I received correspondence from this company stating that they had acquired the debt from Orchard/Household Bank and were prepared to offer a settlement for half of the original amount of $ 925.04. It was my option to either pay $ 462.52 in full or make a payment of at least $ 25.00 and then at least one payment of at least $ 25.00 each month until the $ 462.52 was paid in full.
I called the telephone number on the letter and spoke with an agent who assured me that this was a bona-fide offer and that after paying half of the original debt my credit report would reflect that the debt was satisfied. I agreed to the terms of the offer and authorized a $ 200.00 charge to my debit card. After several days I did not see any debits come through on my account for RJM or any company debiting $ 200.00.
I called back to their offices and they said there was no record of my previous call, no transactions, no credits to my account, and that the settlement offer was no longer in effect. Goes to show you, if it sounds too good to be true, it probbaly is!
I called Orchard/Household directly and offered to pay them directly but as far as they are concerned RJM purchased the debt from them and they have nothing to do with it anymore. Imagine if you loaned money to a friend, were paid pennies on the dollar from your friends parents, and then your friend called you wanting to pay you more. Would you turn that down? I think not! Orchard/Household is stupid for refusing to settle this in-house and RJM is stupid for denying I ever contacted them.
How can I be assured that my credit report will reflect any payments I make to this company if they can't even process a payment correctly?
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