Anyone deal with debt collectors before?

Anyone deal with debt collectors before?

>4 years ago
>sell something digital on eBay (might have been some items from a Steam game? I don't remember)
>auction ends at $200
>get paid immediately
>send item to email provided
>next day
>apparently that eBay account had been hacked by some Russian
>$200 removed from PayPal
>didn't have any funds in there so account is actually - $200
>call PayPal and am told I owe them the money even though I got scammed
>don't pay it
>don't use PayPal or eBay account associated with that email ever again
>get debt collection notices in the mail for a few months
>ignore them

>fast forward to current year
>live in new city
>decide its safe to open up a new PayPal account with a new email and address
>received debt collection notice today

Idk how they found my new address when I didn't use anything from my old account except my name. It's not forwarded mail either so I guess they figured me out. They said they'll accept $143 and call it good but really I don't have the money for that and I still don't want to pay when I got scammed out of money and an item. I've heard if you call them and haggle they'll maybe accept 20% and leave you alone but I've never tried it.

I know I'm an idiot for not being more careful with my digital sales and avoiding debt collectors but I was scared.

Pic related: potential picture of the Russian hacker

Really you don't have fucking $143?

Is using Paypal worth $143 to you? If so, pay it. If you don't need to use the service, ignore it. Pretty simple. Sounds like you have bigger problems though if you don't even have $143.

Fpbp

>Really you don't have fucking $143?
I do, but not budgeted for expenses that aren't related to food and bills. PayPal is important to me and I still have credit on that old eBay account that I'd like to use but I've worked around it for these past few years before opening the new account.

Do debt collectors really haggle with you though? I've felt guilty about letting this sit for all these years but I'm too stingy to pay the full price. Or can I just dispute the claim since I'm at a completely new address and whatnot?

Just take it to small claims court.

What good would that do? Wouldn't I still have to pay for the time spent in court? By telling them I want to take it to small claims, will they see it as too much of a hassle and drop the charges?

Oh my god you cheap fuck, just pay it. Really when you're on your deathbed are you going to be saying "Ohhh my family, that $143 would have made all the difference in my life!"

Tell the debt collector you'll pay them $100 and see if they'll take it.

>"Ohhh my family, that $143 would have made all the difference in my life!"
It would to a jew.

Tbh I just wanted to see if they'd forget about me, especially since it really is a small amount. I know people hide from debt collectors for thousands of dollars but I am a cheap fuck and also petty. I'll call them and see what can be agreed upon.

Is this a debt collection agency?
Or PayPal themselves?

The longer you leave it, the more willing they will be to negotiate in my experience.

This is peanuts.
I owed £3k to a bank and credit and store cards.
I ignored it since I was moving anyway, and set up new accounts, etc

After a couple of years of ducking them and trashing their letters, they started offering me settlements.
£1.5k
£800
£600

This was after 5 years+
I still didn't pay.
At this point, I was curious how low it would go and decided to ride it out.
I'll go to court...

Did some research. Lots of it.
A creditor basically has to accept any reasonable payment plan, but will often settle in full for 50% easily.

And they know the odds - 5 year old delinquent debts are unlikely to be paid, as paper trails and electronic records start getting cleared.

Also firms want to be liquid, holding assets, not liabilities.
A debt not being paid is a liability - Plus no firm really wants the expense and hassle of taking you to court.

They'll threaten you, but really they want to settle.
And they get more desperate to settle as time goes on.
A bird in the hand, etc

Half the original debt paid is better than MAYBE getting it all.

They know time is running out, since often records reset after 7-10 years, depending on your jurisdiction, country, etc

It is often deemed unenforceable after that, so if not already written off, debt collection agencies buy batches of old debts for pennies on the dollar.

At this point, the agencies are doing detective work on commission - they are barking up all trees, looking for anyone with your name and DOB - they won't have much else to go on, except public records.

So, a full ten years later, a new round of phonecalls and letters start again with me.

I decide to bluff - I claim identity theft and demand a copy of the debt agreement, or delete it, or summon me to court.

They didn't call me on it, and recorded it as a 'mystery' - a phantom debt.

You hope to get a default judgement when they don't respond to the complaint.

It also only costs something like $25-50 bucks to file.

Seeing as it has already reached this level over such a petty amount this is what you should probably do.

Ebay here,
We see everything. Your hackers, your problem. Pay your debts or use Craigslist kthanks.

>Idk how they found my new address when I didn't use anything from my old account except my name. It's not forwarded mail either so I guess they figured me out.
I have a friend that works at one of the big data companies that guzzles down terabytes of data every day from numerous sources and public records, and then builds a comprehensive profile on everyone, there is a significant ammount of information about you that is available that they purchase. And by compiling all this massive ammount of information about you, they know more about you than you know about yourself. And then they sell their data to marketers, insurance companies, the credit reporting companies, skiptracers, the gov, etc. My friend said they had a team build up some software that uses some AI and techniques from data mining and machine learning so that they can match incomplete profiles and can even match profiles of people being deceitful or providing inaccurate information to try to evade them, you can not evade them. With the massive data and highly sophisticated software they have, what they can do is truly terrifying and scary. There is no privacy, its long dead.

always call literally at the end of the month
Reasoning being that every DC needs to make quota
Low ball them first and tell them they have two chances to negotiate
If you say 20% and they say 80% hagle for 40% remind them that if you don't like the offer you will hang up
Always be respectful because DC are humans too and they deal with a bunch of bs too.
If you reach an agreement tell them to send a certified letter with the conditions you have agreed upon (do not pay until you get that letter, they could do a 180 and trap you on their terms

If all fails hang up and try again next month.

It's a debt collection agency. PayPal themselves wouldn't settle for less than $200 but never hassled me for it. The debt collection agency started contacting me maybe 2-3 months after the incident but I can't recall what their original agreeable amount to pay was.

Any tips on how to bluff it? For something this small can I get by by saying I have no clue where it came from? Demand to see documentation of the PayPal transaction? Should I mention anything at all about being scammed?

I'd like to try to discredit the debt first but if that doesn't work I'll do this.

Then you should that the whole reason this happened is because of the Russians. Check mate.

Now that is spoopy. I realized I've had the same phone number all these years so that's probably how they connected things. Is your friend allowed to share any stories on specifics or do they have to keep quiet on just about everything?

That's smart. I'm terrible at negotiating but since the amount is so small anyway I don't think I'll hang up without paying less than owed though. What do I do if they say they don't mail documentation like that? Just hang up and try again next month?

Now that I'm thinking about it, they must've thought I was as sneaky as a child stealing a cookie from the kitchen with their parents in the next room with how I went about setting up a new account. I bet it feels really cool when they discover someone's completely fake identity.

I was just lurking, but I wanted to let you know that this post was very informative... Thanks, user!

You're really going to let a Russian hacker Jew OP like that?

They caught on by your IP address OP.

Anything that is affiliated with your old account including phone, address, IP address, social, and the works will be tied to your old account when registering a new account.

Your best bet is let the collection ride off after 7 years. Cause' fuck that Russian hacker shit. Not gonna pay $200 or even $143 cause' PayPal can't secure their end isn't your problem.

And realistically the account wasn't hacked. Owner just changed IP addresses and said it was hacked.

Welcome to scamming 2016.

If they feel like you're honestly going to pay, they'll jump at the chance to collect on an old debt

OK, for me to give you advice you need to tell me what went down, if you're gonna lie, lie to them.
Because your story is looking shakier by the minute.

If what you said is true - I wouldn’t even acknowledged or accept the debt.

I would use those exact words -
'I do not acknowledge, accept, or recognize this debt.'
I would tell them what happened, and that I got scammed.
Hold that line.
I would demand all records they have on me,
I will explain if this is on record, this may affect my credit, so they had better delete it or mark it as a 'mystery' or 'resolved'.

If not, I will see them in court, summons/subpoena me.

Why are you entertaining this?

>7 years
Is that the usual time frame for debts to get let off?

>And realistically the account wasn't hacked
I remember the eBay account's name was a pretty typical girl's name but the email I was told to send it to was different from the account's email; I should've known something was up. They were also very pushy and wanted the item sent immediately. Oh, youth.

Here's the story in its entirety to the best I can remember:

>sell something digital on eBay for a friend since he doesn't know how to use ebay
>auction ends at $200
>get paid immediately
>receive eBay message from buyer to send to specific email address
>tell friend
>friend sends item to email
>send friend his $200 through PayPal
>next day
>receive message on eBay claiming the buyer's account had been hacked
>didn't have any funds left in my account so new balance is now -$200
>call PayPal and customer service says I must've gotten scammed
>tells me I still have to pay though he seemed very sorry for me
>don't pay it because I didn't have that kind of money available and no way was I going to let ebay/PayPal win when I was the one who got harmed
>don't use PayPal or eBay account associated with that email ever again
>share ebay/PayPal with my sister for the time being
>get debt collection notices (not from PayPal) in the mail for a few months
>ignore them
>stopped receiving them after a year or so

>fast forward to current year
>live in new city
>decide its safe to open up a new PayPal account with a new email and address
>start transferring money earned from the shared ebay account to the new PayPal account
>received debt collection notice today
>letter says I can pay $143 and all will be forgotten
>or I can deny the debt and they will pursue the case further (look for evidence of the case)
>if I don't reply to them in 30 days then I acknowledge the debt and they will continue to send notices

I left out details earlier because I figured no one would want to read all that fluff. I know I'm making a big deal out of $200 but I know I've been wronged and paying a debt collector that already paid off PayPal for it will not bring any justice. I check my credit score regularly and it's in pretty good condition for my age so I don't think this debt has affected my score. It still bothers me that someone out there is hounding me for money though.