Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri
Debt Collection (Missouri) -- in June 2012 I moved residences and neglected to inform the electric company of a forwarding address. Long story short I was frustrated to find a delinguency in the amount of $343 had shown up on a copy of a credit report that a landlord at a (third) new residence had ordered prior to my moving into a new apt in Mar 2013. I payed the electric company (the original creditor) in full on Apr 14, 2013 unaware that a collections agency was also involved in this matter. Fast forward to present day, I have recently obtained a hard copy of my credit score with a collections agency claiming a delinquency in the amount of $18 for the very same bill and showing non-payment of said amount as of Nov 2012. I never, not once, received any correspondence or communication from the collection agency in regard to the debt in question. I am confused as to how the collections agency can have a stake in this claim, or converesely, if the debt was sold to the collections agency, whether or not the electric company had a legal claim to the aforementioned debt and broke any laws by accepting payment from me. I am not sure whether to dispute the $18 or simply pay it and be done with the matter. I would also like to know where this $18 came from in the first place, are collections agencies legally allowed to charge interest or service fees on accounts receivable that they have purchased??
1 Answer from Attorneys
Based upon the facts you described, you might have a viable claim against the collection agency, for taking action without sending you notification. You would consult with a civil practice attorney about pursuing the action against the collector. You might try to find one that handles bad collection cases. It might be that they sent a letter to the address that the electric company had for you. In that case, there may not have been a violation of any credit collection or other consumer protection laws. But, you will probably need to get an attorney to find out.
You may owe the money. Many utilities include clauses in their service agreement that say the consumer is responsible for the utility's costs of collecting past due bills. Collection agency costs can be part of that, in some cases. The timing of when you paid the utility compared with when the letter was sent to you, or the collection agency was employed, may be what determines whether you owe the $18. The acceptance of the principal (amount of unpaid electricity bill) may have negated your obligation to pay collection costs. You could spend thousands of dollars to litigate this issue. Before filing suit, you (or your attorney) might start by writing to the collection agency asking that they remove the designation or you could contest it with the credit reporting agency. The choice is yours.
Good luck
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