An old client called today to tell me about a problem he was having with a bill collector. It seems he fell behind on their credit card payments, and the credit card company sent the account out to two different collection companies who took turns calling (or harassing) the client.
While on the phone with one of the collection companies, the client offered to pay some money towards the account and asked for an address to where the check should be sent. The response was “we’ll settle it today for ‘x’ amount.”
The client jumped at the chance to get these boneheads off his back and off his phone.
“I’ll accept,” he gleefully responsed. ” Where do I send my check?”
The response:
“We don’t want your check. We want your bank account information and we’ll do a transfer.”
Smell a rat? I did and you should.
More and more I am seeing this tactic. Collectors aren’t sending out dunning letters. Instead, they are just calling and demanding bank account information.
Yet consumers should note: never, ever give your bank account information to a collector (or for that matter, anyone else you do not know). Giving them your bank account information can lead to collectors taking more than you authorized and making it difficult, if not impossible to get it back. It is not unheard of for a $50 payment to turn into $500 (“…perhaps it was a key-stroke error). In addition, without something in writing, you can expect that the collection company to succumb to an unfortunate bout of amnesia when asked about whether the amount removed from the account actually amounted to a “settlement” of the entire amount due. Your idea of settlement and their idea of settlement might not be the same.
Pay by check. Write the account number on the check. Get the settlement offer in writing. Don’t accept threats like “….if we do not get the bank account information the deal is off.”
Bottom line: the high pressure demand for bank information is little more than one more tactic from commission driven bill collectors trying to make their numbers. Any settlement should be in writing, and any payment by a check should be acceptable. Any bill collector obeying the law should not have any problem with that.
Any bill collector that does is free to send me an email and tell me why I’m wrong. I’ll post it here.
Related posts:
- Lies and the Liars That Tell Them
- Bill Collectors and Your Cell Phone
- Dirt-bag Debt Collectors.
- Battling Debt Collectors
- NYC Investigating Debt Collectors
Tags: Consumer Rights, Consumer Scams, Fair Debt Collection Practices