debt collectors!

Okay so this has absolutly nothing to do with pregnancy nor babies! BUT I have a major issue... here's a lil history from the beginning...
So My husband and Iwere living in these apts. We signed a 1 yr lease, but about 6 months into it my uncle had a stroke and my aunt was fighting cancer. So my husband and i moved in with them to help with bills, house, dr appt's ect. We notified the apt we were moving and breaking our lease early for family medical reasons. they seemed cool with it, and said they would be in contact with us to collect the early vacant fee. (I gave them ALL new numbers and address!!) This was in July 2006, I finally heard something after calling a few dozen times in dec 06. But it was from a collection agency. I contacted them and informed them of the above and they sent me to deal with the apt's (because supposivly it slipped through the cracks and it shouldnotbe in collections) The apt then told me they would mail me information and i was to follow up.. NEVER got anything! Again i called and talked to a million people. Well finally i just sorta gave up on it and figured if they want there money (around 1100) then they would contact me. So here it is 10/10/08 and MY MOM gets a call from a collector, asking for my husband. She would not say the company name, her name or any info. She just kept repeating "this is an emergency I need to get in contact with Matthew" My mom, of course started freaking out thinking that something was really wrong and asked the lady if it was an emergency or if she just need to speak with him. She then again confirmed it was an emergency. Anyway my mom finally ended up getting all company information and spoke with the supervisor who again was declaring an emergency...
So i found this out and called them to see what the heck the emergency was.. Well she was VERY rude to me demanding payment for 3600 today to cover apt and fees. so i jumped down her throat about what went on with my mom, and told her my def of an emergency and told her i was going to be contacting a lawyer to discuss laws and pressing charges.
So my question is ... does anyone know any collection laws?? can they declare it an emergency?! ( my idea of emergent is when someone is hurt, broke down, NEEDS HELP!!! not $$) and also it has taken them over 2 years to contact us at all!! any ideas on what i can do about any of this?! ( they refuse payment arrangements because they are not a "financial instution" ) and i can not afford to pay some hag 3600!!!!! PLEASE HELP ANY ADVISE AT ALL IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! thanks mommas!

Quoting Mana Jane:“ Okay so this has absolutly nothing to do with pregnancy nor babies! BUT I have a major issue... here's ... [snip!] ... ) and i can not afford to pay some hag 3600!!!!! PLEASE HELP ANY ADVISE AT ALL IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! thanks mommas!”

look up the The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ... that will tell you any laws.. and what YOUR rights are.. alot of time these assholes talk out their ass..
as for them refusing payments, they cant... if you send 5 bucks a month they have to accept it..

I had a bill in collections once and they were assholes!
They too told me they wouldn't accept a payment arrangement. I spoke to the supervisor and told them if they don't I would file bankrupty and they would never get their money (not that I would). They broke down and put me on a payment plan.

Quoting Mana Jane:“ Okay so this has absolutly nothing to do with pregnancy nor babies! BUT I have a major issue... here's ... [snip!] ... ) and i can not afford to pay some hag 3600!!!!! PLEASE HELP ANY ADVISE AT ALL IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! thanks mommas!”

lol i was a collector for bank of america (even though im in canada)

my boyfriend had a cellphone company charge him like $800 for calls he never made and he refused to pay so they sent him to collections. after 7 years or so it goes off your credit report. im not sure if it works the same way with apartments tho or if they could sue you to collect their money or not. you may want to contact a lawyer and get some legal advice.

theres many laws we had to learn- i had to be registered in the states and each province etc. Anyways... one thing you should know is most agencies have many suits going against them at once.. there are laws.. many of them ignore the laws. Its all about intimidation... they say you have to pay.. technically you had to pay months ago.. thats why they say that.. but ive known files go on for ages and ages.. the rarely take people to court and i dealt with accounts 10,000 and over that was owing

Quoting jaela's mommy!!:“ my boyfriend had a cellphone company charge him like $800 for calls he never made and he refused to pay ... [snip!] ... tho or if they could sue you to collect their money or not. you may want to contact a lawyer and get some legal advice.”

it goes off your record after 9 years(here anyway) only if you resolve the account.. meaning they came to an agreement.. you could ignore it for 7 years but it will still show up as unresolved even if they stopped contacting you.. everything has to go through the credit bureau

THanks you ladies are awesome! I was thinking i was completly crazy for freaking out but like i said i do not have that kind of money right now! That website has alot of great info on it and i will for sure be contacting a lawyer. imbettingthey will give me legal advise for cheap, if not forfree!
And if all else fails i will throw that Bankruptcy thing out there!   i could never do it but they dont know!! lol

Thanks again! ill keep you guys updated in what i find out.. its good information to know cos im sure this kind of crap happens all the time!

If you ignore it for years like some are saying then you CREDIT will go down ALOT! I would contact them and inform them you would like to make payments. You can't sue them for being rude has much as we would like too. Even if you pay them $10.00 a month they have to accept it! Without it paid it could be very difficult to get another apartment because it's going to be on your record. Good luck with everything.

The interesting thing, after so many years of your debt being unpaid it eventually gets dropped off your credit record like it never existed! However, it you start paying toward it, it basically starts back up on your record like a new debt again, so in some instances, if it's been several years you come out ahead by just ignoring it. It doesn't seem fair, but I read it at some consumer watchdog site or sorts, like the Red Tape Chronicles, or something like that.

On the accepting/refusing payments, they can refuse to accept a payment if they deem it to be too small or whatever. However, if they accept the payment you sent, that means that they are basically agreeing to your terms and conditions, regardless of whether or not they had agreed verbally or in writingto them, because they accepted the payment, which shows they are working with you.

Quoting BunnyGirl19:“ The interesting thing, after so many years of your debt being unpaid it eventually gets dropped off your ... [snip!] ... or not they had agreed verbally or in writingto them, because they accepted the payment, which shows they are working with you."

Okay.. so if i just mail them a check for 50-100 dollars, and they cash it. thats automatically "accepting my offer" ? and then they would have to change it in my credit report legally as "paying" or "pending" or whatever the term is instead of deliquent right? Also by doing that I have proof that they accepted the $$ by my bank statement and duplicate check if they try anything like a lawsuit or something like that I could definatly fight it and stand a chance right?

Quoting Mana Jane:“ Okay.. so if i just mail them a check for 50-100 dollars, and they cash it. thats automatically "accepting ... [snip!] ... duplicate check if they try anything like a lawsuit or something like that I could definatly fight it and stand a chance right?”

It shows that they are allowing you to make payments on it at whatever level you deemed to be acceptable to you and what you could pay at the time. I'm not sure what it would reflect on your credit report regarding the delinquent status depending on how much it is considered "overdue" and what sort of information they gave to begin with. Basically, what I am saying is that they can't demand a certain payment amount out of you if they have already accepted smaller increments. They can technically say they want a higher payment, but if they accept your smaller amount, then it shows that they are agreeing to your terms.

I had an issue with some medical bills several years ago where I had no insurance and the treatments/tests I needed done cost more than I could afford to pay at one time. I was told by their billing department that I could make three equal payments of around $700 each, which was a lot more than I could take out of my budget. I could only comfortably afford around $250 at that time, so that is what I sent them (after the person I spoke to in billing told me I couldn't have more than 90 days to pay it off and could not make smaller payments). They cashed my check and took the money every time I sent it. They also kept sendingme a statement to the effect that I didn't pay them, et cetera, and kept addinga bunch of fees. I can't remember who exactly I ended up speaking to that told me if they accepted the money, then legally they are working with my terms. I was told that if they had not taken the money and/or sent it back to me, then they had legal grounds to sue me for the money, which they were threatening to do after the 90s days had passed. I think it was one of those legal aid type places that can offer some legal advice on what steps you need to take for a particular situation. After I had gotten that information I called billing back and told then that they were accepting my payments and that because of it, they had no grounds to try to sue me over it and that they couldn't legally keep adding on all those no payment fees and delinquent fees (granted, they could still charge interest on it until it was paid off, though). I also told them that they couldn't start refusing my payments after they had already been accepting them. So, they ended up removing the extra fees they had charged me and stopped sending me all those threatening letters for not paying them. I have no idea if there are different laws that would apply to different states on this or not.