Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Tennessee

The simple answer is "yes", a creditor may turn an account over to a collection agency or even sue on an account if a person is making payments on the account. This, of course, is only if there is no agreed payment schedule in place between the creditor and debtor. Often, a person will receive a bill from a creditor and begin making payments on the account thinking or believing that so long as they make payments nothing further will happen. However, unless the creditor has agreed to accept the payments and has further agreed to not turn the account over to a collection agency or lawyer, the creditor is under no obligation to merely sit back and wait for the debtor to "voluntarily" pay the account.