How to Make Payments to OSI Collection Services

OSI Collection Services is a collection agency that, in 2007, merged with the NCO Group, the largest account recovery corporation in America. If you are not current on your payments to your creditors, your accounts may be turned over to the NCO Group for recovery. NCO is open about the aggressive collection practices it uses. Unfortunately, not all of these collection methods are legal. In 2004, NCO paid a fine of $1.5 million for violating federal collection laws. Thus, you should always take care when making a payment to any member of the NCO Group, including OSI Collection Services, to ensure that your rights are respected.

Instructions

1

Ensure that you are not being scammed. Any communication from OSI Collection Services should arrive under the heading of NCO Financial. If you receive collection calls or letters from OSI Collection Services, you may be the victim of a scam to collect debts from consumers that do not owe them. You may call NCO Financial at 1-888-609-2354 to find out if it actually owns the debt.

2

Send a debt validation request to NCO Financial. Even if the debt is legitimately owned by the collection agency, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states that it must prove that you owe the debt before collection activity can commence. If NCO never sends you any documentation proving that the debt belongs to you, it is legally prohibited from attempting to collect from you.

3

Check the statute of limitations in your state for unpaid debts. Collection agencies often use the threat of lawsuits to frighten consumers into making a payment on an old debt. Fortunately, your state government protects you from being held legally responsible for debts that are older than the statute of limitations for your state. If the debt is older than the statute of limitations for your state, you may notify NCO of that fact and request that it cease all contact with you.

4

Negotiate with the collection agency to have any derogatory entry on your credit report that was inserted by the company removed as soon as you remit payment. This is important since, although the collection account will be updated as "paid" on your credit file, a paid collection account does not positively affect your credit score.

5

Get all agreements with NCO in writing before submitting a payment. This is especially important if you have a debt settlement agreement.

6

Submit your payment via money order. If you write a check to the company or allow it to conduct an automatic bank draft, you give the company access to your checking account information. Should a mistake be made, this could result in the entire amount you owe being withdrawn from your checking account at once.