Outstanding balance because of Eviction

by Brandi
(Austin, Tx, USA)

I was evicted from an apartment that I lived in with a room mate in August of 2010. The apartment complex management did not submit the paper work saying I had been evicted & owed money until August of 2011. My ex roommate was not contacted until early September about the outstanding balance of $2,100+. A payment of $100 was made by my roommate in late September. I was not contacted about any of this & had to get the number for the collection agency from my ex roommate in order to talk to anyone. The person I spoke with told me that multiple attempts to contact me by phone & mail were made. I never recieved any phone calls. They said that the collection notices sent by mail were returned to them, which should not be the case because I had my address changed as soon as I moved to my current address & the apartment I moved into just after the eviction has my current address as well. Recieved another phone call today from a collection agency, the individual tried to get me to have a friend/family member put it on their credit card so I could pay the person who put it on their credit card. When I told him nobody I knew would do that, he said if my room mate & I could both pay $100 a month (totaling $200 a month) for three months, they would work out a plan with us at the end of the three months. My ex room mate says she can pay off the debt starting in December when her school loan is paid off. I have read somewhere that after a payment is made, the collection agency will have no right to try to take you to court for six months. Is this true? And what can I do?

Comments for Outstanding balance because of Eviction

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Dec 22, 2011
 Outstanding balance because of Eviction
by: Debtcollectionanswers

Brandi:

The information you read is not correct. The collection agency retains the right to take you to court.

I recommend that if you and your former roommate do not have the money to pay what you owe in full that you try to negotiate a payment plan with the collection agency that you can afford. If you are able to negotiate an agreement, do not pay any money on the plan until you have all of the terms of the agreement in writing and do not agree to a plan that you cannot afford.

Also, I would be careful of agreeing to pay a certain amount of money to the collection agency with the understanding that once you do then the agency will work out a payment plan with you. What if the plan it wants you to agree to is unaffordable and it won't agree to payments that you and your former roommate can afford. Or what if it decides that it does not want to give you a payment plan after all? Protect yourself by negotiating a written plan up-front before you pay any money.

If you cannot work something out with the collection agency, you put yourself at risk for being sued for the money you owe and if you lose the lawsuit and there is a judgment against you, the company that sued you can go after the money in your bank account, put a lien on an asset you may own, and so on. Also, although it's bad to have an eviction in your credit history, you don't want there to be a lawsuit too.

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