Originally Posted by Paladin

Ugh - In April 2003 I had a problem with a Budget rental car (Omaha, Nebraska). I rented the car for work purposes but charged it to a personal Diners card since we did not have a corporate card. We were pulling out of a parking space and a passenger noticed that something seemed to be dragging. We got out and noticed that half of the front bumper had fallen off. The car was unsafe to drive so my coworker ripped off the rest of the bumper and threw it into the trunk. We immediately drove back to Budget and provided details and swapped cars.

I provided details to my company and they attempted to followed up with Budget and I continued to rent from them every week. Budget never returned our calls or sent us (me) anything. I haven't moved, all my contact information is in my Budget preferred renter information, continued to rent with them. After awhile we thought the issue was closed.

Well, the issue was not closed since about a week or so ago I received a call from a collection agency. I was kind of baffled in why was a collection agency calling since I always pay off my credit cards and don't have any loans besides my mortgage. It turns out that Budget had sold the debt to a collection agency.

The bad news is that I no longer work for the same company, though I've contacted them, but its a small place and I don't anticipate them trying very hard to resolve this. I gave the company's information to the collection agency but they left a msg yesterday that they were unsuccessful in reaching them. I can't imagine they would try too hard.

Any thoughts?

Can I call up budget directly and figure out what is going on?
How would I substantiate it wasn't my fault?
Why didn't Budget try to reach me directly these past almost 3 years?
The balance is around $800, do I just pay this off to to make my life easier and move on with my life?
I will order a credit report to see if any damage was already done.
What can I ask from the collection agency? how much information do they have on this?
I will also write a letter to collection agency and send it certified mail - but what do I include in it?

Help! Any similiar experiences? Wisdom to share?