Q: Disputing amount to credit company, sent check w/letter stating paid in full. Do I still owe?

A: First, if you are disputing, why did you send in a payment? Did you pay the full balance asked for in the collection letter or did you make up an amount that you thought you would pay and just sent it in?

If you are trying to be clever and do an accord and satisfaction, I don't think it will work. By sending in partial payment, you acknowledged the debt and if collection of the debt was barred by the statute of limitations then congratulations - you just revived it. And the collection agency will take your partial payment and apply it towards the rest and they or a new debt collector will try and collect the balance because the collection agency whom you paid never sent you an agreement that they would accept the partial payment as settlement in full.

This was really dumb on your part if that is what you did. You never should have sent in a partial payment.

If you disputed the debt, then you should have written a dispute letter. If the collection agency verified the debt or if you needed it resolved, you could have then offered to settle the debt and you and the collection agency could have agreed upon a settlement sum. But you just cannot unilaterally dictate what you will pay.

I have had to make some assumptions based on the sparse facts in your post. Maybe I'm wrong - I hope I am.

To be sure, you should take whatever you received from the debt collector and a copy of what you sent in and pay a lawyer to look it over for you.