If you are hearing from Velocity Investment LLC it is likely because they have purchased an unpaid account from one of your creditors.
Like with many debt buyers, Velocity bids on accounts that have gone unpaid more than 4 months in the case of fixed loans, and more than 6 months late in the case of credit cards (though I do not see Velocity buying unpaid credit card debts at the time this is being published).
What debt buyers pay for the legal rights to collect debt gone bad can vary based on the creditor selling, the economic climate, how long ago payments ceased, whether the accounts have been sold in the past, and other details.
What a debt buyer pays for the legal rights to collect from you really does not come in to play when you want to resolve a debt with a company like Velocity Investment.
What types of debt does Velocity Investment buy?
As of right now, if you had a loan with Prosper, Lending Club, Upstart, and a few other market place lenders, you could be hearing from Velocity.
I have seen them buy up the accounts from Lending Club and Prosper right after your accounts charges off, so around 5 or 6 months after you stopped paying on your loan. I also see Lending Club send accounts out to an external debt collection agency for a round of phone calls and letters before they sell to Velocity (or other debt buyers too).
Upstart and a couple of other online lenders are pretty much the same timeline for when they sell unpaid accounts to Velocity and others.
You may get a letter from your lender where they clearly tell you they have now sold your account to Velocity Investment.
Using external collections and law firms to sue.
Like most debt buyers these days, there is an element of risk to not proactively trying to work things out with Velocity Investment LLC once you hear from them. They use a handful of collection agencies to write to you and call you in order to collect.
CKS Financial is one of a few collection agencies they use. CKS also bids on, and buys debt from, some of the same lenders that Velocity does.
It is not overly problematic to hear from collection agencies who do not sue, as they will have the account for a few months before Velocity pulls it back if the agency cannot get you to pay.
It can become a problem when you are hearing from collection law firms debt buyers like Velocity Investment sends your account to.
There is a massive network of collection law firms around the country that banks, lenders, and debt buyers can tap in to. When you hear from one, and they are licensed in your state, it typically means they are authorized to sue you in order to collect.
Settling and paying your debt
Any debt Velocity Investment has purchased is already going to be charged off. That means your credit already took a hit. You are not going to get anything extra out of the situation by paying them in full compared to settling for less. That being the case, settling proactively will save you money and prevent being sued.
If you have the resources and the inclination to negotiate and settle debts with Velocity, they are pretty easy to deal with. You can call them and negotiate using many of the tips I highlight through out this site, and in videos about how to talk to debt collectors.
If your Velocity account is with a collection agency, negotiating is much the same as dealing with any collector, but if the account is with a collection law firm, I typically suggest getting help.
Generally I have found the best results on settlements with Velocity Investment, no matter if negotiating directly with them, a collection agency, and certainly a collection attorney, to come from working with a professional negotiator. Not just from an amount saved on the settlement perspective, but with getting as much as a few years to pay the agreed upon amount, getting everything documented up front, and set up correctly.
Velocity Investment on your credit reports
It is common to find debt buyers on your credit reports. Velocity is no different. Some debt buyers have developed policies for removing their credit reporting when you resolve a debt with them (whether you pay in full or not). At the time I am writing this Velocity is not one of them, but more debt buyers are starting to do this, so stay tuned.
If Velocity is credit reporting, when you settle with them, like any other company furnishing information to the credit bureaus, they will need to update Equifax, Experian and TransUnion that you no longer owe the debt, and that it is a zero balance, paid collection.
Do not get hung up on whether they show on your credit as settled for less, or anything else like that, as the words on the credit report are not important, but the zero balance, debt no longer owed is.
If you would like help settling your account with Velocity Investment LLC, we do that! You can schedule a call to talk with me about it here:
https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
If you have questions or concerns about dealing with Velocity Investment you are welcome to post in the comments below.
I am being sued by velocity. I went to court and the judge gave me a default judgment and I don’t understand why. I filed an answer with the court and I was at the trial. I don’t know what to do now. I’m in Texas.
I have more questions than answers based on what you shared. I suggest you schedule a phone consult with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
Hello sir I am writing you because my Lending club loan was sold to velocity investments. Another collection agency was collecting on behalf of velocity I asked for debt verification it was never sent out and it’s not showing up on my credit report because they were not able to validate the debt so instead of validating it, they sent it to a law firm in Florida, a very small law firm located in Sarasota I live in Orlando. On the original paperwork from lending club they said that it was sold to a company called a Oliphant Financial. Then a Oliphant gave it to velocity and velocity gave it to another debt collector, and now to a lawyer’s office, who is giving me till October 18 to send them a verification notice I am so confused by this and one of the debt collectors notices before I asked for verification they gave me a settlement offer, which was way above what I was willing to even negotiate. My question to you is what exactly is occurring and who do I negotiate with ? It’s been passed around so many times without verification. Why would they send it to a law office and just not verify the debt with me and send me what I asked for
A consistent behavior I have seen over my career is where you request debt validation from a collection agency, and before they respond the debt is pulled back to the creditor and placed again. When someone is seeking debt validation, I typically suggest requesting that from each agency the account lands with.
If your goal is to negotiate a settlement you would typically do that with the attorney that has the account now.
Neither Oliphant Financial nor Velocity Investment are big on credit reporting.
Hi Michael
I had received a letter from Mandarich Law Group, LLP. This law group is representing Velocity investments, LLC. The former loan company was Prosper Marketplace and now has taken over from Velocity. Lucky, I had a recent credit report that was dated June 12, 2022. On the credit report under Prosper Marketplace, Inc on Balance Amt:$0 Activity designator: Paid and Closed Status comment: closed or paid Account/Zero Balamce. I had responded to Mandarich Law offices twice with a copy of the page of the credit report that had Prosper Market place inquiry. Today, August 2, 2022 I receive a letter from this Law office that states “Notice of Intention to Sue and Incur Costs”
It sounds like, from the way I read your comment, that you were hoping Mandarich would stop trying to collect when they saw that Prosper shows a zero balance on the credit reports.
Unpaid accounts are regularly sold to debt buyers like Velocity. When a bank or lender sells your account they are no longer owed the money, and will typically report it as a zero balance charge off.
Most debt buyers will show a collection account on your credit with the balance now owed to them.
If Velocity does not appear on your credit reports it does not mean the debt went away, or cannot be collected.
Mandarich regularly sues to collect.
I would not trust this firm. Not in the least. If you are going to resolve the debt, I suggest getting everything in writing that you do with them, and to remain skeptical even then.
Hello Michael,
Velocity called me in June 27, 2019 to let me know that they bought my debt from Lending Club. According to my records with Lending club, as of 4/28/2019, my personal loan balance was $6,383.76. Velocity said I have to pay the full amount of $6910.00. Which I thought Velocity inflated the amount, considering they paid nothing for it. No?
With settlement payment options of
$6,910.00 < one time payment
$2687.07 < 3 payments
$100.00 < per month in full
After making 2 payments, I had to stop. Lending Club was still calling me to collect. I was so confused and thought I was scammed. Velocity is suing me now for not continuing payment.
Not sure if it's relevant but backstory, I resigned from my miserable job, of almost 7 years, on July 27, 2018, with mortgage to pay and children and sick parents to support. My mom is diabetic with a heart condition – clogged arteries, and dad had 2 strokes the same year and passed away on April 1, 2019 from the 3rd stroke. I stopped making payments to Lending Club in December 2018. To make long story short, I was in deep trouble financially when Velocity called and spoke to them the first time.
Any advise would be appreciated.
What do all of your unsecured debts add up to?
Are any more in collections like this one?
Is your goal to try and settle at this point?
I am assuming this is about a car loan. I have not heard from Velocity or Chrysler Capital at all since the accident my husband was in totaling my car. We had a rough month of repairs let the insurance lapse about 30 days after having years of coverage smh. I was able to finance a new in car the next 2 weeks, however this other car was not paid off. Mind you, I felt that this hit our credit because we was upside down in the loan the car really probably has be paid for 3 times already. Needless to say we still owed about 19,000. Now this week we got in the mail a court notice. What can I do. I am in Memphis Tn. Again it is not saying who they are representing but just by reading up online about them, I am certain that is what this is. I dont recall getting anything in the mail from Velocity and this has been maybe 3 yrs now. Will I have to go to court or can a lawyer represent?
You can get help with this. You can schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
We can talk through workable strategies then.
I had a loan with Upstart for a significant amount of money, I had a substantial loss of income early in the loan term and could not afford to pay. It was a high interest loan so I tried to negotiate a lower payment or better rate so I could stay current. Upstart’s advice to me was to let the account charge off and I’d have a better chance. So I called them when the account was 121 days past due and charged off. They offered me a lump sum of 33% of the loan amount but I couldn’t afford it. I had a dollar amount in mind for a monthly payment. They said to try back in 30 days, at which point they sold to Velocity. I reached out to Velocity immediately, and they said they have ARC (Alpha Recovery Corp) servicing the loan. I have to reach out to them this week, I want to settle but the damage is done. Any advice for this scenario would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I can take a look at your situation and see what the chances are of getting monthly payments on a good settlement would be with Velocity. You can schedule a call with me using the button above this comment, or using the Get Help tab at the top of the page.
Thank you Michael. I scheduled a call for Thursday morning, it’s the earliest availability you have. Any chance we can speak today?
I see your call on the calendar. Can you talk at 3 pm Eastern today?
Yes 🙂 Thank you
Okay, I will call you then.
I received a judgement summons from Velocity. Can I still contact Velocity in an attempt to settle?
Now the Velocity has sent your account to a collection law firm you typically have to deal with the collections attorney.
I need a newer car. I had my credit pulled and it it showed I had a chrage off for the Lending Club account for 4400. I worked with a debt consolidation company through my EAP benefits at work. That bill was in there to be paid. Well my credit report showed it was charged off. I called and now I find that it’s been sent to a lawyers office and I may be sued soon. Now I don’t know what to do or how to handle. Im in TN. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
If your Lending Club loan was sold to Velocity Investment LLC you can often settle the debt for less.
Do you have the ability to pull together cash fairly quickly?
Hello. I have velocity calling me. They are implying that if I pay $200 they will keep the account with them longer before “making a recommendation”. I’m trying to get money together. How long can I push it out before making a substantial offer of settlement? And what should be my goal for % on settlement? This is in northeast, original personal loan amount is a little over 40k. Thanks
Are you dealing with Velocity directly, or a debt collection company collecting for them? If a collection agency, which one?
We have good success settling with them and getting a couple years to pay, so that could help your cash shortage.
Hello. Velocity is suing from a debt from 2018. I am in New York. I received a letter from their lawyers and info on where I can make a payment for the debt but I don’t have the funds to pay the full amount or do I want to go to court. (I also received notice from other lawyers looking to represent me since a lawsuit has been filed). My question is can I still make a plea with their attorneys to settle for less and even in installments.
You can still settle even when Velocity sues. Lump sum is better than monthly payments in most lawsuit settlements.
How much is Velocity suing for?
Hey Michael thank you for your expertise. I been watching your videos about two months now and I get little bit more understanding for about a dept.my question is I got 6 dept that went to collections and it’s on my credit report said charge off and all was a medical Dept and it’s four years or older.please can you tell me what to do because it’s hurting my credit ant I’m just starting to work on my credit.than you.
What state do you live in?
Is Velocity Investment collecting on any of the debts?