Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Co-signer rights

I needed to know if a co-signer has any rights to notifications of deliquent accounts. I had, about 5 years ago co-signed a cell phone for a friend. I just found out on Sat morning by a collection agency that told me ''I need to pay my bills'' among other things, that the outstanding balance on the phone bill was 1200 and I was required to pay it right then or they would disconnect my phone and add negative information to my credit. I understand that I am responsible for the balance however by speaking to Verizon I found out that the account has been delinquent since Nov of 2005. They say I did not have the right to recieve notification of the deliquency because they mailed the bills to the owner of the phone. I have another sub acocunt realted with this one and I recieve notifications by mail to my address (not the billing address for that account number) every time a plan change is made. Why wouldn't they notify me of a deliquency which I am suppose to be responsible for. How am I suppose to fix something I know nothing about?


Asked on 4/10/06, 5:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathon Moseley Jonathon A. Moseley

Re: Co-signer rights

First, many collection agencies will call you and make outlandish claims. I continually hear from many people demands from collection agencies which as a lawyer I know are not in accordance with the law. For example, trying to get an employee of a corporation to pay the corporation's debts, trying to get children to pay the debts of deceased parents, and other things that do not comply with the law.

You should remember that a collection agency is simply someone calling you on the phone to bug you. They are NOT attorneys. Only an attorney can file a lawsuit or take legal action. A collection agency can do nothing but harass you. Therefore, when a collection agency makes statements to you about your legal responsibilities or what they will do legally, you need to understand that (a) they do not know the law because they are not attorneys and (b) even if they do know, I have not seen a great track record for accuracy in my experience.

To file a lawsuit, the company would have to have you officially "served" with the lawsuit. They cannot do anything without first giving you proper notice.

The reason why the collection agency is not responsible to give you notice is that they have no power to actually do anything except dial the telephone.

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Answered on 4/19/06, 2:41 pm


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