Problem with US Debt Collection Agency
September 13, 2024 7:35 AM   Subscribe

How to proceed and settle with a credit collection agency that does not want my money?

Background: I had problems abroad and was not able to make payments to my US Credit card. I ask a lawyer to contact them to settle my balance, but the US bank never replied. When I contacted the bank later, the was an issue, don't remember exactly what, they were extremely surprised that I wanted to pay the balance and ask me to call in a few weeks. When I called the bank again after a few weeks, they told me that they sold the debt to a debt collection agency, midland credit.

So far, so good or bad. Midland Credit is acting in a strange way. I think they main goal should be to collect this debt or settle for a part of it. I am currently not in the US and evey time I call, after some dicussion they say that, since I am not in the US right now, they can't collect the debt even if I want to pay it or pay a part of it. They also want to contact me by mail and don't accept a mailbox.

I heard of people getting harrazed by debt collection agencies and I know that my situation is pretty good. It is basically me harrazing the credit agency. They also seem not to charge interest for the debt. It is the same amount is was 9 month ago.

What are my options? It is a compareably small amount. 4-5k. In a perfect world, I wish I could settle for a fraction of the debt since I think also the bank may have made a mistake charging me interest and not answering my lawyer.

What are my options? How should I proceed? Lie the next time on the phone that I am back in the US? Fly back in? Hire a debt negotiater?
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
What are you worried will happen if you accept their answer and just view this as resolved? That will help shape people’s responses.
posted by moosetracks at 7:58 AM on September 13, 2024


Do you know someone in the US whose mailing address you could use? Then they could send mail to you at that address.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:48 AM on September 13, 2024


Could you...tell them that you're currently located in the US but only will only talk on the phone if you call them, and want to correspond via email and not the mail? You really shouldn't be giving them much information about your life anyway, the only topic you should be discussing with them is how little they'd accept to settle the debt, anything else is leverage for them (or at the very least information they're gonna sell). In this day and age they don't need to mail you any paper or call you directly, if you emphasize that as long as they're cooperative you'll send them payment, they should work with you.

I'm sure the reason they won't negotiate if you're out of the country is they don't want to be subject to collection laws of other, more restrictive, countries, and keep you on the side of the map line where they can be dishonest and threatening.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:58 AM on September 13, 2024 [1 favorite]


My guess is that they are afraid of running afoul of collections laws in other countries and so don't want to chance dealing with you while you're outside the country, even though your debt was incurred in the US.

As far as mail, there are legal requirements around putting things in writing, disclosures, and so on, so they want an address they can send it to. There might be a requirement that it's a physical address; I'm not sure.
posted by tubedogg at 12:08 PM on September 13, 2024 [1 favorite]


You may want to pull a copy of your credit report (here) and see if the debt is showing up there and who it shows you owing it to among other information.

Also in the past I have had a couple of times when I had debt I wasn’t even aware of until I was contacted by a collection agency. I contacted the original issuer and told them I was paying the debt in full (these were relatively small amounts, less than 500$) and to tell the collection agency to cease their efforts to collect. I didn’t ask them if they wanted my money or argue about whether I really owed it, just gave it to them and they always cashed the check and removed the debt.
posted by TedW at 12:17 PM on September 13, 2024


What's interesting to me about this is a common piece of advice about dealing with debt collectors is that you should get them to speak to you ONLY via letters. See this excellent but lengthy overview, about halfway down:

"The former advocate in me will observe that the single most effective method for resolving debts is carefully sending a series of letters invoking one’s rights under the FDCPA (and other legislation) to a debt collector who is operationally incapable of respecting those rights, then threatening them with legal or regulatory action when they inevitably infringe upon them in writing, leading to them abandoning further attempts at collection."

But, you know, it sounds like you actually owe this money and maybe the debt collector is acting sorta okay? But in case this turns out to be not the case, the article above has some great information.

On the rest of the points, I agree with the other responses.
posted by AbelMelveny at 6:46 PM on September 13, 2024


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