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Sprint collection agency? what's the worse that could happen

D

DBZmusicboy01

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 30, 2011
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My dad wasn't able to pay the phone bill in 3 months because of big dentist fee :mad: thanks to my sister...$400+ had to be used for her. So the question is....Sprint sent a letter but what's the worse that could happen?
My dad paid 8 months of bills without problems but now that this happen...
what's going to happen? Will they sue ? Thanks for the help.
 
You and your entire family will be beaten with sticks and broom handles by midgets



















...or, it will just go on your dad's credit and he will be called and sent letters regularly.
 
The definite things that will happen are that, for the next 7 years:

1. He's probably not going to be allowed to get Sprint service unless he pays off the outstanding balance. (BIG loss there :rolleyes:)

2. There'll be a negative mark on his credit report.

3. He'll have to pony up some hefty deposits before other cell carriers will even consider letting him have postpaid service. Or, he'll just have to be prepaid-only. Most utility services will likely also want deposits if he sets up new service. New credit cards, car loans, other loans and mortgages might also be a little harder to come by.

4. He'll probably get some nasty calls and letters from collection agencies from time to time, demanding money. They'll probably inflate the amount he owes over time, for interest and imagined late fees and such.


Anything else depends on how large the bill is. If it's under a couple thousand, probably not a whole lot else. But if the bill managed somehow to be more than a couple thousand, he might get sued. It all depends on whether the amount is big enough to make it worth Sprint's while to pay for a lawyer to go after him and such, which is very unlikely.
 
They won't sue! :rolleyes:

Let's follow down the chain from bad to worse…

1. Internal Sprint collection
2. Account phones cut off
3. Account terminated (if you're in contract you will be final billed with any ETF you may have)
4. Sprint tries to collect by sending you reminders
5. Sprint sends your balance to a credit collection agency
6. Credit collection agency calls you, sends you bills, etc.
7. Unpaid long enough eventually the calls stop but you still get bills
8. Even longer, possible for the debt to be sold off to another collection agency.
9. The debt becomes "zombie" debt where in bouncing around between collection agencies these agencies try to get a hold of you to pay the bill. There is supposed to be a termination of the debt after a certain number of years, but if an agency can prove contact with you then the debt renews. That's why it's called zombie debt.

Somewhere in all of this is the negative report to a credit bureau.

You want to stop this process before number 3 by trying to work with Sprint any way you can.

Note however, that if you have a lot of debts that go all the way to number 9 and your credit is ruined to the point of being on a cash only basis and being only able to qualify for debit cards and so on…well, then number 9 isn't that big of a deal.

Unless you've done something illegal, or written bad checks no one can arrest you or anything like that. Some people get paranoid about their credit rating. Trust me, it sucks having ruined credit, but it's not a life ender. Send the jokers to voicemail enough times and ignore their raving threats (because they can't do anything to you) and it eventually stops.
 
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walie said:
Seriously? Again?
Click to expand...

LOL, I was going to say the same thing. But the user two posts above hit the nail on the head. The only thing it add though is believe it or not a bad credit score will also hurt you getting a debit card because a lot of banks won't want to open up a checking account with you. Google Chexsystems.
 
Diseal3 said:
LOL, I was going to say the same thing. But the user two posts above hit the nail on the head. The only thing it add though is believe it or not a bad credit score will also hurt you getting a debit card because a lot of banks won't want to open up a checking account with you. Google Chexsystems.
Click to expand...
Chexsystems though is mainly if you've abandoned your bank account(s) with a negative balance. Fortunately there are some banks that don't do credit checks or Chexsystems lookups on occasion as part of a promotion.
 
Sprint will send a signal to your devices that causes them to catch fire... as well as collection agents.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot: the MEIDs on the phones will be marked as bad. Sprint won't activate them, and they already don't unlock phones, so they'll be bricks until the debt is paid.
 
DBZmusicboy01 said:
what's going to happen? Will they sue ? Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I suspect that your next mobile phone provider won't be Sprint, but as others pointed out, no big loss there.

I went prepaid years ago. Contracts are a hassle and almost always overpriced.
 
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They cut off your service. Send your dad to collections.

Your dad won't go to jail. They may harass you with phone calls. But if your dad's credit is already bad don't bother paying the bill.
 
scaredpoet said:
Oh yeah, I forgot: the MEIDs on the phones will be marked as bad. Sprint won't activate them, and they already don't unlock phones, so they'll be bricks until the debt is paid.
Click to expand...

This.

All cell phones you bought with Sprint will be bricked until you pay the ETF.
 
Others have said what will happen. Your father should call them and deal with them. Let them know of the situation and ask if they can suspend your service until he can pay them back. Your father should have suspended the service when he realized that he couldn't afford it. I always suspend my service when I travel overseas (Verizon). Suspending is pretty much pausing your phone services. You can chose to keep being billed or pause billing until you get back. Choosing the latter will delay your contract end date.
 
iphone 4s for sprint that is unlocked can be used internationally even with a bad esn for GSM use.
 
They won't sue unless your dad refuses to pay anything on the bill. Even then they probably won't sue, he will get a bad mark on his credit report and the bill will be sent to a bill collector.

Your dad should call Sprint and ask to have his account suspended if they haven't already cut it off. He should then make arrangements to start paying them a monthly sum until the account is paid.
 
eyoungren said:
They won't sue! :rolleyes:

Let's follow down the chain from bad to worse…

1. Internal Sprint collection
2. Account phones cut off
3. Account terminated (if you're in contract you will be final billed with any ETF you may have)
4. Sprint tries to collect by sending you reminders
5. Sprint sends your balance to a credit collection agency
6. Credit collection agency calls you, sends you bills, etc.
7. Unpaid long enough eventually the calls stop but you still get bills
8. Even longer, possible for the debt to be sold off to another collection agency.
9. The debt becomes "zombie" debt where in bouncing around between collection agencies these agencies try to get a hold of you to pay the bill. There is supposed to be a termination of the debt after a certain number of years, but if an agency can prove contact with you then the debt renews. That's why it's called zombie debt.

Somewhere in all of this is the negative report to a credit bureau.

You want to stop this process before number 3 by trying to work with Sprint any way you can.

Note however, that if you have a lot of debts that go all the way to number 9 and your credit is ruined to the point of being on a cash only basis and being only able to qualify for debit cards and so on…well, then number 9 isn't that big of a deal.

Unless you've done something illegal, or written bad checks no one can arrest you or anything like that. Some people get paranoid about their credit rating. Trust me, it sucks having ruined credit, but it's not a life ender. Send the jokers to voicemail enough times and ignore their raving threats (because they can't do anything to you) and it eventually stops.
Click to expand...

I am a master of credit info as i pretty much destroyed my credit was i was 18(with a cell phone bill being the largest), This was back in 1996 so the cell plans were pretty horrible back then.

Anyway...Your right on everything up until the zombie debt..

It's alright for a collection agency to make contact with you and you speak with them. The thing is is that you cannot make any commitment to pay them, or do anything regarding payment. Just say no and hang up. Once you say yes to any payment plan or making a full payment it goes back to the full 7yrs it will be on your credit report. From the time the collection agency gets it the 7yrs starts and each day it will be on your credit report until the 7yrs passes. After the 7yrs it disappears off of your credit report but they can still try collecting. I still have a couple that i never paid from about 18yrs ago, they are completely off of my credit report on all 3 credit agencies and myfico(the one that actually counts) They still call maybe once every 2yrs now but whatever, i just hang up.
 
Shockwave78 said:
I am a master of credit info as i pretty much destroyed my credit was i was 18(with a cell phone bill being the largest), This was back in 1996 so the cell plans were pretty horrible back then.

Anyway...Your right on everything up until the zombie debt..

It's alright for a collection agency to make contact with you and you speak with them. The thing is is that you cannot make any commitment to pay them, or do anything regarding payment. Just say no and hang up. Once you say yes to any payment plan or making a full payment it goes back to the full 7yrs it will be on your credit report. From the time the collection agency gets it the 7yrs starts and each day it will be on your credit report until the 7yrs passes. After the 7yrs it disappears off of your credit report but they can still try collecting. I still have a couple that i never paid from about 18yrs ago, they are completely off of my credit report on all 3 credit agencies and myfico(the one that actually counts) They still call maybe once every 2yrs now but whatever, i just hang up.
Click to expand...

I'm impressed you have had the same phone number for over 18 years!
 
Shockwave78 said:
I am a master of credit info as i pretty much destroyed my credit was i was 18(with a cell phone bill being the largest), This was back in 1996 so the cell plans were pretty horrible back then.

Anyway...Your right on everything up until the zombie debt..

It's alright for a collection agency to make contact with you and you speak with them. The thing is is that you cannot make any commitment to pay them, or do anything regarding payment. Just say no and hang up. Once you say yes to any payment plan or making a full payment it goes back to the full 7yrs it will be on your credit report. From the time the collection agency gets it the 7yrs starts and each day it will be on your credit report until the 7yrs passes. After the 7yrs it disappears off of your credit report but they can still try collecting. I still have a couple that i never paid from about 18yrs ago, they are completely off of my credit report on all 3 credit agencies and myfico(the one that actually counts) They still call maybe once every 2yrs now but whatever, i just hang up.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that makes sense (the zombie debt). 1992 for me (I was 22 and stupid), a credit card bill which snowballed on other stuff down the line.

Most of them don't have my phone number anymore and if they do I usually just put them on Sprint's block list. That blocks them from ever reaching me (they get a "unable to complete your call" message or something like that. I don't answer my phone either unless you are a contact I know and my voicemail is generic.

Calls and mail stopped a very long time ago though, except for a letter on ocasion.

----------
noobinator said:
I'm impressed you have had the same phone number for over 18 years!
Click to expand...
He probably doesn't. I don't. But the collection agencies have access to public records and other personal records. They can get what they think is your latest address or phone number from those records. And it doesn't always take alot of sleuthing to do it.
 
Shockwave78 said:
I am a master of credit info as i pretty much destroyed my credit was i was 18(with a cell phone bill being the largest), This was back in 1996 so the cell plans were pretty horrible back then.

Anyway...Your right on everything up until the zombie debt..

It's alright for a collection agency to make contact with you and you speak with them. The thing is is that you cannot make any commitment to pay them, or do anything regarding payment. Just say no and hang up. Once you say yes to any payment plan or making a full payment it goes back to the full 7yrs it will be on your credit report. From the time the collection agency gets it the 7yrs starts and each day it will be on your credit report until the 7yrs passes. After the 7yrs it disappears off of your credit report but they can still try collecting. I still have a couple that i never paid from about 18yrs ago, they are completely off of my credit report on all 3 credit agencies and myfico(the one that actually counts) They still call maybe once every 2yrs now but whatever, i just hang up.
Click to expand...

I would think by this time they would have charged off the debt and sent you a 1099 and let you deal with the tax consequence and Uncle Sam.
 
Not to criticize but, if a $400 bill can cause one to miss 3 months worth of payments, you have much bigger issues to worry about.
 
wxman2003 said:
Not to criticize but, if a $400 bill can cause one to miss 3 months worth of payments, you have much bigger issues to worry about.
Click to expand...

You don't know what else they have on their plate. The cell bill was probably more expendable than rent(mortgage), utilities, groceries, gas and insurance.
 
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Over $1000 they will put a judgment against you, otherwise just debit collection calls.
 
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