Advise on collections, whether or not to pay a bill.?

I have a bill which I have not paid on in years. So far, the only thing that the collections people have been able to do is call me and send me mail. Big deal, I say to that. So, my question is, 'what other means can they use to try and get the money off of me?'

If all I have to do is wait seven years and the debt is removed from my credit report, I can easily do so. Or should I try to set up a payment plan with them? BTW, the debt was incurred in Ohio, it was a loan, and there was/is no collateral on the loan, nor a co-signer...

There are so many terrible answers in the mess, I don't know where to begin. OC's answer is great. Saves me a lot of time correcting.

I like to point out stupid responders and answers....lets take rainvenezia this time...only because she claims to be a "collections manager" who should know better!

If you sell a debt to another collection agency, it does NOT restart the debt. This is the classic nonsense collection agents tell debtors to scare them into paying.

I agree with OC's concern....you say this is a loan? That will imply it was with a written contract agreeing to make monthy payments....this is completely differant then credit card debts, and the Ohio Statute of Limitations is very strict on written debts. They have 15 years to collect. And your contract will most likely say that you agree to make monthly interest and payments and late fees while the debt continues. It will for sure include the fact that you pay legal fees. Our collection manager seems to have overlooked this jewel.....it doesn't matter how much they have to spend in legal costs...your contract agrees you will pay the costs. It may also pay their collection fees.

The only "dodge" that you have is if you are "judgment proof". That means you don't have a job, or your income comes from social security which is not garnishable. And you have no property for them to seize. Therefore, they can file a lawsuit but have no way to collect. But remember, once they get the judgment they can continue to try and collect for a LOT longer then 15 years.

Therefore you are not in a great position here. Try to work out something with these guys.

It is a big deal.

They can take you to court and sue you. When they do, they will issue a judgement against you. They will then garnish your wages. It will come straight from your check before you even touch it.

It was way less common, but not any more. Lawyers are buying up debt and taking people to court.

Second, welcome to paying more for everything for the rest of your life. You will pay more for your car, your house, and more on your credit cards because you will always pay more for a higher interest rate.

Do you want to go to law school, medical school, get an MBA? If you have crappy credit, you may get turned down for all sorts of loans later in life.

You hear about all those people losing their homes in the sub-prime market? Those are people with crappy interest rates who can only get bad home loans.

I have a friend with bad credit and he pays 15.5% on a car loan that I pay 5% on.

Pay that debt. Ask for them to remove the charge to your report and you'll pay the debt.

Then start looking at ways to repair your credit.

If you don't think its a big deal, start reading through these boards and look at all the people with bad credit and the problems they are causing themselves.

Get on a payment plan.

For debts incurred in Ohio, they can actually take you to court for 15 years after the due date of the first payment that was not paid. If they sue you after the 7 years are up and it drops off your credit report, and you're forced to make a payment, the 7 years start all over again.

They can take you to court and garnish your wages.

They can use a lot of other means to attempt to get the money from you. The 7 year time you are thinking about is the legal period that they can report it on your credit report.

However, there is another time called the Statute of Limitations. This is the period of time that you can be taken to court for the money. Since you specifically said it was a loan we know in OH that that is 15 years. So for 8 years after it falls off of your credit report they can file a suit against you. During this time you are incurring interest, and will be responsible for the court costs when they do file a suit. If they prevail, in OH they can garnish your wages for up to 25%. They also have the ability to attach your bank accounts or file liens against any real property you own.

Now, if you do set up a payment plan be sure to have the terms in writting from them BEFORE you send any money.

If it's an unsecured loan, watch out. They can come back to haunt you. Check out this article...

You have both a legal and moral obligation to repay this loan. It does not matter what state you lived in when the loan was taken.

Your credit can be ruined, if it still exist.s Your salary may be garnished. New loans and mortgages may be difficult or impossible to get. If you do get them the loan interest charges will be significantly higher.

Make arrangements to pay the loan. It will be better for your credit and for you. Join the mainstream, do not live on the edge.

What can they do?
Well they can sell it to a third party collections company. This will renew your debt every time they do so. that company can attemp to collect the debt from you from any where to 6 months to 2 years. If they have no luck they will sell it againt o a third party. There is a possiblity that a third party can be a law office. THe law office can do more then call and send letters. if you do not reply, or do not pay, they can take it to court.
this will stay on your credit. I have heard that collections will drop off your credit history after 7 years but ive never seen this happen. Ive seen credit reports that still show bankruptcies from 14 years ago.

What should you do?
If this company has all the correct contact information, you will not stop receving calls from them. first i would suggest that you pay off the loan, set up a payment plan. If that is unaffordable, i would second suggest that you speak with a rep from that collection company and offer a settlement, or a triple settlement payment. depending on what the loan balance is and how much you paid toward the balance before it reached collections. offer the company as low as 38% on the remaining balanace to settle. they will tell you that they can not settle the account they need full payment. suggest maybe 40% and see what they say. they will probably counteroffer about 75%. continue to haggle with them until it reaches no more then 50%. if you get less then great. then set up an affordable repayment plan and stick to it. get everything in writing so they cant try to colelct the remaining balance. Once the agreed amount is paid, get a letter saying you are not longer obligated to pay any more. the triple repayment is common. this is usually anywhere from 50%-65% of the remaining balance devided into 3 payments. the fitst 2 will be large sum payments and the third a smaller payment. Usually these payments are due in 30 days time frames.
when speaking to a collections rep, listen carefulyl how they work things. if they say we will take you to court, they have to follow thru, if they say it can be taken to court.... they havent even considered it. there is alot of paperwork inolved in court, so they try to avoid that. they can only speak with you once every 24 hours. if they call you phone and leave a message, this counts as speaking with you. so if you are used to hearing the house phone ruing, then the cell, then the house again, they are not leaving messages and are trying to speak with you. keep in mind a collections rep work like a car salesman, they have a botom price, they work off commision the more they settle for the bigger their paycheck.
if you do not have the ability to pay toward the loan balance ewither in full or by large payments.
the last option i can give you is to try to take a personal loan to pay off the balabce of the due amount, have that loan company cut the check directly to the collections company. set up affordable payments with that new loan compnay and dont screw it up. this is a rob peter to pay paul situation. if you try this and not pay it back you will have 2 collections unpaid, and htis will make your credit worse.
good luck, IM me if need any more advice

in addition - do not pay a compnay to do credit repair or debt consolidation, you can do it yourself for free and faster.

I own a couple of companies that serve collections and garnishment documents. At some point, depending on the amount you owe, they will come after you. I'm disappointed, though, that you would spend the time here trying to get out of paying what appears to be a legally obligated promise when you should simply do the "right" thing and pay what you promised to pay. It's people like you who make the cost of credit higher for people like us who, when they say they'll pay, aren't lying.

It 'Falls' off a basic credit report after 7 years but If you try to Run you FICO Score to get e home loan it will re-surface.

Looks to me like you essentially stole the money. Even as just a defauted loan, your name is probably going to show up on "bad risk" lists. This is going to affect the rate you pay on credit cards, auto loans, home mortgages. It can affect your ability to rent, get a job handling money -- even sales, cash a check, and much else. The lack of a co-signer or collateral has nothing to do with it. Good luck, Slick.

you got that wrong, unpaid bills will not be removed in seven years..they will sell your debts over and over again and that will continue to be on your report..

why not settle for less than owned?

so let's get this straight, you borrowed money and now you don't want to pay it back. i hope they sue you and garish what ever wages you have . PAY YOUR DEBT

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