<prompt> Human: Executor here, settling with a few banks, and some of them use collection agencies that claim the banks are direct clients.You would think a direct client has a constantly updated balances, but no.As one bank continued to release invalid fees and charges, the collection arm kept trolling for the full amount. Thousands have now been forgiven in the accounting. TIL: ALWAYS ask the bank directly for the real balance.  <response>: Sometimes thats on the debtor. I had a school sell my debt to a company as being worth 30 more than it actually was. i had the documentation of how much I owed and got them to drop it down. i think they went after the school as well. 