Broken lease agreement...collections department calling.

I signed a 1 year lease which had a cosigner. Over the year that lease was fulfilled and paid completely, and I was given the option to sign a new lease. This time WITHOUT a cosigner. But I had to break this lease after 10 months.

The collections department is threatening to go after my old cosigner (from a previous fulfilled lease agreement). Are they just using a scare tactic here? How can they go after someone who's name isn't on the lease but was on a previous fully paid lease?

Thanks in advance.

a reply to: Visitor2012

They don't have a leg to stand on. Just keep a copy of your lease in case you need to go to court.

a reply to: Visitor2012

If it's a new lease and he hasn't co-signed it then they can't go after him as it's nothing to do with him.

a reply to: Visitor2012

Intimidation tricks. Not to worry.

a reply to: Visitor2012

Tell them to piss off, this is just a scare tactic and if they call your friend he should say the same thing.

Thankyou everyone. I called the lady back. She demanded that I take out a loan to pay the balance, which I refused. She equated that to mean 'refusal to pay the debt' and threatened to go forward with her process. I told her those were her words, not mine. Since I was merely trying to get basic information.

She was very rude, and didn't even listen to a word I had to say. So I told her to put everything in writing, especially that ridiculous threat and mail it to me.

Depends,

If it's a new lease, no problems.

If it's an extension of the old one, all parties are still involved and liable.

Peace

Have your friend sit back and let them garnish...

Your most recent lease will qualify him as the new owner, should push come to shove.

originally posted by: Visitor2012
She was very rude, and didn't even listen to a word I had to say. So I told her to put everything in writing, especially that ridiculous threat and mail it to me.

There is very little they can do as this is not a collateralized loan and is unfunded debt. If you do not agree to pay they can file against your credit but eventually that goes away as well.

I had a leased a few Mercedes awhile back and the last one was such a piece of crap I told them to go screw for the $650 disposition fee. I got collections calls for about six months afterwards and told them I would not pay and in my opinion they owed me money for having leased such a crappy car. They employed all manner of guilt trips, threats and intimidation but I did not relent. Eventually they stopped.

Just last month I started receiving lease offers from, guess who, Mercedes. Isn't memory short? Oh, and my credit was not affected, it is was/still over 800.

a reply to: jude11

It would still require the friend to resign on the extension for him to be liable , he signed up for the term of the original lease.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Haha. Yeah, I figured as much. Those people use all kinds of scare tactics. I told them to put their communication and all threats in writing and send it to a mailing address. I doubt that threat will be put in writing. I mentioned FDCPA to her, and she seemed to tone down her approach..but I'm going to keep my eye on them. And of course, pay whatever I legitimately owe, when I can.

a reply to: Visitor2012

You may even be able to negotiatie that portion of the debt down without penalty.

All collection agencies purchase the debt or take it on contingency with a repayable rate below 50%.

If you owe them $1,000 they may be willing to take $250-300 to satisfy the debt without penalties, but make sure you get that in writing prior to remitting any funds. This is all a negotiation and you hold all the cards.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Thankyou Augustus. Fortunate news indeed.

I had a school loan in collections as I had lost the job that was helping me pay for it. I received mail that informed me that I could contact someone at the collections office to set up a lower % than the 15% that was being taken out of my checks. I needed the little extra money at the time so I called. The man on the other line was rude, telling me in all his years doing this he's never heard of a reduced % rate and that it was federally mandated at 15% to be taken from my pay. I told him I could fax the eMail as I was reading it while he was denying it could ever exist. Needless to say he shut his mouth after he got the proof. Calling and dealing with debts or bills has to be the most difficult and angering thing ever.

Do NOT go on a payment plan or anything. Every payment you make extends the statute of limitations.

If they contact your friend I believe you can sue them for sharing financial information.

Augustus is right, they'll probably take WAY less. Start low @ $250 and say you have to borrow from family.

originally posted by: Domo1
Do NOT go on a payment plan or anything. Every payment you make extends the statute of limitations.

If they contact your friend I believe you can sue them for sharing financial information.

Augustus is right, they'll probably take WAY less. Start low @ $250 and say you have to borrow from family.

successful contact with you wherein you acknowledge the debt also extends the statute of limitations.

i worked as a collector for wells fargo for one year,

collectors will often spout utter bull# in an attempt to intimidate you into paying, they will readily lie to you telling you of consequences which are completely fabricated in order to persuade you into paying. if you ever have an issue with a collector and you actually do intend to pay eventually, ask to speak to their supervisor, if they tell you they are the supervisor ask to speak to THEIR supervisor, the chain goes up pretty far and you have a right to speak to those above them if they are giving you issue.

i also STRONGLY suggest you record every call you have with them, if they ever say something against the law (they often do) like a claim of a consequence which is untrue (often) that recording of them saying that alone is enough to have the collection company completely waive your debt, cause that is less costly for them then court proceedings for them over having said something they shouldnt have.

if they simply call you and achieve confirmed contact with you more then once per 7 days they have violated the law, debt collectors are restricted by so many laws and acts they have to tread very carefully not to violate any, and they rarely make any effort to tread carefully, when i worked as a collector i would hear my coworkers saying things that were illegal for them to say more then once a day, i thought this was amazing considering the training for the position covered what was and wasnt legal EXTENSIVELY, its not that they dont know they shouldnt say it, in fact, they do it because it works, and because the customer DOESNT know their rights, so they get away with it all the time, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! study the fair debt and collections protection act and the like. know your rights, and youll find it rather easy to use it against them. if you do intend to pay part of it, ask them about hard and soft dollars, hard dollars is what you owe them for product or services rendered, soft dollars is the fines interest and fee's they attach to the debt, they are only able to effect your credit or tell of your debt to other companies over HARD dollars, if those are paid and soft dollars is all that remains, then your standing can only be used against you by THAT company alone, meaning if your debt is with wells fargo over an overdraft, pay for the money you overdrafted, not the overdraft fee, then wells fargo only has the power to refuse you service in the future, they dont have the power to influence other banks to do the same.

that said they sometimes will make the effort to anyway, despite the fact it is illegal, and they can then be sued for damages and will always offer a settlement, it is their primary option to settle, they rarely try to fight it in court, unless you refuse the settlement.

alternatively, if you decide you will not pay it and want to wait out the statute of limitations, you must never talk to them, if they ever call you do not admit to being the person they are looking for, you tell them this is no longer his phone number and you do not know them, thats it, do no more then that until the time is up. the amount of time depends on your state.


ETA- i was fired after a year because, and i qoute, "you are not mean enough" i have a backround of customer service and they told me not to treat the job like that, the customer is the one owed the money(the bank), the people i spoke to on the phone is not the customer, despite them telling me to be mean, i silently refused, i told them i would try, all the while i continued treating the caller as the customer, telling them their rights, telling them their options, not pushing or trying to scare them into paying, accepting their response of unable to pay, telling them the true consequences and how long that would effect them. THAT is why they fired me.