Ryan B asked:
I wanna try an do my own negotation with a debt collector , they just served me papers a couple days ago to appear in court. I was wondering if there is a way to find out how much they bought my debt for , or if there is an avgerage….PLEASE HELP
Leopoldo Wayford
I wanna try an do my own negotation with a debt collector , they just served me papers a couple days ago to appear in court. I was wondering if there is a way to find out how much they bought my debt for , or if there is an avgerage….PLEASE HELP
Leopoldo Wayford
Offer them what you can afford to pay
You owe the debt, you pay it
We actually just had this topic come up on a credit forum I visit, so I’ll refer you there as people much smarter than I who addressed it.
Good luck.
I don’t think they are going to negotiate with you once you’ve already been served the papers. And they probably did get your account for really cheap. However, they need to make a profit somehow and you can’t assume that because they bought your account for say $500, they would settle for $600 if you really owe $1000. You need to take into account all the accounts they never collect on.
Try to offer what you can affored to pay to keep this out of court and prevent a judgement. Good Luck
Also, not to complicate matters but if you look on some debt/credit forums there are people who actually beat collection agencies because they ask for validation in court that the debt actually belongs to them. Sometimes agencies do not have such info or can’t prove that they have a right to collect the debt. But this is an entirely different matter.
It really depends on how old and what type of debt it is. The older the debt, the lower the price. But it really doesn’t make any difference cause if you go to court, the collector will get the whole amount.
Since you’ve been served, you may not be able to negotiate too good a deal. But general rule of thumb, if the debt is more than 3 years old, offer 25%; 2 or 3 years old, offer 50%; less than 2 years old, offer 75%. Lump sum gets the best deals. Any payment plan has to be short term. Get any settlement agreement in writing and keep it, along with your payment proof, forever. Do not give the collector direct access to your bank account.
If you have been served papers you would be foolish to not seek professional help.
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