Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Responding to Debt Collection

With the economy in a downturn, cash flow is tight for many businesses. In turn, a company may be slow in paying its bills. Before you get involved in litigation for failing to meet a payment deadline, consider the following tips to avoid a creditor's escalating collection efforts:

• Respond in a timely manner to any demand letters you receive;
• Dispute in writing any debt that you believe is erroneous;
• If you can't pay a bill in full, pay as much as you can;
• Contact the creditor and try to arrange a payment plan that you can afford; and
• Contact counsel as soon as possible if you receive any "final demands", threats of litigation or are sued.

2 comments:

J. Santos said...

I received a colletion letter with an attached Purchase Agreement(buy house)that as debtor (purchaser) I owed the creditor (seller)$6000 for breach of contract. Since there was no court judgment regarding the Agreement within 3 days I replied in writing I do not owe no one. The seller is now suing in court.

What shall I do?

thanks,

J. Santos

Gordon M. Berger said...

You should contact a local attorney in your area to review the complaint and to apprise you of your rights. Don't delay too long, since an attorney needs time to properly prepare an answer to the allegations.