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Apartment complex is trying to screw me...should I pay?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by spikechiquet, Nov 20, 2012.

  1. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    I was in my last apartment for 10(!) years before I bought my house. And I'm pretty sure they tried to charge me for carpet cleaning. I also had a dog, so the carpet was in less than ideal shape, for sure. But I cleaned it a few times while I was there, and it was NOT new when I moved in. They gave me an itemized bill of charges to clean the stove and a few other things I agreed with, and there was minor damage to the walls from things I had hung and a small dent of unknown origin. I just paid it (it was less than 100 bucks). Had it been a lot of money and I disagreed? No way.
     
  2. Rusty Shackleford

    Rusty Shackleford Active Member

    Wow... I wasn't going to say anything here, but there is some horrendously bad information regarding debt collection agencies on here that needs to be addressed. I worked in marketing for one for two years, until early this year, so I know how this works.

    First, if this has gone to an agency, the agency will continue to contact you until you set up some plan to deal with this. If you ignore their letters, they'll call. If you hang up on them, they'll just keep calling. Point is, you have to give them something to work with. If you want to pay the whole thing, give them a CC# and you're done. Or tell them you've hired a lawyer and to contact him/her. Or tell them that you refuse to pay and here's why... Simply ignoring it won't work though.

    You can negotiate. If it went to a collection agency, the agency doesn't get paid until it collects something. Your apartment complex gives the agency all the details of what you owe (amount, what for, when it was due, etc) and tells the agency to get as much of it as possible. They also generally will say that if the agency can't get the full amount, offer to accept 90%. If you won't pay that, offer 85%. Harass them at 85% for a few weeks then offer 80%. It's all a big negotiation - the agency wants the full amount, but if you can't/won't pay that, they'll take less because they get paid $0 if they don't collect anything.

    If it went to a debt buyer vs. an actual collection agency (unlikely), the debt buyer may have paid as little as 1% or less of the value of your debt, and now their goal is to collect enough to make it worth their while. Chances are, though, that it went to an actual debt collection agency. (Debt buyers tend to buy high-value debt for very cheap [and your $350 bill is not what I'm talking about here] or very, very old debt from people who have seemingly disappeared, for fractions of a percent of the debt's worth, hoping to collect on just a few to make their profit).

    If you hire a lawyer (and I doubt that's a good value on a $350 bill) the collection agency can no longer call you and must instead call the lawyer. If you hire a lawyer and give the agency the lawyer's name and contact info, and then the agency calls you to say anything other than "We can't reach your lawyer" you can sue them, and you will win. Look up the FDCPA for more on that.

    Or you can tell the agency point blank - "I'm not paying and here's why. It's a BS charge... You can keep calling but you're wasting your time." They're not going to waste their time pursuing someone who simply refuses to pay, because they won't make any money. They've got other customers they can go after. They'll send the debt back to the apartment complex and tell them what you said, and at that point the complex can either send your debt to another agency and let them try, eat the cost, or sue you. Though again, suing you probably isn't worth it for $350. Worst case is that they ding your credit score, and that ding stays with you for seven years.
     
  3. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Rusty, I ignored a collection agency's letters and told off their callers after they started shouting at me on the phone. They went away. Not a huge dollar amount, but they went away after I stood by my position that a) it was a bogus issue, and b) I would not be sending money to anyone.


    Edit: I guess your last graf covered my experience. Nothing ever showed up on my credit scores.
     
  4. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    This kind of intelligent, well informed post has no business around here.
     
  5. spikechiquet

    spikechiquet Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the info Rusty.
     
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