Can debt purchasers continue to charge and increase the original debt? – Dennise

Your original agreement with the creditor would have outlined how your account can be treated after default. In many instances, your agreement with the creditor will allow for interest to continue to accumulate during the collection process. This, and the late fees and over limit charges, cause the original balance to increase. Your question assumes your debt was purchased. Have you verified that with your original credit card lender? Have you received collection calls and letters that indicate a debt buyer now owns the account?

You do want to be aware of the fees that are being added, and how they were calculated. You can request this information from a debt collector contact you, but you will want to do that in writing.

You can call the original creditor and ask how they are applying interest to the account (if they still own it). If your credit card issuer sold the debt off to a debt purchaser, the debt buyer will often have a hard time getting their hands on the agreement you had with your creditor in order to show the validity of how the balance on the debt is increasing from month to month.

Call your creditor first and find out if the debt was sold.

Do you have a strategy to resolve this debt? Who was the original creditor?

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