If Ihad an account that was charged off and another company bought it, doI have to pay what they paid for it or whatI owed?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If Ihad an account that was charged off and another company bought it, doI have to pay what they paid for it or whatI owed?
Asked on August 8, 2011 California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Two different issues:
If the debt was truly charged off, then you should not have to pay anything on it--a debt that is charged off is considered uncollectible and the creditor writes it off as a loss on his/her/its taxes. So the alleged buyer of the debt would not have bought anything IF the debt was actually fully charged off. That said, if it was just that they stopped trying to collect from you--possibly figuring to sell the debt to someone else later--that is not charging the debt off for this purpose. Someone may simply stop trying to collect on a debt without affecting its validity. You would need to, if sued, use the mechanism of discovery to find out precisely what happened with this debt.
If the debt is still valid, you would owe the original amount. Your obligations are not affected by what the buyer paid for it. The buyer makes money by buying risky debts at a discount but collecting them for (hopefully) face value--your debt is determined by the money your borrowed, or the goods and services you received, not what someone is willing to by that debt for.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.