Collection Agency..............Help!

[tjpop]

Anybody work for, or have experience in dealing with collection agencies? I just got a letter in the mail from an agnecy for a doctor's bill I never paid in 2005! They now want the $300 I owe. A few friends are saying fuck it they can't do anything.... but a few people are saying that collection agencies can screw up your credit report if you don't pay them. Which is true? Any help would be appreciated~

[ericlee]

The only thing they can do is mess up your credit. Anything else they say to you is just scare tactics.

You can make deals with them, even offer $20 a month. Keep your word cause if not, they'll call and annoy the living shit out of you.

Or you can let it go and in about 5 years, it will either disappear off your report or it will be a closed account. I wouldn't recommend it though cause I did and it messed up my credit.