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nerdrum posted:Here's my situation, 1,000 dollars owed to chase -- they're willing to settle for "550" I'm completely fine with paying this and I have no issue at all I just read the first part of this poo poo about the pay for delete and now i'm confused, should I speak to them about this and threaten to cancel the payment agreement we have or whats the best case? this is the only debt I have and I really want it off of my record. I doubt you're going to have much luck getting a PFD from the original creditor. They have all the information they need to get every penny from you.
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# ? May 17, 2010 04:20 |
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# ? May 12, 2024 19:59 |
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Ghostnuke posted:I doubt you're going to have much luck getting a PFD from the original creditor. They have all the information they need to get every penny from you. I forgot to mention that its not from case, it's from "LTD FINANCIAL" who has a terrible BBB rating and seem like sociopaths in general
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# ? May 17, 2010 04:32 |
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LorneReams posted:It's not related to the sale of debt, no. It's a term used to define that the debt has a very small chance of being repaid and the reserve held for that money must be settled. It's an accounting function. What do you mean by the "reserve held"?
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# ? May 17, 2010 06:28 |
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TerminalSaint posted:Didn't notice this thread and started a new one: Depending on your state, they're probably outside the SOL for collections anyway. What you could do is tell them you're recording the call when you first pick up after they ask for this guy, then if they stay on the phone tell them that you're not John Doe, he does not live here, and tell them it's an FDCPA violation to continue calling you after being informed they've got the wrong number. Inform the cubicle monkey that you will consider it harassment for them to continue to call you. If you do get a company ID, write them a nice letter requesting your $1000 X number of offenses fine in 30 days or you'll take them to court where they can pay the fine plus your court costs. If you don't get a company ID, contact your phone provider and tell them you're the victim of harassing phone calls. If you have a phone number for them, great, but it's probably spoofed anyway. The phone provider can give you a code to press on your phone when the offender calls you which prompts them to trace and ultimately block calls from that number. It's possible but not likely that you may be able to get information from the phone provider about the collection company if they refuse to give it up themselves. It's bad enough being on the receiving end of that poo poo when you are in debt. I'd be furious if I had to deal with that behavior from people who have no relationship with me.
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# ? May 17, 2010 08:27 |
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beergod posted:What do you mean by the "reserve held"? In accounting, people not paying you is just one more cost of business. To prepare for it, it's typical that a business will set aside a percentage of outstanding accounts in a cash reserve to cover the ones that never pay. For example, if 10% of people didn't pay and the business had $100,000 owed to them on the books, they'd set aside $10,000 in reserve to cover the shortfalls when they came up. After your debt is sufficiently old, it is required that the business take it off their books (since they can't reasonably report that they're expecting to get the money and therefore can't report it as an asset), and they do so by writing your account off and moving money out of the reserve account and back into their spendable funds. Later, at the end of the month/year/whenever, they'll pay cash back into the reserve fund to replenish it. Therefore, the original creditor might still hold the rights to your debt or not, but they are not reporting your debt as an asset at face value (they might report it as an asset in the sense that they can sell the debt off for a fraction of it's face value, but no more than that). This is why you can negotiate with creditors: an $8,000 dollar debt that hasn't been paid in 3+ years isn't worth $8,000.
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# ? May 17, 2010 11:30 |
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Anyone know of any websites where you can get an updated report more than once a month? Every one I've seen only lets you get a new report every 30 days at the soonest.
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# ? May 17, 2010 14:05 |
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Ghostnuke posted:Anyone know of any websites where you can get an updated report more than once a month? Every one I've seen only lets you get a new report every 30 days at the soonest. This is because it's really not needed....the tapes that are sent to the CRAs are usually only once a month.
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# ? May 17, 2010 14:37 |
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I'm about to pay off a credit card debt with a collection agency - but I'm a bit confused. 1) I had them fax the letter stating that this payment will finalize payment/eliminate the debt. How can I be completely sure this is legitimate? 2) What kind of toll does this take on my credit report?
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# ? May 17, 2010 16:47 |
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9PoolPony posted:I'm about to pay off a credit card debt with a collection agency - but I'm a bit confused. 1. Make sure it says they are settled with you in full, and that it is very specific about it being paid off 2. You'll have a negative listing for 7 years unless you convince them to delete. At the very least, you should be able to get them to mark it as never late and settled. It's still a negative, but it looks better.
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# ? May 17, 2010 16:51 |
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LorneReams posted:1. Make sure it says they are settled with you in full, and that it is very specific about it being paid off How do I convince them to delete this? All collection agencies have this option? It seems like deleting it really works out best for me, what does it do for them, and what is their incentive for helping me by deleting this? Thanks for the quick reply BTW.
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# ? May 17, 2010 16:54 |
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9PoolPony posted:How do I convince them to delete this? All collection agencies have this option? Their incentive is that you will not pay if they don't. Basically the CRAs report whatever they are told. You want the collection agency to tell the CRAs that the debt never existed.
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# ? May 17, 2010 17:03 |
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LorneReams posted:Their incentive is that you will not pay if they don't. So I call them up and I say, "I'd like this deleted from my credit report." And then what will he say? Let's imagine he says, "No" Then I say, "well I won't pay." Then he says, "Fine, let this debt continue to bring down your credit or pay right now without having us delete it." But how can a collection agency tell the CRA that debt never existed - why would a collection agency be contacting me and then a CRA if there was never any debt? 9PoolPony fucked around with this message at 17:13 on May 17, 2010 |
# ? May 17, 2010 17:11 |
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9PoolPony posted:So I call them up and I say, "I'd like this deleted from my credit report." And then what will he say? Well to make this more specific... "Fine, let this debt continue to bring down your credit or pay right now without having us delete it." ...which happens to be as long as it will bring your credit down anyway even if you do pay. Perhaps even less if your state has a stricter SOL. Technically in my pay to delete cases, you would file a dispute with the CRA and the collector would not verify which means it will fall off the report. One thing I would do if they are being jerks is to send a alidation letter to them and if they don't respond in 30 days, on the 31st day send a dispute with the CRA...if they verify, they are now in violation even if the debt is legit. If they don't verify, it falls off. Do this enough and anyone will scre up the timing at some point. I find this slightly unethical, but hey, it's the law.
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# ? May 17, 2010 17:19 |
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9PoolPony posted:So I call them up and I say, "I'd like this deleted from my credit report." And then what will he say? There's almost no reason to take a 'paid in full/settled' tradeline. The only time you'd accept that is if you're going for something huge like a home loan and the bank specifically says paying that debt off will get you approved. Despite the hardball most creditors play over the phone, you have a lot more power. They have a legal minefield to traverse when they contact you, you don't. They've spent money on your debt, money they won't recoup unless they play by your rules. If they sue, they've got a second legal minefield to traverse on top of paying a law firm to chase the debt. And like Lorne said, a PFD works by binding the collector to an agreement not to report or respond to bureau inquiries about the debt. Once you've paid the creditor, you fire off a dispute to the bureau. Bureau sends confirmation to the creditor, who can't respond due to the agreement you've made. 30 days later, the debt is gone from your report. If they do respond, you've got an open-and-shut breach of contract suit that starts at 3-10x the debt they reported.
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# ? May 18, 2010 21:27 |
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If a creditor threatens you with a lawsuit, how long do they have to file it before it's an FDCPA violation?
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# ? May 18, 2010 21:32 |
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Offrampmotel posted:If a creditor threatens you with a lawsuit, how long do they have to file it before it's an FDCPA violation? Easy way to tell if they are allowed to threaton you with legal action is if the person who is talking to you is a lawyer/paralegal/someone who can file the paperwork to sue you. If not (i.e a collection house or a call center) then it's a violation.
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# ? May 18, 2010 21:40 |
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The letter is signed "PreLegal Department" edit: Once I sent them an "Intent to sue" letter, what's to stop them from filing a lawsuit and saying they were planning to do it all along? Offrampmotel fucked around with this message at 00:59 on May 19, 2010 |
# ? May 18, 2010 21:52 |
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So. I have taken the option 3 from the OP, and chose to stop payments until I could clear this mess all up, once my financial situation improved. (19 years old $5000 credit card AND a 1000 credit card?! Surely you jest.) Young and dumb, yes, and it's been hurting like crazy since. I can't get -ANYTHING-. I was stupid, and didn't have any inkling as to what I was actually getting myself into. And once the calls started, I just became terrified and stopped talking/answering my phone. Since then, I've moved forward in my life, and stopped being a pizza delivery hobo, and gotten a real job. But... It's been a while. This debt I believe is from 2005, or at least the last activity on the debt from the original debtors is either then or 2006, in one instance. The other instances have been sold and "reopened" under new names (junk buyers) and show "opened" dates of 2008, thought the accounts are far older than that. I've moved 3 times since 2005, and after my first move, had changed cell phones to get on a better plan. Since then, I've received no letters, no phone calls, and no mail has been sent to the prior residences, nor have they received any phone calls. When I view my report, it says each debt was charged off... that means that they've written it off and likely (at least by this point I'd imagine) sold it to a junk buyer, but my report doesn't list who, in the case of my biggest account. But how do I go about finding that information out? Also, the SOL in my state is 6 years, but is that from the initial incurring of the debt, or is that from the last activity on the debt? Very confused, is there anything I can do to help clean this up? I'm tired of looking at it, and having to worry about the stupid stuff I did from years ago. and yes, ethics, I understand. I don't feel good about doing this, but I just want a fresh start without resorting to bankruptcy... (my credit score is 586 )
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# ? May 19, 2010 00:54 |
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Offrampmotel posted:The letter is signed "PreLegal Department" Yay, if they do that (depending on your state), you can countersue for free! Also, is the PreLegal department suing you? If not, it's possibly a violation. It depends on how the letter is worded. If it says we will refer this to our attornies, then yeah, there is no violation...if they say, we will file suit, then they have to be able to.
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# ? May 19, 2010 01:15 |
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LorneReams posted:Yay, if they do that (depending on your state), you can countersue for free! Also, is the PreLegal department suing you? If not, it's possibly a violation. It depends on how the letter is worded. If it says we will refer this to our attornies, then yeah, there is no violation...if they say, we will file suit, then they have to be able to. The letter says, "If we do not hear from you within the next 15 days, we will file a lawsuit against you." -Prelegal Department
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# ? May 19, 2010 01:19 |
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Offrampmotel posted:The letter says, "If we do not hear from you within the next 15 days, we will file a lawsuit against you." It's going to depend if they are able to file the lawsuit. They are not asking for payment, only contact. I would contact them with validation, and if they sue, you might have a pretty slam dunk case, or at the very least, you can annoy them in court and ask why they didn't respond to your last two validation requests you sent that forced you finally resort to a CMRR, that you walk into court with the green card of course. When they say they never recieved it, you can smugly look at the RR and ask "Does so and so work for you or does she just open your mail". It is really a lot of fun.
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# ? May 19, 2010 01:24 |
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LorneReams posted:It's going to depend if they are able to file the lawsuit. They are not asking for payment, only contact. I would contact them with validation, and if they sue, you might have a pretty slam dunk case, or at the very least, you can annoy them in court and ask why they didn't respond to your last two validation requests you sent that forced you finally resort to a CMRR, that you walk into court with the green card of course. When they say they never recieved it, you can smugly look at the RR and ask "Does so and so work for you or does she just open your mail". It is really a lot of fun. Well, they asked for payment, then said if I don't contact them in 15 days to make payment arrangements they will file the lawsuit.
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# ? May 19, 2010 03:51 |
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Sent the debt validation for my sisters student loan and got a we will ask creditor to authorize us to use a lawyer for suing you response if you don't pay in five days. Question is do I send a second validation letter referring to the previous validation letter or do i just wait for them to sue and show them the green card?
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# ? May 19, 2010 05:49 |
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You can dispute a debt or ask for validation at any time, right, not just within the 30 days stated in the dunning letter? I would think you could write them at any time requesting validation and they'd have to give it to you, it's not as if they send dunning letters CMRR.
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# ? May 19, 2010 06:34 |
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NancyPants posted:You can dispute a debt or ask for validation at any time, right, not just within the 30 days stated in the dunning letter? I would think you could write them at any time requesting validation and they'd have to give it to you, it's not as if they send dunning letters CMRR. It dosen't matter, they have to validate no matter what. Just because THEY tell you something dosen't make it true. I've seen people present the validation request AT court. It's actually very effective if they think you are not going to show up, and then you are there with your request and they are scambling to find the right combo of papers to fulfil the validation. Read the requirments for validation, it's not as simple as suplying a print out that has your name on it.
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# ? May 19, 2010 12:29 |
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Manic Mailman posted:Sent the debt validation for my sisters student loan and got a we will ask creditor to authorize us to use a lawyer for suing you response if you don't pay in five days. Question is do I send a second validation letter referring to the previous validation letter or do i just wait for them to sue and show them the green card? That's tricky for me to answer. I guess if you're in a fightin' mood and don't mind getting sued and fighting all this stuff in court, then sit on your hands and let them dig themselves deeper. On the other, it never hurts to pad your chances a little more, and a second validation letter will do just that, and may even get them to realize they're making a mistake and start reasonable negotiations. What's the outcome you want? Do you want a court battle where you fight and win, or do you want them to just calm down and work out some sort of payment arrangement? I'd be tempted to say gently caress 'em, let 'em sue.
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# ? May 19, 2010 12:32 |
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Pagan posted:That's tricky for me to answer. I guess if you're in a fightin' mood and don't mind getting sued and fighting all this stuff in court, then sit on your hands and let them dig themselves deeper. Personally I would say gently caress em, but my sister still has another semester to go at the university she simply doesn't agree with the additional 2k they added to the debt. It just pisses me off that rather than respond they send some form letter to sue. We'll send them one more dv letter. Thanks for the input.
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# ? May 19, 2010 19:57 |
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I have a bit of an unusual situation. I have recently been contacted by a collector in regards to a credit card for under 10,000. I honestly don't know if the card is mine but I definitely don't recognize the amount. When I asked for the debt validation letter, he stated it was sent to me back in April. Here's the problem: I live in a different country. The address they sent the letter to belonged to a family member that I lived with over seven years ago who has been returning all of my mail. I told the collector that I needed a letter to validate if this is indeed mine, and he refused to do anything further. I asked for an address to send a letter to request the validation, he refused. I offered my current address to send a copy to me, he refused. I asked him to even send another to the previous address whereupon I would contact the relative and inform them to forward it to me, and he again refused. Personally, I think it's interesting that they had no problems with sending the debt validation to a known bad address, but when they want to settle/take me to court, they contact me without issue. It just reeks of bad faith and pretty much an attempt to circumvent my dispute rights so they can either settle or seek a judgement. Is this an issue that should be taken up with the State's Attorney's office where I used to live (since that's where the debt originated, that should be the jurisdiction, correct?), or should I contact a lawyer that I probably won't be able to afford?
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# ? May 20, 2010 03:37 |
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Unstable Pants posted:I have a bit of an unusual situation. Can you pull your credit report? That would have their information on it, or at least a name you can google. Next, record any phone calls you have with them. I'd talk to the gov'mint where you're living now; they're obligated to follow state laws where you currently live. Most of all, keep gathering information and evidence to use against them. If it does go to court, they have to sue you where you live now. It will be pretty easy to prove bad faith if they keep pulling these stunts, so get ready for it. From now on, stick to the line that you don't live at that old address, and nothing sent there will ever get to you. Your offer to have your relative forward it could be construed as it being a valid address.
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# ? May 20, 2010 04:38 |
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Problem is that I live in another country, not just another state. Wouldn't that make it prohibitively expensive to try to sue me here? Thanks for the quick response by the way. Just checked my US credit report. The only thing showing on there is a single chargeoff account in 09. That account is indeed mine, but the amounts don't jive. Plus the company contacting me is not the one on file. Unstable Pants fucked around with this message at 04:57 on May 20, 2010 |
# ? May 20, 2010 04:48 |
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gently caress 'em then. Go about your life and build up evidence for free money.
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# ? May 20, 2010 14:08 |
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Unstable Pants posted:Problem is that I live in another country, not just another state. Wouldn't that make it prohibitively expensive to try to sue me here? Seriously, gently caress 'em. I doubt wherever you are is going to arrest and extradite you over a civil case. If you plan on coming BACK to the US within the next 7 to 10 years, then you should do something about it, but none of these companies have any power over you whatsoever.
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# ? May 20, 2010 17:48 |
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I guess this would be the best place to ask this question, I am finally back to work and I want to get my credit back up to where it needs to be. I know I have a few things that shouldnt be on there, What is the best place to go to view my credit profile and dispute these charges and such. I know about "free credit report.com" but I am assuming there is a better option. Where would you guys recommend I go to get a good view of my credit profile from all three creditors and be able to dispute some of these charges and what not.
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# ? May 20, 2010 23:31 |
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KickStand posted:I guess this would be the best place to ask this question, I am finally back to work and I want to get my credit back up to where it needs to be. I know I have a few things that shouldnt be on there, What is the best place to go to view my credit profile and dispute these charges and such. I know about "free credit report.com" but I am assuming there is a better option. https://www.annualcreditreport.com Is the actual free credit report website. The other thing to do is get a credit monitoring service ( like the one Equifax has ) so you can be alerted when things change. If you get one of those make sure you get one that also lets you pull new credit reports whenever you like.
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# ? May 21, 2010 00:09 |
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ok, after sending out some DV letters last month I received a response today stating. "We are in receipt of your correspondence. Please be advised that ******** has put this account in hold status, while we obtain validation of the debt. Please be advised that ***** has requested your credit file to be updates as disputed. It will remain in disputed status until you receive validation of the debt from our office." They received my validation letter around April 29th. Do they have until the 29th to validate and then it becomes illegal to place it back on my report. Or is investigating enough?
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# ? May 21, 2010 00:23 |
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Short of contacting the clerk of court, is there any way to find out how long a garnishment is going to last or how much interest they're charging? Can they just garnish wages until the debt is paid? http://www.bcsalliance.com/ccpa_15usc1673.html is all I can find regarding limits to garnishments. I have received no paperwork from the court whatsoever. Iowa just uses the federal laws and has nothing to add. I have a hard time doing anything that requires calling people during business hours, I work 10 hour days and my breaks all fall after 5pm. It'd be nice to figure it out without having to call someone on my lovely cellphone because I can't afford a landline.
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# ? May 22, 2010 04:04 |
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Well imagine that. After all those impolite calls asking for someone who hasn't lived her in more than a decade, this time the caller went from rear end in a top hat to incredibly polite and helpful in the time it took to say FDCPA.
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# ? May 24, 2010 00:01 |
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TerminalSaint posted:Well imagine that. After all those impolite calls asking for someone who hasn't lived her in more than a decade, this time the caller went from rear end in a top hat to incredibly polite and helpful in the time it took to say FDCPA. It's pretty amazing how quickly things change when you mention the applicable laws. I made the mistake of taking out a payday loan, and quickly realized that trying to pay it off was futile, so I just closed my checking account. They called me EVERY SINGLE DAY for 3 years! Robo calls, too, where you have to wait on the line for someone, and they were calling my cellphone. After educating myself, I decided to do something. Next call, I stayed on the phone, told the girl that she was calling a cellphone, which in the state of Massachusetts is against the law to call more often than once a week. She copped an attitude and asked "What, are you a lawyer?" I calmly replied "Do you want to find out? Keep calling. This is also the only notification your company will receive that any and all future calls will be recorded as evidence to use in any legal action I choose to pursue. You should note that in your records, as I will not give this notification again." Her attitude changed, and that was the last call I've ever received from them. Shocking.
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# ? May 24, 2010 03:56 |
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NancyPants posted:Short of contacting the clerk of court, is there any way to find out how long a garnishment is going to last or how much interest they're charging? Can they just garnish wages until the debt is paid? You could send a request to the court in writing or the people who are garnishing your check, but outside of that calling is usually the best avenue.
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# ? May 24, 2010 13:27 |
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# ? May 12, 2024 19:59 |
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I hope someone can help. Here's my story:
What are my responsibilities for responding to the collection letter I received on May 3? If I must respond, what should I say?
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# ? May 24, 2010 15:08 |