Call your original creditor and ask about resolving your debt. If they sold your debt, ask for the name of the company that bought it. Review your credit report to see if a known debt buyer is reporting a collection account (your original creditor’s entry will often reflect they sold the account).

How do I contact a collection?

Contact a collection agency over the phone or by mail to negotiate payment of a bad debt. While communicating by phone may speed up the process, dealing with a debt collector one-on-one can be intimidating. If you’re not comfortable talking to the collection agency, send a letter outlining your payment offer.

How can a collection agency find my address?

State motor vehicle department. In most states, a legitimate creditor or its agent (the collection agency) can use the motor vehicle department’s database to verify your address in order to collect a debt and pursue its legal remedies against you. Voter registration records.

How much does it cost to hire a collection agency?

Typical Collection Agency Fees Percentage of Collected Debt: If you hire a collection agency, they might agree to retain 30% of the debt collected, which means if they are only able to recover 60% of your debt, 30% goes to them. For instance, on a $100 debt, the collection agency fee of 30% means they get $30 even if they only collect $60.

How to find out what you have in collections?

The report may have been from a different credit reporting company. To find out what you have in collections, you will need to check your latest credit reports from each of the 3 credit bureaus. Collection agencies are not required to report their account information to all three of the national credit reporting agencies.

What kind of information does a collection agency have?

Credit bureaus. If a collection agency is associated with a credit reporting agency , the collection agency will have access to all kinds of information, like your address, phone number, employer, and credit history.