[SOLVED] I paid off a debt collector. Will I be able to sign up for service again.

[Blakesky]

I owed Verizon 1504 back in 2011. Ive Been getting letters from a debt collector and I decided to finally pay it off since I had the money. The debt collector offered me a settlement and since it was less than my original balance I decided to take it. i paid $504. I got everything written on paper as proof.

the dept collector said they will zero out my account once the payment process and promptly update my credit report and Verizon.


my question is if I ever decided to join Verizon again can I? will Verizon accept me even though I took the settlement offer? Or am I banned from Verizon Forever? if I try to sign up will my old account pop up and the balance be zero out?

 

[USAFRet]

That is completely between you and Verizon.

None of us out here work for the accounts dept at Verizon.
And even if we did, probably could not comment on it here.

But its probably not "forever".

 

[Blakesky]

That is completely between you and Verizon.

None of us out here work for the accounts dept at Verizon.
And even if we did, probably could not comment on it here.

But its probably not "forever".

Isn this a forum to ask questions? Am I asking in the wrong place? I googles verizon forums and this webs showed up

 

[Nemesia]

Isn this a forum to ask questions? Am I asking in the wrong place? I googles verizon forums and this webs showed up

"Isn this a forum to ask questions? "

Yes this is a forum where you can ask question but this is tomshardware.com and not verizon.com. People here will answer the best they can but your question cannot be answered unless you talk to a Verizon employe.

" Am I asking in the wrong place? "

Not at all. You can ask here. USAFRet gave you an answer.

"I googles verizon forums and this webs showed up "

When I google Verizon forums the first 2 results is this.

Community Forums

Ask, learn, and discuss products and services with your peers in the Verizon Community

forums.verizon.com

Community Forums

Ask, learn, and discuss products and services with your peers in the Verizon Community

community.verizon.com

 

[Blakesky]

"Isn this a forum to ask questions? "

Yes this is a forum where you can ask question but this is tomshardware.com and not verizon.com. People here will answer the best they can but your question cannot be answered unless you talk to a Verizon employe.

" Am I asking in the wrong place? "

Not at all. You can ask here. USAFRet gave you an answer.

"I googles verizon forums and this webs showed up "

When I google Verizon forums the first 2 results is this.

Community Forums

Ask, learn, and discuss products and services with your peers in the Verizon Community

forums.verizon.com

Community Forums

Ask, learn, and discuss products and services with your peers in the Verizon Community

community.verizon.com

I’m not a Verizon customer so I cannot post a question on that forum. They ask you to sign in. btw I’m just noticing the website name so I apologiz. I just saw a couple of post about Verizon and thought this was a place to ask questions

 

[Nemesia]

I’m not a Verizon customer so I cannot post a question on that forum. They ask you to sign in. btw I’m just noticing the website name so I apologiz. I just saw a couple of post about Verizon and thought this was a place to ask questions

Don't apologize for that. You can ask any kind of questions on this forum. I would recommend you call Verizon and ask to speak to someone who can give you a straight answer.

 

[bill001g]

You can likely use verizon prepaid. It all depends on how much your usage is. All now have unlimited voice and text so if you do not use a lot of data it can actually be a lot cheaper to use a perpaid plan. Of course you must own your phone and it must work on verizon.

The thing that they may not want to let you do is finance a phone though them. They actually lose money on that if you do not pay unlike not paying for data usage.

 

[hang-the-9]

I owed Verizon 1504 back in 2011. Ive Been getting letters from a debt collector and I decided to finally pay it off since I had the money. The debt collector offered me a settlement and since it was less than my original balance I decided to take it. i paid $504. I got everything written on paper as proof.

the dept collector said they will zero out my account once the payment process and promptly update my credit report and Verizon.


my question is if I ever decided to join Verizon again can I? will Verizon accept me even though I took the settlement offer? Or am I banned from Verizon Forever? if I try to sign up will my old account pop up and the balance be zero out?

There is a good chance Verizon has nothing to do with your old debt now. What happens is that after a while companies sell their unpaid debt to a collection agency that buy it for a smaller amount, then the company writes off the debt as a loss minus the money they got from selling it.
Then the collection company that bought your debt contacts you, and offers to settle for a smaller amount. Say you owe Verizon that $1,500. They sell the debt to another company for $500 or even less. Then the company contacts you and tells you that you can pay off that debt for $1,000. They made $$500 or whatever it is from just sending out a new letter to you, however they do take the risk that you will just ignore them also and lose that investment. The late non-payment will still be on your record, what will show up is that you paid off a dept.

What Verizon has in their system about you, as others have said, would need to be checked with them. Once they sell the debt you technically no longer owe Verizon, unless that collection agency was acting for Verizon, which it may have been doing.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/debt-buyers-your-credit-report.html

Debt Collection FAQs

Is a debt collector calling? What can you do? What are your rights? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) makes it illegal for debt collectors to use abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices when they collect debts. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about your rights.

www.consumer.ftc.gov

 

[Ralston18]

And do be aware that "forgiven" debt may be reported as income.

Reference:

Topic No. 431 Canceled Debt – Is It Taxable or Not? | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

Sometimes it can take a couple of years before the documentation (1099-C) shows up.

 

[punkncat]

I say with almost certainty:

Verizon will almost assuredly let you be their customer. They like money.
I would not count on them allowing you to do an "on lease" (type) phone payment plan along with service. They would likely require you to buy any equipment up front.
For standard service Verizon has gone away from contracts. It's a month to month is which you can either have traditional service and be billed OR have a pre paid service. According to your credit rating now, and their own practice they may even require you to go prepaid.

I will say this...where Verizon isn't the cheapest game in town, their service has absolutely worked for me everywhere I go.

 

[Kona45primo]

Most likely Verizon will have you flagged in their system. So most likely a deposit & no financing on a new phone.

 

[gggplaya]

If you try to sign up for Verizon again, they'll probably just base it off your current credit score. I doubt they'll look at the past discharged debt.

If you want a cheaper alternative to using Verizon service, I recommend their VISIBLE service which is verizon's own prepaid service.

The problem here is that you didn't even have to pay off the original debt. In most states, 7 years is the statue of limitations to collect on a debt. The timer starts from the month after the last payment was made, so in this case back in 2011. As long as you don't acknowledge that you owe the debt, the timer ends in 2018. If they call you and you acknowledge the debt is yours, the timer restarts from the date of acknowledgement. After 2018, y our debt was known as a ZOMBIE DEBT. It's a debt that they can't take any legal action on, and it doesn't show up on your credit report. This debt is usually sold from the original debt collector, to another zombie debt collect for pennies on the dollar. There are only 2 reasons to pay off a zombie debt. To stop them from calling you, or as a matter of principle.