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If it is a legitimate debt then you can pay the person you originally owe. If they will no longer accept payment from you then document it and ask them for documentation that says you tried to pay them but they refused. This way when the legal system gets involved you have that and the judge will throw it out.

this is a good idea. I will call the gym from work, as all of my calls are recorded there and my supervisor would gladly hand me that recording.

[Quote]But no, even if the company has bought your debt legitimately, they have nothing to do with the gym membership and so they can't reinstate anything at all. They basically own the right to collect a certain amount of money, plus they can inflate the total with penalties. I'm not sure, but maybe someone else knows, how much they can legally charge for that.

This! He said I owed $1200 but would settle for $900. He said if I paid the 1200 I would have access to the gym until July. If I settled for $900 I couldn't. I only owe $240. I asked him where the additional $660-960 was coming friend. He said I would find a detailed list in my contract. But your right no don't have a contract with THEM. They aren't paying this money to Golds Gym. They already paid Golds maybe $50 for my debt. So ALLLL the money goes to him. So, essentially, I don't have to pay him. I'll pay golds. But that's it. And I told golds the same thing. Ill pay you but not through a third company. If you refuse my payment, then I hate to say it but you guys will not be getting a payment from me. Now I understand why golds is ok with this, because essentially, they've already been paid by these crooks.

I'm so glad I came here for advice because it is certainly helping me to understand and put some pieces together! If the manager calls me, I will also ask him for something in writing stating that I have attempted to pay them but they refused. I doubt he'll provide it though.

[This message edited by ntgvngup218 at 10:41 AM, April 14th (Sunday)]

But no, even if the company has bought your debt legitimately, they have nothing to do with the gym membership and so they can't reinstate anything at all. They basically own the right to collect a certain amount of money, plus they can inflate the total with penalties. I'm not sure, but maybe someone else knows, how much they can legally charge for that

This! He said I owed $1200 but would settle for $900. He said if I paid the 1200 I would have access to the gym until July. If I settled for $900 I couldn't. I only owe $240. I asked him where the additional $660-960 was coming friend. He said I would find a detailed list in my contract. But your right no don't have a contract with THEM. They aren't paying this money to Golds Gym. They already paid Golds maybe $50 for my debt. So ALLLL the money goes to him. So, essentially, I don't have to pay him. I'll pay golds. But that's it. And I told golds the same thing. Ill pay you but not through a third company. If you refuse my payment, then I hate to say it but you guys will not be getting a payment from me. Now I understand why golds is ok with this, because essentially, they've already been paid by these crooks.

I'm so glad I came here for advice because it is certainly helping me to understand and put some pieces together! If the manager calls me, I will also ask him for something in writing stating that I have attempted to pay them but they refused. I doubt he'll provide it though.

The government has tried really hard to protect people in debt from predatory collection agencies by giving them hops to jump through and things to weave around.

Unfortunetly, all this has done has made Collection agencies much more acrobatic.

They pray on the fact that a credit rating is EVERYTHING in today's world....they will use people's fears to get the money they want. I can't really understand why people would want to work in that type of job....it makes me sick

You screwed up.

They sold your debt to a collections agency.

Gold's can't accept payment from you, that is why it is in collections. The CA is required to give you an itemized bill. Insist on it in writing. As suggested above-do not admit to the debt. This isn't being sly, you can't own this debt without understand how it grew to well over a thousand dollars.

I remember when a credit card company sold my sister's debt to a collection agency and they started harassing her. Like you, the debt was far more than she originally owed and she couldn't pay it. She got really upset and didn't know what to do so she had her son (about 4 at the time) leave the voice message and stopped answering her phone. Then she got a letter with a court appearance and freaked out.

I told her how to handle it in court. I told her when her case came up, not to admit that the debt was hers and instead to say she was fairly sure she didn't owe and she'd like proof that she did. I figured at the least it would allow her to stall for more time and probably settle for a much smaller payment.

On court day, she arrived to find that this debt collection company had booked the court room for the entire day and every case there was for debt they had purchased from some company. My sister was low on the list and had to sit through case after case. In each case before her, the person sued admitted to the debt and was told by the judge to go out into the hall and reach a settlement with the collector's agents. When they got to my sister, she did as I advised. The judge turned to the collector and said "Do you have proof that this debt is hers?" The collector hemmed and hawed and finally admitted to having no real documentation of the debt. The judge told him he was dismissing the case and not to bring it back to his court until he could prove my sister owed the debt. She expected documents or something in the mail after that but she never got anything. And she was the only person in the court room that day who had her case thrown out.

Regardless of the outcome, report this all to the Attorney General and the BBB. Now.

Collection agencies are the absolute scourge of the earth. They will say anything, do anything, try anything to scare the crap out of you - because, hey, they want their money.

I had a debt that was run up by my now XH that I had been paying on, but apparently not fast enough to suit them, so they "sold" it to a collection agency, who then proceeded to call day and night - at my work, my home, my mobile, everywhere and anywhere they thought they could get me. What they don't know is that I don't answer phone calls that say "Unknown" or a number I don't recognize. Usually I'll Google the number - sure enough, it almost always said collection agency. Over the course of 7 years (yes, I said YEARS), they tried to make me pay this debt, even going so far as to actually sue me for it. 7 years later, I KNEW it had been sold several times over - see, after a certain period of time, it's all written off and it'll get passed from one scumbucket to the next.

Suit dismissed. They couldn't back up their statements and the statute of limitations had passed anyway.

I don't and WON'T deal with collection agencies. If I owe money, fine - I will pay the ORIGINAL creditor and no one else. These people trade on fear. Don't let them scare you.

By the way - DON'T accept 'reduced' offers for debt, even if it's years later. If you do, it actually REACTIVATES the original debt's statute of limitations and you'll be stuck again fighting these idiots.