How little can I pay to stop a collection from taking me to court?

Question

I went through 4 years of hell, lost job, lots of medical bills and back surgery....now collection agencies say I must pay 1/3 of the bill to satify them......I'm broke and treading water with so many bills....what amount, 10, 20 dollars amonth ? will get me going paying off all these debts and getting the collecters away from me?

Answer 1

What is the collection for?????

www.creditinfocenter.com

First you get the Credit Reporting Agencies to
validate,
Then you get the Collection Agency to Validate
and quit talking to them on the phone make
them put it in writing,
Also check the Statue of Limitations
Did they PURCHASE or were they ASSIGNED the debt.

www.creditinfocenter.com

Answer 2

In your case, it might be in your best interest to file for bankruptcy. Once you start the proceedings of a chapter 7 you can tell them to leave you alone becuase you are filing for bankruptcy and they will stop harassing you. Depending on how much you owe (sounds like quite a bit, as medical bills add up FAST) I would seriously consider weighing out your options and filing. A lot of attorneys understand that if you are broke enough to be filing bankruptcy you probably can't afford to fees to file, so they will work out a payment plan with you to pay the fees. Your FICO is probably very bad from all of the collections, so if you did file you would have a fresh start and could start rebuilding your credit almost immediately. However, if you don't want to file bankruptcy I would advise calling the collection agencies and explain that you can't afford your bills as it is, and that you can only send 10 dollars a month. They will either understand and work with you, or keep coming after you. Also, from personal experience I know that when they send you letters threatning to take you to court, very rarely will they actually sue you. Usually they will just write it off and hit your credit, becuase it costs a lot to sue somebody. Either way, if you go to court, file bankruptcy, or work out a payment plan....you won't go to jail or be in any kind of serious trouble over the bills, becuase you can't pay a debt back if you don't have the money to do so. Goodluck to you, and I hope all of my information is useful for your situation.

Answer 3

If a debt is purchased or assigned it will not matter.
Is the debt past statute or not? in other words, is it 4 years old. If so, you don't have to pay a penny and if they sue, tell the court its 4 years old. That is a defense put in the FDCPA for you the consumer.
There is no amount you can choose to pay on your own that will prevent them from going to court. That is an Urban Legend.
They can take your payments and then sue you.
Try one of the Credit Counselling agencies referred to in the other answers.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Making small payments will not stop them from taking you to court. They will take the small payment and still sue. If you're in collections, you're in default and the whole thing is due and payable.

Check this site: http://www.nfcc.org/ . Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS), a legit non-profit company offering free credit counseling. They also have debt management programs available, if you qualify, at no fee. They can look at your finances and advise how to proceed.

It does sound like you have a lot of medical debt and bankruptcy may be your best option.