A couple of months ago, I received a call from a collection agency asking for details regarding my recent bankrupcy. Being that I have never filed for bankrupcy, I humored the call and allowed the guy to verbally hang himself for about 30 minutes while we discussed the amount I owed on an old credit card. The man working for the collection agency was extremely well spoken, and was playing 'good cop' with me and complimenting me on what a good job I had done on paying other debts etc, etc, and if I would just be a good citizen and resolve this account with him.
Before making the final arrangements to pay the debt off, I asked him a few more questions about the bankrupcy (i.e. what date did his records have me filing, and in what county etc?) which got him stammering and generally talking around the fences. Finally, I informed him that I was an investigator for a law office (which I am) and had a witness to his statements in reference to this bankrupcy I had apparently filed (which was pure garbage) and that I would need that addressed later, as if I had taken his lies seriously, he would have caused me to spend a lot of time trying to rectify a problem that didn't exist, not to speak of the distress and worry associated with it all...
Earlier in the conversation, he had verbally guaranteed me that paying off the entire sum (which I was just about to do) would result in my credit report being completely cleared of this debt.
Back to the present: realizing that he was in deep poop, he politely asked me to hold for a moment. That moment turned into 15 minutes, when his supervisor picked up (I never spoke to the other guy again) and proceeded to apologize madly about the entire affair and literally beg me not to lodge a complaint or sue. Turns out, paying off the original debt would not have resulted in the debt being deleted from my credit report at all...they never had the power to do so in the first place. What would have happened is that it would have shown settled for less than the amount.
Warning: it took me about an hour to get to the bottom of all this, and I was ready to pay $3000 on false promises. The only reason I got to the truth was because they were suddenly held accountable by a witness who had overheard all the bs I was being promised and guaranteed. Just before I was about to give my credit card number, I had asked for a letter in writing, and this was what put a halt to the conversation I was having with the first guy.
Morale to the story: DO NOT trust these refuge. Get it in writing or don't pay a cent of your money. I'm all for fixing bad credit, but its high time these collection agencies were honest about matters. I might have even been willing to have taken the settlement pay off, but in the end, I didn't believe a word they said. Just be careful folks.
Message Edited by Salisbury on
08-07-2008 12:55 AMMessage Edited by Salisbury on
08-07-2008 12:56 AM
