

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

I refused to pay for an unjust bill from a satellite TV company and ended up dealing with a collections agency....

I don't understand, if they bill is "unjust" and you refused to pay it (when you knew for sure that the OC still owned it); why would you pay it now???

And why would you consider asking for a PFD when you, apparently, haven't looked to see if this is on your reports or not?

[timothyjb]

I was going to offer to pay a reduced amount ($100, off the original $277.50) so that I wouldn't get a mark on my credit report. This was when I thought that it was sold to the CA. Now, I don't know what to do. I haven't looked at my credit report yet because I don't want to use up my free reports if I don't have to.

I disputed this for quite a while with the OC. In a nutshell, I had a satellite TV service hooked up which included use of the satellite receiver "no charge". The installer left a service agreement, but I balked at signing the agreement (commiting to a year of service I believe) because it mentioned having to pay for the receiver (something like $400 as I recall - even though the electronic chain stores were selling them for $100) if the contract was cancelled early. The installer said not to worry because some other customers he dealt with never handed contracts over to him and nothing happened. I was prepared to let them take the receiver back and stop the service if they insisted on having me sign it. They never did, and when the receiver failed before the "end of the term", or whatever they called it, I called and stopped the service and got ATT Uverse TV service instead. Then the satellite TV company billed me for cancelling early and I can't remember if that included a charge for the receiver. I told them I never signed anything, and of course they have nothing to prove otherwise, but they still claim that they have an agreement. I also still have the reciever, which they asked me to return, but I don't see the advantage to doing that yet.

[Cookie]

This is a tricky one, the install person had NO RIGHT to tell you what he did, it is not his decision to declare weather or not a contract is signed or not. He is a INDEPENDANT CONTRACTOR for the company he doesn't care if you sign it or not he gets paid for being there.

Send the cable company a DV, ask for a full media valdiation, which includes a copy of the contract you signed (I know you didn't sign it), if they produce a contract you are screwed, if not it gets easier from then on.

Send the collector a DV as well, all they will do is go to the cable company and ask for the EXACT same information you will and send it to you, BUT what sending the collector a DV does is shows any other charges they have added on for collecting the debt, unless they bought it they cannot add charges of their own.

[timothyjb]

Thanks. I'll try that. I'll send basically the sample DV letter from this website to the CA, and then the same letter to the satellite TV company but without the few items that only apply to CA's.

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

You can ask a CA for the moon - you won't get it.

I advise folks to ask the CA for what they actually NEED but even then, expecting to get most of what you ask for is a crap shoot at best because almost all of what a consumer usually needs to know the CA is simply NOT required to supply (unfortunately).

In this case, I don't even see that you "need" to know much of anything other than if this CA is really the CA the OC designated to handle this for them (and I'd check to make sure the CA is licensed in your stat if such licensing is required). I say that because you already know basically all you need to know about the debt.

What I'm getting to here is that you have a consumer dispute with a business; the Dispute/Validation process is a very poor place to iron out disputes such as that...I suggest you negotiate directly with the OC to see if you can reach an accommodation. If that doesn't work then your only real recourse is to sue them (or they you) so a court can decide but for an issue this small, that's like using a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito.