Hi. Sorry this is so drawn out, but here goes: in October 2006 I started looking into buying my 1st home. In doing so, I found a couple things on my credit report to work on. One of these being a credit card with a $1600 balance that the original credit card company was reporting as charged off. Then in November I received a collection letter from a collection agency stating I owed this original amount plus $1200 in interest and $500 in attorney's fees. I called the agency and was treated so poorly that I hung up on the representative. I sent a letter to this collection agency asking them to send proof of the debt and to not contact me on the phone after my last experience. The agency's response was a letter on their law firm's letterhead stating the alleged account #, balance owed, etc. that was the last I heard from them until superbowl Sunday. At about 8:30 p.m. a man knocked at our door (and keep in mind that this was Sunday night!). My roommate answered and told me there was a gentleman to see me. I came to the door and was handed a packet of papers by a man who had his pitbull in my lawn, not on a leash or anything. The man wasn't a sheriff and didn't say a word to me. I read the papers which appeared to be a court summons, but their was no court date or court file #. What scared me was that the summons was dated 1-11-07 and I didn't receive it until 2-4-07. The summons said I had 20 days to respond. So I did some research to make sure there wasn't already a judgement in place against me. I found out this was a scare tactic from the collection agency. So I called the agency with the help of my mortgage lady. We spent over an hour on the phone trying to make a settlement offer, but they were unwilling to settle for anything less than $2500, which I don't have. This was on valentine's day. A week later, they sent a letter stating that it was tax return season and I should call them to try to reach a settlement. So, after that I sent the law firm representing the collection agency a certified letter demanding verification of the alleged debt and my original signature on an agreement. I included a copy of a debt-collector disclosure statement. I gave them 30 days to respond. There response was to send me an exemption form with a letter stating I had told them I was collecting county assistance or social security benefits. I sent another certified letter reminding them that I had never discussed social security benefits or county assistance with them. I included another copy of the debt-collector disclosure statement and reminded them of the deadline to return it to me. Their response was to send another copy of their original "billing" letter with another copy of the terms and conditions of the original credit card with a letter stating that this was their verification and that I needed to call them to discuss it. I am about to send another certified letter stating that their responses have been insufficient proof of the alleged debt and that if they do not send what I have asked for that they need to stop collection efforts and delete this alleged debt from my credit report. I just want to know if there are any other things I could be doing to stop this agency. The dates on my credit report don't match what they have sent me about the alleged account and the original creditor has charged off this alleged account. I know the collection agency just bought the alleged account and is trying to make a profit, but I don't want that to happen. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
-chance

First the fact that the original creditor charged off there account is immaterial. It just means that they took the outstanding balance as a loss against income for tax purposes. It does not absolve you of the debt or mean that they or a 3rd party they assign it to cannot try to collect it.

That being said, you seem to have done everything right in trying to deal with their collection efforts. They do not have to provide you with a copy of the contract until they are ready to go to court. The summons you received is a preliminary move to give you the chance to defend against a suit. Usually it states you have to respond with your intention to defend against their suit to the court. If you haven't done that you need to do so immediately.

Well, first off did you have a credit card with the company they claim they are collecting for? If they have the dates off a bit but the correct final balance, credit card company, card # and etc then they are collecting based on correct information.

As for the interest, this has always confused me, I had a phone bill that went to colelction and after I made the first payment the total was higher than before, they claimed the interest was more than my first payment and they were allowed to charge interest because it was part of the original phone contract... I don't know, I stopped paying, but in your case they may be able to continue charging interest at the same rate as a credit card. The lawyers fee I don't think they are allowed to charge but again it could be part of the credit card contract if it goes to collection, you would need to see the contract again and get a lawyer to defend you.

If the information they have on file about card#, final balance etc do not match at all you really need to get a lawyer to handle this but from the above it sounds like you are not disputing the final balance and that the debt is yours.