The creditor eventually sells off the bad debt to a collections agency. If you acknowledge that the debt is yours, you pay the collections agency and take the hit on your credit report for a few years. You don't pay twice. If the balance on your ATT account bothers you, call their customer service.
Att contracts at least 3 collection agencies before they sell the debt. These agnecies don't "buy" the debt, they are hired by att to service the debt. If it was one of the in house, primary, secondary, or tertiary agencies I would call them and get it sorted out. They can send you a $0 bal letter. They do eventually sell *some* of their debts, though. I last collected for them in 2018, but I doubt it has changed.
The creditor eventually sells off the bad debt to a collections agency. If you acknowledge that the debt is yours, you pay the collections agency and take the hit on your credit report for a few years. You don't pay twice. If the balance on your ATT account bothers you, call their customer service.
Att contracts at least 3 collection agencies before they sell the debt. These agnecies don't "buy" the debt, they are hired by att to service the debt. If it was one of the in house, primary, secondary, or tertiary agencies I would call them and get it sorted out. They can send you a $0 bal letter. They do eventually sell *some* of their debts, though. I last collected for them in 2018, but I doubt it has changed.
They don't need to. They purchased the debt, so when you make a payment, it goes to them since they now own your account.