Does a debt management company qualify as an "attorney" under the terms of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? They certainly aren't an "attorney at law," but the general definition of an attorney is someone that performs actions on your behalf, which certainly applies to a debt management company.
I ask because the debt collector that reported three minuscule outstanding balances on debts that I have paid within three months and are scheduled to be paid off within a week refused to talk with a debt management company (they weren't a "credit repair" place, they just called the debt owners and worked out payment arrangements and handled the monthly payments) that we were using for two previous items we had with them, and repeatedly contacted me, instead.
If the debt management qualifies, then the agent was in violation of the FDCPA.
We signed a "contract" with this company and paid a startup ($50) and monthly ($35) fee during the time that we used them. They contacted all of our debt owners and made recommendations for the monthly payments. If the debt owner did not return contact, payments were paid as recommended and they kept track of whether or not they were cashed. The debt owner could certainly counter the recommendations, but none ever did, to my knowledge.
Regardless, the agent from the debt collector explicitly said that they would not deal with them. I am just trying to determine if I have any leverage to get them to remove these derogatory items, and perhaps a previous "judgement" that was handled before court (which was actually a result of efforts when we were using the debt management company's services).