Silent CA

[Anonymous]

Received a letter from Partners Financial. Had been a member of a gym, was injured, and was put on limited activity for awhile. Obviously, the gym was off limits. Had not thought about the gym much, payment was set to automatically deduct. Long story short, the card of record had an expiration change so they didn't get their funds. Two years later, I receive the letter from Partners. I owe the gym $241 for missed payments and fees. No problem. I'm fine with paying a legitimate debt. So, I send them a letter - not hateful, no threats - just a follow-up. I tell them that while I am not admitting the debt is mine if they will send a breakdown of the charges and confirm in writing that if it IS my debt and I pay it in full that it will not hit my credit reports. 

A month later and I haven't heard a word back from them. Is this normal? It is not on my credit reports, and don't want it to be. Of course. And I will send them the funds the very minute I get their guarantee. So, why haven't I heard anything back? They are the company that does the financials for my gym, so it wasn't a junk debt. 

Any ideas? What's my next step?

[RonM21]

Is there a way to call them, or even email? You want to get ahold of them as soon as possible so that you can try and prevent it from hitting your credit report.

[RobertEG]

You sent them a request for debt validation.

There is no period for or requirment to respond to a DV request.

It's effect, if sent within 30 days of dunning notice, is to impose a cease collection bar, which remains in effect until such time as they choose to send validation.

They can delay as long as they wish, but must cease futher active collection until they first send validation.

If your DV was timely, meaning sent within 30 days fo their dunning notice, they cannot now negotitate with you, as you have placed them under a cease collection bar.

They can send validation at any time, and them immediately report their collection to the CRA.

If the debt is in fact valid and you wish to avoid their reporting of a collection, I would recommend sending an immediate payment in full.

If your DV was not timely, they can still negotiate with you, so you might wish to first call and attempt to negotiate either a formal pay for not reporting agreement and/or a settlement for less.  However, be aware that they could simply report at any time if your DV was not timely.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I'll pay it today if that's what it takes, but does that leave me any discourse? 

It's an interesting letter. While it does have the standard, "this communication is from a debt collector...." the body of the letter says that the account with the above named creditor (and I never did see a name!) is due in full. If you do not have a payment arrangement, please contact our office to discuss an amicable resolution."

In the past, I've received a couple of small medical claims and they were always a lot more demanding than this. The way it is worded sounds more like an 'in-house" accounts receivable than a collection agency. At any rate, I know that the common assumption is to pay with a money order. Is there any reason that I can't use a credit card? I really don't like having bills that are outstanding and want to get this taken care of..........but I sure wish they had sent me a breakdown of the fees and a guarantee. 

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

In an attempt to follow the advice here - I tried to make arrangements to pay this. To get to the online bill pay, you have to give them your driver's license number. Um, no, not going to do that. To even pull up your account they want account number - their number so no problem there - and the last four of your social.

They'll take debit or check card. (No credit card.) No, don't think anyone is going to give you that information.

You can pay by check, money order, or cashier's check. (Which I imagine is the route most often chosen, but other than sending it certified, RR, no way to prove they received it.)

Call them and give them your savings or checking information - do they really think anyone is going to do that?

They do offer the money gram option - conveniently for them, they don't take online money gram transfers.

They're sounding more and more like a junk-buyer than a reputable company every minute.

Thanks again for the advice. Just needed to sound off for a minute here.

[Anonymous]

These sound like typical collection payment procedures.
They want cash or cash equivalent payments. They won't take cc because they'd have to pay transaction fees on the amount, and because many people who didn't actually want to pay (not talking about you here, of course) would likely routinely reverse the charges or cancel a personal check on them. Money orders and cashier checks are cash equivalent, as are debit card transactions - these do not work exactly like credit cards, the amount authorized is immediately sent to the payee not held as an authorizing until batched and cleared. And these dont carry the fees for the payee that cc transactions do.

I agree, absolutely not going to call sometime and give then my checking account info, but i don't see why you couldn't mail them a money order, certified if you want confirmation they received it - and they come with stubs that would allow you to get information on it being cashed, from the issuer, if it came to that.