Fighting Fire With Fire
May 19, 2008 · Print This Article
Sometimes, it’s like a battlefield…
In October 2007, Provanta negotiated a settlement on a $12,900 account with a collection agency who was representing the original creditor. As with all settlements, Provanta required the collection agency to supply a written settlement agreement before any payment to them. We received the written agreement, sent the settlement payment of $5,600 to the collection agency, and saved our clients a gross amount of $7,300.
Three weeks later, Provanta received a call from a supervisor at the collection agency. She informed us that the original creditor recalled the account and as a result they could not proceed with the settlement agreement. This was completely unacceptable to Provanta, for we had a valid, signed settlement agreement that was in already in place, performed upon, and the payment accepted.
To make matters worse, the original creditor sent the account to a collection attorney who threatened to sue our clients unless they paid the balance in full. This was the last straw for Provanta, and we contacted an attorney that we have worked with for many years. He specializes in consumer law and FDCPA, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, violations. He was more than happy to assist our clients.
It took about 6 months and lot of letters to reach an agreement but we finally did. In the end, the collection attorney agreed to accept the $5600 original settlement agreement, or deal with a lawsuit against themselves, as well as the original creditor, should they persist.
Technorati Tags: FDCPA, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt settlement, accord and satisfaction, consumer law, consumer protection, FTC
(Ref. 1506)
[...] | Credit Repair City wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Sometimes, it’s like a battlefield… In October 2007, Provanta negotiated a settlement on a $12,900 account with a collection agency who was representing the original creditor. As with all settlements, Provanta required the collection agency to supply a written settlement agreement before any payment to them. We received the written agreement, sent the settlement payment of $5,600 to the collection agency, and saved our clients a gross amount of $7,300. Three weeks later, Provanta received [...]
[...] May 19th, I wrote about our client’s experience with a creditor who was threatening to sue our client even though Provanta had legitimately settled the account, received a settlement agreement letter, and made the settlement payment to the collection [...]