What Will Happen If a Library Contacts a Collection Agency About Unpaid Fines and Unturned Books?

Pay the fine and avoid the collection agency. No sense starting out your credit history with a derogatory item. Pretty much anytime a debt is turned over to a collection agency, the item gets reported to the credit bureaus. They do not need your SS# to report you. Your name, address, and DOB are enough.

1. collection agency calling work, tenant, cpa...?

They are absolutely not allowed to call you at work because when you are at work you are getting paid and your time is your bosses' time. The next time they call ask them for their full name, the name and address of their business and then type up a letter on your firms stationary and demand that they immediately stop calling the work number and make sure that you mention the word "fines" and "lawsuit". That means they can only send you letters. If they keep calling get an attorney and show them the copies of the letters you sent to the collection agency. There are limits to what they are allowed to do and yes, they can be fined for stepping over the limits and ignoring the laws.

2. I have 5K debt. What is the lowest % that a collection agency settle a debt?

If you did a favour for someone, and they did not meet their end of the agreement, you could consider small claims... As for settling the debt, you will have to talk to the agency - 10% is probably low. What you have to consider is what it would cost the agency to bring you to court. Generally, they will want to avoid doing that as they usually do not have a lot of information regarding the debt, and researching costs time and money. I would say you can probably settle for 50%. If you start asking lots of questions on the debt, they may be ok with less. Talk to them and see what they say, you will only know at that point what they are willing to accept.

3. Child care providers - Small Claims Court & Collection Agency?

From my understanding a collection agency gives you the money owed...then goes after the person for the money to pay them back. If this is a small daycare I would suggest staying with a local collection agency; which you can probably find in the Yellow Pages.

4. Should you ever pay a collection agency after the statute of limitations is up and they threaten to sue you over an old debt?

Nope.My wife and I put down a deposit for putting our kids in a private school and daycare...then my wife talked to the owner of the school, got a bad vibe from him and we went elsewhere.The fine print said that we are supposed to be liable for the whole year's tuition if we decided not to enroll our kids, which was a red flag for me, but my wife thought she liked the school and I liked that they had a lot of animals for the kids.They sent us a bill when our kids did not show up, we told them we were sending them elsewhere and heard nothing more...Until about 8 years later when we got a letter from a collection agency demanding the payment. I called up a lawyer friend and he sent me a cease and desist letter to forward to the collection agency. Statute of limitations had long since expired, but these bottom feeders were trying to get suckers to pay up.It turns out my wife was right about the school's owner. A few years after the collection letter, he was arrested for molesting students and the school was closed

5. Collection agency just called for the first time?

They will mail a letter to an address they have on file for you. If they have your correct address, you will probably get several letters from them. The next question I have is this agency a law firm or simply a collection agency? It is techincally an FDCPA violation to threaten something that you do not have the present ability to accomplish. Thus if ABC Collections is calling you and they are not licensed attorneys, then they cant possibly bring a suit and attempt to get a judgment. If you owe the debt, my suggestion is attempt to work out a payment plan with them. Either a reduced lump sum settlement payable immediately, or something that may have the entire balance paid within one year or so. If you do not owe the debt, or feel you may have other defenses (such as Statute of Limitations, FDCPA violations, laches, and so on) then I would send them a cease and desist letter, and once you are served obtain counsel to defend you in this matter. Either way, good luck to you.