Notably, they didn't offer to cover my time, his time, and the expense of the lawyer. I value my time more than I value money. I consider these things theft of my time.
The nature of debt collection, and many other legal pickles is that if you are seen to be passively ignoring it, then it just ramps up.
Merely asking for proof is indistinguishable from ignoring claims because it leaves no paper trail. You have to actually get documents from them (or from a court) saying that they have no claim. And it costs a lot (whether in time, money or both) to get that.
But you can't ignore it, that's true.
> You have to actually get documents from them
> (or from a court) saying that they have no claim.
If I say that you owe me money, it's not necessary for you to obtain documents (from either me or from a court) stating that you don't owe me money - the onus is on me to _prove_ that you me money.
Even if I owe money...why should I pay you? Prove you bought the loans, tomorrow someone else can ask me to pay for it again.
That's an excellent point. The fact that you paid off a fraudster doesn't in any way change the fact that you still owe money to the legitimate owner of the loan. So you need to demand proof that whoever is asking you for payment is the owner of the loan and not a fraudster.