can a attorney do this?

Question

I was sued by a collection agency, I paid the bill to the original people I owed, so in essence the collection agency didnt get paid by the original people because they didnt collect , I didnt sign any contract with anybody to pay anything(had to get that out of the way) in the mean time they are now suing for court cost and attorney fees which is 3 times higher than the original debt(the original was 543 and they want 1450) and by the law I have to respond to their claims til a date is set for court and who knows when that is, in the mean time, they keep saying an additional 200 bucks to reply to my answer everytime to review and answer they say,can they do that? now its 1650,can they do that? isnt that against the law?(by the way there was no judgement in the original case as they dropped it when I paid to the original people now they want this)

well I definently didnt ignore them, I file in to the court with my answer and they file back,its been back and forward,everytime they say, thats 200 more. there has been no court date set. I live in oklahoma

Answer 1

continue to answer and then when you win your case because it is found they are not owed anything by you, then sue them for all of the fees you incurred and then add punitive damages. Attorneys that deal in collections do pretty much what they want to because they figure you won't be able to afford to pay to answer.

Answer 2

What collection agencies do is buy the debt of the original contract. For a fee they will try to collect on that debt. When you say that they are trying to collect for court cost, were you served with any papers that indicated a court date that you were supposed to appear at? I have re -read your question several times now, and it appears to me that something is really fishy here. If in the original case the charge was dropped, I can see no reason why you would be obligated for court costs. Also I don't get what you mean by "by the law " you have to respond to their claims till another court date is set, and that is going to cost you another $200.00?I don't know what state you live in, but I suspect you may have a right to a counter-claim against this so-called collection agency. If I were you I would Immediatley contact one or more of the free legal services that are in most areas. I say the free legal advocates because in most states if not all (I"m unclear on this) lawyers are not allowed to represent in small claims court. They can however,help to prepare your case. I would not sit around and think about this too much, I would get started tomorrow morning. Like I said, something reeks here, and you need to confront it.

Answer 3

Quite possibly, the collection agency you mentioned actually purchased the account from the original people. That would mean you really do owe the collection agency now, not the original creditor. If the first people accepted your payment, they committed a fraud by not telling you. The agency, meanwhile, is not following the law in about 20 different ways, but they are almost impossible to stop, because they are just out there somewhere trying to scare people. Send them a certified letter along with a copy of your paid receipt. I would also send a certified letter to the original people and tell them to get it straightened out, or you will pursue it further. These people you can find and they probably don't want trouble. Also, there is probably no law firm actually involved, just a bunch of flunkies working for a collection agency.

Answer 4

My suggestion is to respond to the court documents. Have it filed. And show proof of payment. And your original debtor you should ask them to supply when you had cleared your debt and when they had you sent to collections. Also, you need to supply that to the court. Most likely if you have really paid your debt in full with the orginal debtor then more than likely the legal costs will be omitted as that there was a mistake.

But if you do owe money to the original debtor then yes you are legal binded to the legal fees and additionally to your original debt and any interest. Also, by law they can garnish your wages too. So credit is not something to play with....and plus I'm sure this has damaged your credit score.

Answer 5

It seems what has happened is the original debtor has ripped off the collection agency. What happens is when a debt cannot be collected a collection agency is hired in the agreement they get a portion of the money paid plus fees. Since you cut them out and paid the original debt they won't get their cut. They should be contacting them for the cut but since future business would probably be lost they are trying to get it out of you.

Then again for it to go to a collection agency and for them to have filed numerous letters with you for it to get as high as it has, there must have been many ignored letters. I can see a case for both sides. Good luck.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, they are using scare tactics to force a negotiated out-of-court settlement.

Did you pay your debt owed to the original people by check? Did you place a notation on the check, "Bill Paid in Full"? Do you have any documentation that their claim against you has been closed?

I recommend speaking with an attorney, for a $100.00 consultation fee. You ned to speak with someone who is familiar with bill collections in your juridiction.

I recommend filing an Answer to their filed Complain as soon as possible, as there are time limits. If the Complaint is not verified by signature under penalty of purgery, you may be able to just copy a general denial from a civil procedure book, as to each of he allegations.

Again, I recommend the $100.00 fee consultation...

Good luck!

Answer 7

it sounds to me like you got a savvy collection person on the phone. they will always tell you they are filing suit for yada yada yada. hang up. you will know if there is a suit filed when they serve you papers. you are not obligated to 'respond to their claims' unless you have recieved OFFICIAL notice that the matter has been filed in the court in the county you reside in. get proof of payment from the original creditor, fax it to them, and then tell the collector that if they call you again, you will press charges for harrassment. youll need to check your credit report as well, im sure theyre reporting a non-payment. i would guess that the debt is about 6 years and 6 months old, they are trying to scare you into paying right before it falls off of your credit report.

Answer 8

This is crazy. Look up that so-called agency in the better business bureau and search for it. There is also the federal trade comission site, where you can look up information on the things that are legit. They should not be charging you for each time they send you a warning, letter. Well, have you been ignoring them? Well, anyway, yeah, don't pay those extra 200, if anything. You can lower it, trust me. Just fight it and you will win. Good luck.

Answer 9

They usually try a lot of dirty tricks to get rich at your expenses, but if there is no signed paper you have a small edge.

Get some expert advise and try to solve this as soon as possible, law suits are a pain in the neck.

Answer 10

You need to talk to an attorney in your local area, who is familiar with your State's laws on this subject. It certainly doesn't sound right to me, but different States have different laws... so it's always better to check it out.