Does getting your debt transfered to a collection agency atomatically gives you a bad record?
DiCe asked:
I have a debt to telus and they fowarded it to a collection agency. I can’t pay the whole amount in full because it’s pretty big and im stil a student and the agency won’t accept payments(installments). The agecy said that if i don’t pay, it willgo to my record and stay there for 7 years. My question is, doesn’t having your debt frwarded to a collection agency automatically results to abad record? Because if it does, what’s the use of paying the debt? You ALREADY have a bad credit anyways.
Just to clear things out, I’m in Canada.
Tags: Bad Credit, Canada, Debt Collection
July 5th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Just because your account has been placed with a collection agency doesn’t mean it has been placed on your credit. It could very well be that your original creditor doesn’t report, and that the agency has a policy of attempting negotiation before reporting. Some agencies actually use this as a bargaining tool, which it sounds like in this instance.
You state that they won’t take payments, but you might want to attempt again to negotiate something with them. If you can adhere to a payment schedule that pays the account off relatively quickly they might be willing to work with you. 6-9 months would be a realistic goal, so sit down and crunch the numbers and see if that will work with your budget.
If they still refuse and are going to place it on your credit, see if you can work out an agreement where they will remove the entry upon your repayment. Make sure you get this in writing.
Best of luck.
July 6th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
you pay the debt to get it off your record, If it’s high and you don’t pay it , it accrues more fees. Down the line , if you try to purchace a house or Car , it will bite you in the butt.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
sorry , but once in debt collection the company you owe has already reported it to the credit agencies. So don’t let them push you around, be tactful and try to renegotiate a payment schedule tell them if they wont accept payments you cant pay. Then go to your local court house and have the civil court clerk help you do a form and fill it out so you can pay them the money you owe.(It is a kind of trust to pay them) If the company you owe refuses the money, you owe them nothing and you can file for a waiver to clear your credit because you did put money aside to pay them.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
It sure as heck does… and you’re right, why bother to pay them, It’ll only make your bad credit worse! A few “charge offs” are always a good thing to have too.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
If it’s on your credit report already, and you can’t pay, you can try waiting a few months and disputing it to the credit bureaus. If it’s not a really huge amount, you can try just waiting it out if you don’t mind your credit report being damaged for 7 years. In most instances, they won’t take you to court. But keep in mind that the 7 year timer begins from the last time you made a payment or contacted them in any way.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Hi there I am fellow canadian in alberta…check your credit bureau first I don’t think Telus reports to the Bureau, if it is not on your report yet, send them monthly payments whatever you can afford they cannot refuse your payments, keep a record of them, pay with a money order only, and yes anything in collections royally screws your credit!!!! Don’t ever lose your receipts, and pay it off paid bad debt still is better than unpaid bad debt…