I left deloitte 4 years ago and a collection agency contacted me today for the first time asking for the money with plus legal fees. Its a significant amount of money now and I will want to understand my options. Can anyone help? Please don't respond unless you have experience with debt collectors negotiations. I don't want judgement or told to read the term of agreement.
They never asked you in 4 years to pay back and directly collection agency?
Yes its my first time hearing about as the original company never asked for it back.
How can you not know that you have to pay back the sign on if you leave within a year? It’s always in the offer letter. But strange they never asked for. You should ask for proof of them sending you the notices.
You should have read your original offer terms prior to accepting a new job.
But agree 4 years later is a long time after the fact.
Check with amazon if they can help you?
They cant. I went to another company for 3 years and just recently joined amazon. It would have been my last companies problem not my current.
Yeah def don’t do this - it reflects poorly on your character for breaking a contract with your previous employer.
I don’t think you have many options. Try negotiating with debt collector.
You have the right to obtain proof that the collection agency is the legal holder of the debt, and that you do in fact, owe it. You can look up a template for a letter to send the agency to trigger that. It has to be sent within a limited time (I think its 30 days but you should double check). In the mean time, do not contact the agency and do not respond to any of their calls etc) I would contact a lawyer specializing in employment law if the amount is significant. They can help you with options. If the agency puts this on your credit report (after they respond to your letter), it will prevent you from getting credit anywhere but your local loan shark, so you should take action to prevent that.
California has a statute of limitations for debt of 4 years - just something to consider (not sure it applies to your situation). Otherwise, negotiate with collection agency. They literally bought the debt from your previous employer and the price was probably pennies on the dollar. So negotiate hard and be ready to make payment if your target is agreed to.
Super helpful thanks!
Curious, could you share how much it is?
16k
As others have mentioned, there are state and federal laws that can protect you, but they are very time sensitive. After a quick search, this site covers the basics. https://www.thebalance.com/debt-validation-requires-collectors-to-prove-debts-exist-960594 I would submit the debt verification request immediately, then see what they do. You may or may not want to get an attorney involved based on their response. I once had Wells Fargo debt collectors come after me for a $100K business loan that I never signed for. They gave up when they couldn’t verify the debt (couldn’t even find the original loan documents). Check your credit report too, they may have already filed something with the credit bureaus. That they could be legally obligated to remove. WF jacked up my credit for months. I had credit cards drop my spending limit as a result of the false default.
You are shit out of luck — you should be able to negotiate with the collections agency, but you will have to pay or they will hit your credit. And... TC or gtfo.
How bad of a credit hit, out of curiosity? And is a credit hit the worst they can do?
Something in collections will trash your credit. Like at least 100 points, possibly 150+.