- Up guys, it's Ray
comin' back to you again with another video regarding credit. And here's where I keep
it real credit-wise. A little background information on me. I used to work for a
credit restoration company by the name of Buildworth Strategies. They're located down
here in Miami, Florida. They've done great work
and I got to help a tremendous amount of
people in my local area obtain their new homes,
their dream cars, boats, you name it, I've been
able to help people a lot. Still to this day I'm
just thankful that I get phone calls and text messages saying just, thank you for helping me out. So this is the purpose of these videos. I wanna continue to provide to you guys tips and information
regarding credit because, at the end of the day,
it is a thing that if you understand it correctly can help you out and obtain your new home, your new car, whatever it is that you're
tyrin' to do with your credit. So today's topic is
gonna be about something that I hold very dear in
my heart, sensitive to, because I've seen it hurt a lot of people, a lot of families,
including me in the past when I knew nothing about credit. And that is, specifically, on
paying collection agencies. You should not do it,
I don't care who told you to do it, do not do it. And in this video I'm
gonna explain to you why. So one of the reasons and why I say do not pay collection agencies is because for one, all they're tryin'
to do is get your money. And this is exactly how they do it. Let's say you owe a company,
what's a common one? Like T-Mobile. Let's say you fell on hard times, it happened, we're all human. And after six months
T-Mobile then charges off your account and sells it
off to the highest bidder, which is a collection agency. Key word charge-off. What charge-off means to
the company of T-Mobile is that their finance
department puts charge-off, and when they file taxes
at the end of the year, that's like a loss to them. So that's what they have to put down, and they report that to the agencies because it's what they're required to do. The highest bidder
collection agency then pays a portion of the total amount owed, pennies on the dollar,
and they obtain that. In turn, they call or
harass you multiple times in multiple ways until
you pay 'em the money. Just to keep things
simple, let's just say that your bill was a total of $200. ABC Collection Agency
bought that debt from T-Mobile for, let's say,
$20, because it is a percentage of that whole amount. So they bought that debt for $20, and here goes ABC Collection
Agency going to call you. Here's what you don't know. ABC Collection Agency has to
call you on the other end. If you go ahead and pay
$200 when they bought that debt for $20, they made
a huge profit off of you. And this is how collection
agencies stay alive, stay profitable, just doing that. But here's what you don't know. In order for a collection
agency to collect from you or go after you legally,
you first have to admit to the debt over the phone or by letter. This is why all their
phone calls are recorded, because with a recorded
line they got you on tape saying you are who you say you are. This is another thing that you don't know. Legally, you did not sign a contract with ABC Collection Agency. What I mean by that is
you did not get services, telephone services, from
ABC Collection Agency. You got it from T-Mobile. But since T-Mobile sold your account off to ABC Collection Agency, T-Mobile has nothing to do with your account at all whatsoever. So what happens is is that
because you don't have a signed contract or an
agreement between you and ABC Collection Agency,
that gray area says, well, who says you owe them? What I mean by that is,
unless you admit to the debt over the phone and when they ask you, are you John Smith, and
you say yes over the phone, I am John Smith, then they got you. But if you don't say
anything, then they can only assume that they got the wrong person, because I'm pretty sure
you're not the only person in the whole entire world
with your specific name. All right, guys, and
another thing that you guys have to pay attention
to it's something that's called the statute of limitations, and this varies from state to state. Basically what that means
is, in the credit world, is statute of limitations is how long of a timeframe does that
collection agency have to go after you legally at full force. After an account here, I think, I believe, depending no what the
account is, is five years. Then after that you're not
obligated to pay that debt. If you pay attention,
if you're still getting collection letters to
this day from an old debt that you know you had,
there's gonna be language on that document that's gonna say, you're not obligated to
pay this debt because this has passed the
amount of time allotted by your state, or something
along those lines. Just make sure you look for it. They put it in really small
words because, obviously, they don't want you to
notice it, but it's there. If something has passed
more than five years, and now you go ahead and pay it, then that account will
restart for another seven years and remain on your credit report. Because a collection account,
whether it's paid or not, is still negative, then
it will count negatively against you and by then
it'll be very hard to remove that account because, in a sense, you've kind of admitted guilt towards not paying a bill of some sorts. What I'm tryin' to say is is
that if you pay a collection account it's bad, because
it will remain anyways. And if you don't, it's bad anyways, it can't get any worse than that. If you want to spend money
with the intention of removing a negative item
from your credit report, you might as well do
your research and hire a very good, reputable
credit restoration agency. I'll leave you the link
and the information of the one that I used to work for, which is located here in Miami, Florida, but they have clients
from all over the nation. I don't work for them
any longer, and again, still do your research
and hire one that's, benefits you the most. But in a sense, what I'm telling you is, do your research, don't be so overwhelmed on paying these accounts because it can hurt you in the long run if you do. I'll put it for an example. If you get a speeding
ticket and you just go ahead and pay for it
with the intentions of, oh, I guess it'll go away. When you go get car insurance
and they run your record, it's gonna show that
you were speeding at a such a day, such a time, and
that right there stays for, I believe, in the state of
Florida is like five years. That right there is gonna
raise your insurance rate. The same way with credit. Even though you have a
paid collection account, it's gonna raise your
interest rates on whatever it is, whatever else
that you're tryin' to do. So you might as well go fight it. If the state has nothing to prove to it, then that goes away. That alone right there's gonna help you save a tremendous amount of money. All right guys, so I'm
only giving you this piece of information
because the end of the year is about to come, Christmas, Thanksgiving, tax season, and you guys are about to get a huge amount of money. And the first thing that
you guys are gonna do, and I'm tired of seeing
it, is that you guys go spend all this money
on collection agencies. At the end of the day, the
items will still remain on your credit report
and still continue to negatively affect you,
holding you back from obtaining your dream home, your dream car, or your dream whatever it may
be that you need credit for. Save your money. Don't pay a company that
you don't even know exists. Don't pay a company that
you've never contracted for for any kind of
services at all whatsoever. Don't be quick to spend
your money on a complete stranger that's calling you over the phone that their only purpose is to take all your money from you. And they can care less about how you spend your new years, out in the streets, or not being able to feed
your kids or your family. This is something that I hold
very, very near to my heart. I've seen it affect a lot of people. It almost affected me. I'll make another video
regarding my specific story and how I was able to overcome that. I don't believe in no collection agencies. If you are gonna pay some money, either pay a credit restoration company, do your research on them, and make sure they do the work for you. Again, I'm gonna leave the description to the one that I used to work for. They've done great work
and I was able to help a tremendous amount of
people through them. But don't be so quick to spend your money on collection agencies that's not gonna help you out in the long run. If you are gonna spend some money, again, do your research on a
credit restoration agency, or if the account is still
with your original creditor, they're still with that
main company before they send it off, negotiate with
them and pay them directly. Don't go ahead and pay a company you've never heard of before and affecting you way more years ahead of you. All right, guys? If you want me to still
continue to make more videos, I'd be happy to, I like doin' this, and I'll still continue to keep it real.
Never agree to a call from a bill collector being recorded. Exceptions: NONE. It is, in most cases, a criminal offense for someone to record a call without your consent.