I have just been contacted by a collection agency on a past bill. I have informed them I am willing to make a payment arrangement but cannot meet what they want. They contacted me over thirty days ago but I just received a letter stating there what I was in collection for with them. I have spoken to them three times since the first contact. When I ask the agent for my account number and there address to send sometime of payment. She got angry with me because I could not set up an arrangement for the end of September. I was look at the date of October 2. I have tried calling two more times to have an automatic payment sent them them once a month but now no one will call me.

From the first phone call. The agent mentioned going straight to legal action. I had to ask her for the name of the company she was calling from she did not give me any account information at that time just her phone number to call.

If I send them money with out a "payment arrangement" in place can they still take legal action? Does which state you live in make a difference? If they keep refusing my calls or refuse to take my payment does that change anything?

Merely making payments if it is not a payment arrangement in writing, will not stop legal action, If it is not in writing, they will merely deny it perhaps and still do legal action

No they may refuse any payment that is not either payment in full or to the amount they requested.

You do have certain rights under the Fair Debt collection act, such as they are to contact you in writing after the first phone call, you have the right to ask for their mailing address and to write them not to contact you further by phone or to even a request just not to contact you further.
** then they can onlycontact you when they are ready to sue.

Don't ever, every do a automatic withdrawal and don't ever let them know your bank account numbers, if you tell them to take 100 dollars, they may just go and take 1000 dollars

Go to the website for Americans for Fairness in lending for much more info:

Sometimes some lenders will sue, but often they will just turn the debt over to a collection agency. Sometimes the debt collection agency may sue, but in some states collection agencies can't sue people – only the lender can. In all situations, defending a collection suit in front of a judge is far better than the consequences to you and your family of disruptive and abusive telephone calls.
Another important thing to keep in mind is what is called “a statute of limitations” on your debt. If the lender or debtor does not sue you within a specified period, they lose their right to ever sue you again. This is usually a period of several years, normally counted from the date of the last payment you made. As a result, debt collectors will pressure you to make a partial payment—even a very small one—because this will extend the statue of limitations further in time. Therefore, it may be a mistake to make a partial payment when pressured by a debt collector after years of not paying, because in some states this partial payment starts the statute of limitations running all over again.

Read more there, Frankie