Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Oklahoma
Is a notification of collections required first?
I was on a payment plan with an electric company in Oklahoma when I left for $50/month, due on the 15th of each month. The payment agreement was made over the phone. In May, I forgot to pay them the $50 I owed that month. However, on June 10th, I paid the entire rest of the bill ($122).
I was never alerted to the fact that there was a problem with the missed payment, and hadn't thought of it because it slipped my mind. Recently, we found it was listed on our credit report as ''Paid/Charged off/$122 written off'' due to the one month that we did miss a payment.
Are they legally required to notify you before sending a bill to a collection agency, and give you ample time to pay it? Or can they simply submit it as it seems this company did.
Thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Is a notification of collections required first?
If the terms of the oral payment agreement did not
require such notification, the answer is no, the company was not required to give you notice before sending it to collection.
The rationale for this is that you were already behind in your payments and would ,obviously, know
the consequences of non-payment.