Debt Collection is on the Rise

As our economy continues to tank, debt collection is on the rise. Which means that bad debt collection practices are also on the rise. I haven't been sent to collections recently; however, in college I had a situation.

I went to school in another state and ordered pizza with a friend. It was the middle of the semester. Since I'm not a great mathematician, my check bounced. Because it was a college town pizza place, instead of putting the check through again, they held it and sent it to collections six months later. My checking account was through a bank at home, where my statements were sent, so I didn't realize it wasn't sent through again; I had written my local address on the check and received no notification that year of anything. The following fall, I started getting harassing calls from the collection agent, who, among other things, accused me of skipping town without leaving a forwarding address to avoid paying the bill. For half a pizza.

While I did leave town that summer, the check they were attempting to collect on had an address printed on it; an address that was valid, where my mom still lives. College students do typically move, but the pizza place made no attempt to collect from me at the address at which I lived that semester, which was written on the check, prior to sending my check to collections, which found me at my new school address the next year. It would have been much more sensible of them to put the check through a second time, which is what I assumed had happened when I didn't hear anything later.

Meanwhile, one of my friends worked for the other collection company in town and had me talk to her supervisor. I was told that the collection policy had to appear where the transaction took place; in this case, the pizza guy took my check at time of delivery, so in order for the fee to be valid, the delivery drivers would have had to either hand customers a notice or wear a button that had the policy printed. He didn't. The upshot is that I wasn't required to pay the fee, only the amount of the check I had written. I went downtown with a friend and paid the fee. They didn't argue with me because they know that pizza delivery drivers don't give notice of the policy.

I've fallen behind on bills before and have probably mentioned that my old credit card people gave me some good advice; I was told not to get more than two months behind on my bill and I would have no real trouble with them. If I became three or more months out of date, that was when the trouble started.

That was then and now they start collections sooner. I did make a late payment on a student loan last year and they called me about a week after my due date. That particular lender used to call 15 days after the due date. And not stop until the check cleared, which was frustrating; their collections people are in Canada and for some reason it takes an inordinate amount of time for them to cash the check in the US and update the collections people.

Last month I forgot to mail the check, which happens from time to time; they have a new system now and rather than a live person, an automated computer voice asks for me and mispronounces my name. They called the day after my bill was due; the check was in the mail already so I didn't bother calling them back. Yet another reason I want my loans paid off!