Product: Debt collection

In XXXX my wife at the time and I were in the process of separation / divorcing. She abandoned the lease of our apartment for XXXX XXXX without authorization ( She was not signed off on the lease ; her name was still on the lease ), and she refused to pay her portion of the rent. 

I pleaded with the apartment manager, and insisted in earnest that I neither had the money to pay for the full sum of rent, nor the ability to keep up on it. I offered the apartment manager at that time my half of the rent if they could take me off the lease and I was refused. I offered to do a payment plan they could put into writing, and was refused. 

Our rent was approximately {$1600.00}. Even after I explained the circumstance to the Apartment manager, and pleaded to work out a payment plan, I was refused, and so I moved out to avoid tacking on further charges... which they continued to do to the point where my account went to collections at {$2300.00}, which is an absurd sum. The penalties tacked onto the original amount owed are feverishly high. 

In XXXX, I was at the time a thirty-eight year old father, attending to three ( 3 ) children, one of which ( my eldest daughter ) is not biologically mine ( but is STILL my daughter ), while their mother moved out, and into the employee housing at her place of work. She abandoned the lease, and our children, and when I couldn't afford to pay the rent, and utilities on my wages alone, I had to find a place where my children and I could take up temporary residence... and I did. 

Within six months I had a stable apartment for my children and I, and have since. I recognize that these details appear to be unimportant, but to be clear : had I the money to attend to this specific debt, it would already have been paid. 

I recently purchased use of the XXXX XXXX XXXX with the intent to pay down my debts, and discovered that ProCollect held this debt, that it was as high as it was, and that they had the debt listed as an INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT! I could not believe it. The debt is a shared debt between my ex-wife and I. 

XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the debt collector, ProCollect, and explained the circumstances, and stated factually that I was willing to work with them in order to pay the debt I owned. The agent I spoke with informed me that they sent a letter to me in an attempt to settle the debt, and because I ignored the letter, I had to pay the entirety of that amount right then and there on the telephone, and she began rattling off all of the forms of payment they were willing to accept. 

When she was finished, I explained to her again that I did not have the entirety of the debt amount, and that I NEVER once received mail, correspondence, phone calls, or attempts to gain my attention at ANY time concerning this debt, and that my call was right now an attempt to settle the debt. I requested they be willing to send me a settlement letter in the mail, and was refused outright. I offered to pay {$1000.00} right then and there on the phone, and I was refused. 

The agent stated that that three years has passed since I incurred the debt, and I corrected her that this was not an individual debt, that this debt was mutually between my ex-wife and I. She ignored my statement. She repeated herself, and explained that that ProCollect had already attempted to reach a settlement of the debt with me, and that I never answered. I explained again that at no time whatsoever did I EVER receive a letter or any form of attempt at communication by mail, or phone, or any means of communication, and that I was willing to work with them.

She simply maintained her position, repeating ProCollect had attempted to contact me, and that the debt is already three years old and three years is a long time, and started rattling off the forms of payment I could use to pay the account down in full.

I remained as polite and professional as I could be, and repeated that I did not have the money to pay the debt down in full, that I was not the sole owner of the debt, and that I was TRYING to form a settlement with them and they continued to refuse my offer. 

In a fair world, the debt should be no more than the rent I owed when my estranged wife abandoned the apartment without getting her name off the lease ... and of that sum, {$1600.00}, I would gladly pay half of that ( {$820.00} ). I know the world 's not fair, and that they're not going to work with me at such a low settlement, but I am willing to work with them. I have also challenged their collections on my credit report, because it lists me as the individual owner of this debt, and even when I explained it to them, they ignored it. 

When the agent finally understood my having to repeat that I did not have enough money in that moment to pay off the debt, she threatened me that she was going to mark down that I " refused to pay ''. 

I explained again that I wasn't REFUSING to pay, and that the language " refused to pay '' used was detrimental to my credit report as I was already attempting to work with them to fix this. Their refusal to work with me, as well as the untruth that they'd attempted to settle the debt with me in the past became the roadblock where I was unable to pay the full price down, and they were unwilling to accept my offer.