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Stew Man Chew posted:I don't know poo poo about poo poo, but I would look very hard for that copy of paperwork as it's worth $13K.
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Sep 21, 2010 21:21
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Well worst case scenario is we don't move out and just pay the goddamn rent. So it's worth $7500. Still a lot of money.
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Sep 21, 2010 21:23
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Ok, looking for some advice. My parents-in-law are basically financially screwed, but they're now being sued. Relevant info: - State is KY - Amount is $1500, medical bills - The Plantiff appears to be the original creditor - The filers of the lawsuit are an outside firm So, with that in mind, here's my questions: - There's no court date listed, it just says "file a written response in 20 days or they get default judgement". Is that common? CubsWoo made it sound like there's normally a court date set automatically in the summons. - The debt is certainly theirs, but I'm positive they owe the hospital far more than $1500 - (underinsured for years with chronic conditions). Any idea why the hopital would only pursue this small sum? - The summons has no specific information regarding the total - not the timeframe, specific services rendered, etc. There's not even a mention of a filed exhibit on record. With that in mind, should the response basically ask the Hospital to prove the debt is theirs? I'm doubtful there's an out for them on this, especially because Kentucky seems to have some real gently caress-you-in-the-rear end debt laws (15 years SOL on unsecured debt? christ). But any advice would be appreciated. Crackbone fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Sep 23, 2010 |
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Sep 23, 2010 01:22
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Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it!Big Taint posted:Also, you could probably send them a letter saying that the statute of limitations has run out, and any further attempts to collect the debt are a violation of federal law. Then, if they continue to collect the debt in any way, send them a friendly intent to sue letter and invite them to settle. What I forgot to mention is that I was a resident of Ohio (now Kentucky). Ohio has a 6 year statute of limitations on written or oral accounts and 15 years on written contracts. Does anyone know what a Paypal account qualifies as? Maybe this all irrelevant, I don't know. Knightmare posted:Also I don't think they can go after it if you were 17 at the time. I was 17 at the time of the original transaction (as well as when I signed up) but 19 by the time it went to collections.
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Sep 25, 2010 01:14
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I'll try to be quick with this one... Boyfriend and his grandma, his legal guardian, had a joint credit card through Chase. She died, and as she was his last living relative, he became homeless and had no way to pay the card or receive notifications of it. To his knowledge, there was about a $700 balance on it before she died. Four years later, he finally got a debt collector's notice in the mail. They said the balance owed was $1,000+. I, being smart, made sure to follow up and ask for verification. On day 28, we finally got it back. I personally haven't checked over it to make sure it is solid, but we'll assume it is. What now? He can't afford to pay it off in one sum, and his line of thinking is that since it was also his grandmother's card, he should not be responsible for all of the debt. But, barring the grandma argument, what is the best approach? Negotiate a PFD, wait it out, etc? Also, he doesn't even have 50% right now, so it would be about 30 days before he could even begin to negotiate a PFD. How long does he have before they do a court summons? And do you think they will actually seriously pursue it if it is only $1,000? Also, it is not the original creditor. Thanks!
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Sep 25, 2010 06:37
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Doctor Claw posted:...He can't afford to pay it off in one sum, and his line of thinking is that since it was also his grandmother's card, he should not be responsible for all of the debt... Assuming your boyfriend was 18 years old or older, he should check the language of the contract he co-signed with his grandma when they got the card. However, I can save him some trouble. He is most definitely responsible for the entire debt, and he agreed to this in the paperwork he signed. As for the PFD, Cubswoo has said you should start at around 10% and work your way up from there. Here's the thing, he's already 4 years into this debt. Another 3 and it will be past the point of collection. Your boyfriend doesn't even have $1000 to his name, so what are the chances that in the next 3 years he is going to really be hurt by this bad mark on his credit? It's lame, and you should pay the debt you owe, but the reality is sometimes you are better off not paying. That doesn't make it right, but it is how it is sometimes. Do you know for sure that Chase still owns the debt, or have they sold it off?
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Sep 26, 2010 08:24
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After actually reading the documents: A) They don't seem to have their poo poo together. All they've actually provided is a month-to-month transaction ledger - they did not provide copies of the contracts, their legal right to collect, etc. etc. All they've given is balance statements, basically. Can't I write them back and say "Hey bro, this is cool and all but you never showed me how I agreed to this or how you're legally able to ask for this?" B) The total is $517 (late fees, I guess, tacked on to a $500 limit card) according to the transaction ledgers, but the debt collectors are asking for $1713. They have not provided any sort of documentation as to how they totaled the amount. Obviously, it is late fees and interest, but aren't they required to show the math? Because, one again, all I have is bill statements, basically, the last of which showing a total of $517. C) The documents list the "claim owner" as the original creditor, but all of the letters and information are coming from a law office. When I scooped them out online, instead of looking like a regular website for lawyers, it was a pretty shady website with "Call this number to pay on your debt now." So, it really looks like a debt collection thing, and I would assume if the bank still owned the debt they wouldn't be using some crappy debt collection website to convince their clients to pay. So, are month-to-month balance statements enough for him to have to pay? Or can I still this even more by writing back and asking for all the information I asked for originally. Also, will they really sue for $1,713? And how do I find out if this "law office" or if the bank owns the debt? Doctor Claw fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Sep 26, 2010 |
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Sep 26, 2010 10:29
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I have an old debt in another state (California). It's from a school I registered for and ended up never attending. I just received a letter saying that if I don't pay in 30 days, my account will be forwarded to the California Franchise Tax Board for collection, with a 33% collection charge being added. Is the Tax Board only capable of garnishing wages? Or can they act as a full collections agency? I don't live in CA. I'm going to send a dispute notice, but assuming they have proof, how do I deal with them as a government agency?
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Sep 26, 2010 19:25
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Had a nasty incident at work today, Looking for some advice. I work as a manager at a gym. This morning, we got a call asking if one of our trainers was in. The girl at the front desk said he was, assuming that the caller was a client of the trainer. The caller then abruptly hung up. About 45 minutes later one of the valets came in to report that a tow truck had hit one of our member's cars. Apparently the caller was from a towing company and just wanted to confirm that the trainer was there before he came to repossess the trainer's car. I don't know how exactly the tow truck ended up hitting a car, but he owned up to it and said his body shop would fix the damage. After the tow truck driver dropped off his card I asked him what exactly he was doing in our parking lot. he explained that he was hear to repossess a car, and proceeded to get very agitated. He asked me if I knew the Trainer, and repeatedly referred to the trainer as "a loving deadbeat". I have several questions stemming from this incident: 1) The parking lot is private property that we lease, is the tow truck allowed to come onto our property to collect a car without informing us? I know they don't have to inform the trainer until up to 24 hours after they collect it, but what about us? 2) Is the tow truck driver allowed to identify who the trainer is, and that he's in debt, seemingly with the intent to embarrass him? Is something like this covered by the FDCPA? 3) Where does he go from here? He's a great guy, but he's clearly in over his head. I'm not sure what other info I'd be able to provide. We're in New York, I don't believe he has made any attempt to deal with the debt since first defaulting.
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Sep 26, 2010 23:19
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So I had a MC when I was 18, was stupid, couldn't pay it, etc. My last payment on the card was in August of 2008, and the debt was sold, and I was served today. I'm in FL. My questions: -With the summons is a "Pre Legal Notification" from the debt collector and what I believe to be my actual last CC statement, which is from October 08. At that time I owed 2,180.39 (credit line was 1450, so mostly interest) In May 09 there is a sheet from the collector saying that the amout was up to 2304.48, and they were charging 11% interest. The suit itself says I owe "2180.39 with interest". Am I wrong in thinking that the collector can't charge interest? They also want "court costs and other damages"- is that legal? - I read the "You're being sued" post by CubsWoo, and it said to deny the numbered allegations. However, the first number says "This is an action for damages that is less than $5000", which seems to be really undeniable. Should I just use the boilerplate text, or do I need to leave that one out? - I want to fight this, but I've got a kid and a family, so I don't necessarily have "nothing to lose". The debt was all accrued by me when I was single, but I'm worried a) if they win, they can go after my husband, who is the sole provider at the moment (I'm a stay at home mom, zero income) and b) I'm scared of screwing something up and ending up having to pay even more. I'm going to try and contact low-income legal aid, but in the event I don't qualify- should I still try to contest it myself or is it not worth it?
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Sep 28, 2010 22:21
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arsonic posted:- I want to fight this, but I've got a kid and a family, so I don't necessarily have "nothing to lose". The debt was all accrued by me when I was single, but I'm worried a) if they win, they can go after my husband, who is the sole provider at the moment (I'm a stay at home mom, zero income) and b) I'm scared of screwing something up and ending up having to pay even more. I'm going to try and contact low-income legal aid, but in the event I don't qualify- should I still try to contest it myself or is it not worth it? I not completely sure about most of your post, however this part...yes, it is worth it to contest. Even if you show up to court with nothing, it's better than ignoring and hoping it goes away/giving up. I made that mistake and you will ALWAYS get the default judgement against you for however much the collector wants to bend you over for. I have read many places where people have shown up with nothing and have still had the case dismissed by the collector because they have no real paperwork either. It's sad that this thread kinda ground to a halt with help, but there are many resources elsewhere. Creditboards.com might be a good place to start. They have a full subforum dedicated to what to do after getting served.
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Sep 28, 2010 22:46
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I'm not an expert but I have some experience with this kind of thing. "Pre Legal Notification" just means that they want to send you to the legal department but legal departments are expensive so they send you to their intern. I sat in prelegal with one finance firm for half a year, receiving plenty of legal threats but never actually being sent to the legal departments. (Those assholes broke their end of the contract and I sent a letter telling them so, which is possible why I never heard from their legal department. So not your situation, but similar.) I've never heard of a collector being able to charge interest, but I think (again not expert) they can go for court costs, ie they have to pay their lawyer and they'll want you to do it instead. I'm pretty sure about this one because I've heard Clark Howard say it a number of times: Your husband absolutely positively can't be held responsible for a debt that you accrued yourself. If he didn't sign for the card, he can't be held responsible. They may not even know he exists even if your name is changed so don't talk about him when you deal with them. The worst thing you can do is not show up, that's an automatic guilty verdict. Even if you show up and plead guilty you may have to pay less than if you get the default judgment. If you want to contest this you may also want to check with the credit bureau and contest any reports that were made about your credit.
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Sep 29, 2010 03:25
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I have a question about defaulted student loans. In the same month that I graduated from college I had a run-in with the law which kept me out of the work force for 18 months. Since I never made a payment, the loans defaulted. A few months after I got a job, they started to garnish my wages. Now I've looked at my credit report and those student loans are scheduled to be dropped off from the report in 2 years. On my FICO report, the date that's being reported for last activity was in 2005. I graduated in 2003, should I contact the companies and tell them to remove those items from my credit report or just suck it up and wait 2 years?
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Sep 29, 2010 05:17
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tensai posted:I not completely sure about most of your post, however this part...yes, it is worth it to contest. Even if you show up to court with nothing, it's better than ignoring and hoping it goes away/giving up. I made that mistake and you will ALWAYS get the default judgement against you for however much the collector wants to bend you over for. I have read many places where people have shown up with nothing and have still had the case dismissed by the collector because they have no real paperwork either. I will definitely be showing up, don't worry. If anything I know not to ignore when a court asks you to show up, hah. I'm just afraid of putting in defenses that are wrong/have no basis in FL law- basically, them clearly seeing I don't really know what I'm doing, and that's just paperwork. I have even less of an idea of what I would do in the courtroom. Like, they sent the Pre-Legal notification from 09, some statement that looks like it was made in Quickbooks from 09 saying the collector bought the debt and was charging 11% on it, and the old statement from 08. No real proof of sale to them, no CC agreement, or anything like that. I just don't want to get hit for the debt AND tons of lawyer fees because I'm trying to play pro se laywer, I guess.
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Sep 29, 2010 12:43
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Someone I know recently got a phone call from some debt collectors asking them to give a note to his NEIGHBOR - this has to be illegal, right? Who might they report this to? Or is it not illegal?
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Oct 1, 2010 23:00
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LankyIndjun posted:Someone I know recently got a phone call from some debt collectors asking them to give a note to his NEIGHBOR - this has to be illegal, right? Who might they report this to? Or is it not illegal? Clearly from my posts in this thread, I am not a lawyer. That said, according to the FDCPA, yeah, looks like it. Check this link (http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/fair_debt_collection.html#4) for a full list of illegal collection practices, but this one applies I'd imagine. Contacting a third party who does not owe the debt, such as a relative, neighbor, or your employer. Co-signers to the debt, however, may be contacted by the debt collector. I skimmed through the actual act, and that appears to be correct, according to section 805 (and the whole FDCPA is here, if you want to check it out http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf) According to that expertlaw page, the neighbor who owes the debt could sue, or at the least report them to their State Atty. General or the FTC. Which were it me, I'd totally do.
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Oct 1, 2010 23:38
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The information in this thread got an old $1700 debt dismissed in court today. It works! Thanks.
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Oct 1, 2010 23:40
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So here's my question. I have a medical bill from early this year pop up on one of my reports. I called the company and talked to the guy, requesting a pay for delete letter. He told me that he'd send me a letter stating that it would be deleted from my credit report AFTER I paid it. Riight. So my question is, can I send both a debt verification letter AND a pay for delete letter request in one letter? Or should I do it separately?
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Oct 5, 2010 04:51
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Themagicmoogle posted:So here's my question. I have a medical bill from early this year pop up on one of my reports. I'm not very qualified to answer this, so take it as you will. Even if the debt is yours, there's nothing to lose by forcing a DV. Being how new the debt is there's a greater chance that they'll have the necessary paperwork (or it's still the OC, you didn't mention). Either way it's still worthy trying unless you're in a huge rush to get it off your report.
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Oct 5, 2010 13:00
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Smile posted:I don't even know where to start dealing with all this. A while back I had NCO Financial try to collect on me for something in the ballpark of $350 dollars. I didn't actually deal with the issue for well over 3 months, and finally send a Cease and Desist + DV letter. About 45 days later I got a letter from them stating that my account with them was considered closed.
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Oct 6, 2010 09:52
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arsonic posted:According to that expertlaw page, the neighbor who owes the debt could sue, or at the least report them to their State Atty. General or the FTC. Which were it me, I'd totally do. They can not discuss the debt, or that they are calling about a debt, to a third party without permission. Meaning if they say anything about why they are calling, it's a violation. They can contact third parties to try to get a hold of the actual person who owes the debt. So if the collector didn't say anything more than like: "Hey I'm having trouble getting hold of you neighbor, would you be able to give them a message to give me a call." the collector didn't do anything illegal.
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Oct 6, 2010 20:59
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I've had an outstanding debt from 2001 that's been bounced from debt collector to debt collector, and as time has gone on, the amount that I owe have fluctuated, from around $2000 to currently just under $1200. The current collector basically sends a letter every quarter requesting that I pay about $700 of it, but this time they sent a letter only requesting $100. Sounds like a good deal, but I really doubt it. Since 2001, I've built credit, paid my bills, and while my score is down a little because of my debt load (still pay everything on time) I rather not tack on any settlement to tank it even further, especially since the 01 debt has fallen off my reports years ago. Should I give them the $100 to end this once and for all or just keep ignoring them?
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Oct 10, 2010 18:03
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Ryokurin posted:I've had an outstanding debt from 2001 that's been bounced from debt collector to debt collector, and as time has gone on, the amount that I owe have fluctuated, from around $2000 to currently just under $1200. The current collector basically sends a letter every quarter requesting that I pay about $700 of it, but this time they sent a letter only requesting $100. Sounds like a good deal, but I really doubt it. At this point, I'd only give them the money if they will remove it completely rather than updating it to a paid settlement.
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Oct 10, 2010 19:42
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Ryokurin posted:I've had an outstanding debt from 2001 that's been bounced from debt collector to debt collector, and as time has gone on, the amount that I owe have fluctuated, from around $2000 to currently just under $1200. The current collector basically sends a letter every quarter requesting that I pay about $700 of it, but this time they sent a letter only requesting $100. Sounds like a good deal, but I really doubt it. At this point you would be paying them for what exactly? To stop contacting you by mail? The debt is off your record, it's done with. They can't collect on it anymore. They shouldn't even be trying. There would be no settlement, as they can't even bring it to trial. Paying anything on it will only be bad for you. Read up, but I am pretty sure they're not allowed to try to collect on a debt this old. Find out what the laws are and then quote that in a letter back to them demanding that they stop contacting you about it. That should be all you need to do.
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Oct 10, 2010 20:56
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Good lord, I have only read the first two pages but all the violations of the FDCPA are alarming. I am a debt collector, working for an agency that abides by the law. Here are some things you can sue for: 1.Must ask for account holder, than verify either last four digits of Social Security number OR a current or previous address. There can be more than one person with your first and last name so they have to verify, otherwise they are in violation of privacy laws. 1a.If you say "wrong number" or "no calls at work" a debt collector MUST mark the number as inactive. 1b.A verbal Cease and Desist is only valid in Wisconson 1c.If the last four of your SSN don't match up, tell them. An ethical collector will remove your number from the dialer. 2.After but not before they verify they have the correct person on the line, they must recite the Mini Miranda diclosure; "This is an attempt to collect a debt, any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This call may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance". 2a.Check and see if you live in a two-party consent state, you may be able to have a supervisor call you back on a non-recorded line. Keep in mind that a recording protects the consumer as well though. 2b.Certain state laws prohibit disclosure of debt to a spouse, even Arizona which is a community property state. Debt can only be disclosed to spouses in such states if we have verbal recorded consent from the debtor or Power of Attorney ifo. 2c.Never underestimate having someone to act as Power of Attorney. This goes for everything in life. 3.Must disclose original creditor, date origin, and current balance. 3a.Dispute of balance is different than dispute of debt. Good agencies will have the resources to track down your original contract. This post is getting very long so I will move on to state-specific laws. CA- No messages left on voice mail or with people other than the debtor or his or her spouse. Community property state that allows spousal disclosure. TX- Dispute forms must be provided to the debtor upon request. Prohibition of the word "action" being used by a collector. Community property state that allows spousal disclosure. AZ- No place of employment calls unless reasonable efforts have been made to contact at another number. I believe it's protected by call frequency too, but you may need to check. Only community property state that does not allow spousal disclosure without permission from debtor. I think it's Mississippi, but I know it's one of the M states. I'm tired and I don't have my notes in front of me.- No collections on Out-of-Statute accounts. WI- Only state where a verbal C&D will stop calls. Collector may not enlist a third party to get the debtor to return the call. This includes attempts to get a different contact number. EVERYWHERE- Never disclose the debt to anyone other than the debtor, their spouse in the states that allow it, their attorney, POA, or parent if the debtor is under 18 without express verbal permission from the debtor. Must terminate the call if the debtor states it is not a good time. Must respect the fact that some debtors cannot take such calls at work. Must give Mini Miranda disclosure on first contact, the company I work for has a policy that we do it with each call. Provide a letter when a payment arangement is made. Must refrain from abusive language and conduct. Cannot say we will be reporting to the credit bureau (or suing) if we do not intend to do so. Cannot call before 8am or after 9pm. If unable to make arangements to pay at the time, must inform the consumer that the collection efforts will continue. Take the bad collectors to court. They make my job that much more difficult. If you work with good honest collectors, alot of times you can only be liable for the original credit limit if not less. I have personally been able to give folks settlements and deletions at about 20% of the balance owed. That's pretty much the credit limit and about one month of intrest on a 2-year-old debt. Right now certain people who borrowed 500bones and wound up with alot of interest (balance of 1025 total) I have been able to clear up for about 325. Good ones will work with you, they want you to secure payment over the phone because they get bonuses, but even if you send in a money order it still goes toward their numbers. Just be aware, because the bad ones are out there. By the way, Portfolio Recovery is the worst agency. They violated about three laws in the one phone call they had to me.
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Oct 12, 2010 04:55
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Good reads all around. I haven't gone to collections yet, but I'm sure I will. I have about 12K on 4 different cards. I recently (within the past couple of months) lost my job and have gotten another one but with less hours. I'm barely making enough to cover my rent, expenses, food, etc. And I just can't keep payments. I've been making payments, some even more than the minimum for the past 5 years and it just never feels like it's going down. I've got companies calling me five or more times a day, on my cell, from 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. What are my options? It'd be great, in happy magical land of theory, to pay all of these off but that is not an option now or really any time soon. I eventually want to save up enough to settle but when does it get to that point? Will the original creditors settle with me ? What are my options at this point? I know I can't take a loan out or do any consolidation since I imagine my credit score (which was at one point decent enough for me to take out private student loans with no cosigner) is poo poo. I just feel really lost and any advice is appreciated. I have always been somewhat responsible and hadn't had many, if any late payments in the past 5-6 years of having these cards and have ALWAYS paid more than the minimum, but not getting anywhere with it (interest rates = ridiculous). Regardless I've been treated like utter dirt because of this one mess up. :/
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Oct 12, 2010 22:55
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When you get a few months delinquent, they start sending you offers to settle. My experience is that they'll offer paying 30-50% of the principal to settle, but you could try counter-offering less. I'm in a similar situation, I make barely enough money to cover expenses, and I haven't paid on my cards in about nine months. They're starting to get charged off, and collection agencies are sending me Dunning letters. I'm being a good boy and sending my verification requests. So far one company has failed to respond within 30 days. Go ahead and try to collect on me, NCO Financial.
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Oct 14, 2010 14:40
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I feel like I should post here given that advice can never really hurt. Some relevant back information about me. I'm a Mexican citizen studying in the US on a student visa. Therefore I dont have a social security number. Part of the requirements for the student visa is to purchase medical insurance, which the school conveniently tells you with what company to get it with, and you pay directly to the school. A little more than a year ago, june 2009 to be exact, I cut my hand pretty bad and ended up in the ER in the wee hours of the mourning. Upon entering the ER I gave all my info; address, telephone number and such. An important note is that at the tome I had no address, I lived in the dorms the year prior and was sleeping in my friends coach during the summer, but seeing as my medical insurance had the dorms as my address, I gave them that one. i also gave them my medical insurance card. I eventually get close to 30 stitches in my hand and when I'm free to go they stop me right at the exit about paying this. I tell them I have insurance and they check and see that they already had a photocopy of the card i had shown them earlier, so they send me off. A couple months later, I dont really remember the exact date, I got a call about some medical bills I owed. I told them I was confused cause I had insurance and I was expecting the insurance company to pay. They told me the insurance company had already paid most of it and i still owed around 250. the lady gave me the option of 50 dollar monthly payments. they got my new apartment's address as well. This was during the fall 09 semester. I forgot to mention, the payments were to be made directly to the hospital, so I'm guessing it was the original creditor that was making the call. Because I'm a foreign college student, I cant really work or make an income so i couldn't. So a combination of this paired with forgetting about the debt made me not pay. If I had or even have the extra cash to pay it I would, but that's certainly not the case as I struggle to even feed myself some times. So after a few months it's the next school semester and I changed address again. I start getting calls for an unknown number. And because I very rarely answer calls from numbers I do not have saved in my contacts, i let it go to my voice mail. I always got the same voice mail saying "We have an important message for (Butchered way of saying my name), this is not a sells or marketing call, please call back and give your phone number as reference" or something really close to that. I never called back because my thought process was that if it was something truely important, a person and not a machine would be making the call. This continued for the whole semester and summer and I never called back and made me answer unknown numbers even less. Every time I would get the same recorded message in my voice mail. Now, this semester the calls practically stopped. Exactly two weeks ago I got a call from an unknown number at like 8:30 in the mourning. i was with a buddy of mine still awake and sorta drunk from the night before. When my phone rang and saw it wasn't one of my contacts and it wasn't from one of the local area codes i just put my cell phone down. My friend told me why I wasn't gonna pick up and told him i didnt answer calls from unknown numbers and I just let them go to my voice mail. he tells me he'd answer and i play along and give me my phone. So he answers and his english isn't really that good so I just hear him say no this is not him and hands me the phone. I answer with a hello. The lady at the other end asks me if I'm me. Being tired as hell cause of no sleep and a killer party i say no, not wanting to deal with this at the moment. I tell her it's my friend and he left his phone at my place. She tells me her name and gives me a reference number and tells me to tell "my friend" to call back and even asks me at what time he could call back. i tell her I have no idea and that's that. Pf course me being the not caring type and a lot more of the forgetful type, i never called back. Since then I haven't had a single call, and that was pretty much the only human contact and it wasn't even allegedly me. Now, this thread has piqued my interest in the whole collection agency department. So I'm wondering if I could get any sort of advice to how to deal with this in the future. My current game plan at the moment is the same one I've had for a while and that is to ignore it. So now after reading about all these stories about the debt collectors actually paying you I've become curious as if there's a way for me not to pay this. The phone number I use isn't even mine, my aunt pays for it and she lives at the other side of the country. The only information they have of mine is my name and address. I dont remember if I showed any form of ID at the hospital, but if I did it was my Mexican driver's license at most. So they definitively dont have my passport or visa number. And of course I'm on my third address different from the one I originally gave. So how should i proceed if they call me again? And wow, this post became way longer than what I intended.
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Oct 16, 2010 08:47
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HD30 posted:So how should i proceed if they call me again? Just keep ignoring the calls. You don't have any credit to worry about anyway right? So paying any amount to them would be just to get the phone calls to stop? If you really have no money like you say, then that's just a waste. It doesn't take any effort to ignore phone calls. You could also get your cell phone number changed rather easily. If at some point you graduate and can work and want to start building credit, then you might need to deal with this. At that point you could offer them a pay for delete, assuming it even shows up on your credit report.
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Oct 16, 2010 17:05
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HD30 posted:I feel like I should post here given that advice can never really hurt. Easier and cheaper than changing your phone number (because they WILL find out your new number) is sending them a written cease and desist. Next time they call, get their mailing address. If they receive a written C&D they can't call you again without violating the FDCPA. They will probably still send letters, but you can just chunk them. You won't be sued over 250 dollars, and it may even be a debt that is not eligible for reporting to your credit.
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Oct 16, 2010 18:15
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dvgrhl posted:Just keep ignoring the calls. You don't have any credit to worry about anyway right? So paying any amount to them would be just to get the phone calls to stop? If you really have no money like you say, then that's just a waste. It doesn't take any effort to ignore phone calls. You could also get your cell phone number changed rather easily. I'm sorry, I don't get it. Why don't you get this sorted? Either call up the insurance company and get them to pay the rest of what they owe, or if its in your policy, you legitimately owe it and should just pony up for the medical work you had done. I think I'm missing why you don't feel that the hospital should have money for something they did in good faith. I'm all for people stopping scummy collectors getting what they've paid bugger all for, but I don't agree that people should skip out on original collectors, especially when it doesn't seem like they've broken any rules so far.
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Oct 17, 2010 08:45
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Mofette posted:I'm sorry, I don't get it.
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Oct 17, 2010 20:01
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Something recently happen to my mom that doesn't make any sense. She had an old debt dispute from years ago. She recently moved, set up a new bank account in her new state and all that jazz. A few days ago she noticed that her funds were taken out of the bank account due to a court order. The bank was Wells Fargo in case anyone was wondering. Apparently this company got a judgement against her, found her bank account (with the exact amount in it) and was able to get the court to award the money. It was over $3,000. Almost all the money in the account except a couple hundred. She never was notified of a court appearance. The company "claimed" they couldn't find her but yet had all of her banking details? The company was Arrow Financial. They'd apparently bought the debt from the original creditor who claimed to have a debt with my mother. Needless to say my mom is currently flat out broke because of this and is trying desperately to keep her head above water and somehow get enough money to sue the gently caress out of this company for fraud. If they had her bank account information they most certainly knew how to contact her. Even the court clerk my mom talked to on the phone admitted that! Oh and my mom said gently caress you Wells Fargo and closed the account and somehow got put on this DO NOT BANK list where no one will give her a banking account now for people that write bad checks. She hasn't wrote a bad check this century and never had this problem before. She suspects Wells Fargo did it because they were pissed she closed the account. How the gently caress did they get her banking information in the first place? That is the scary part of this.
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Oct 18, 2010 08:10
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Manic Shampoo posted:Something recently happen to my mom that doesn't make any sense. She can file an objection to the garnishment and get a court date that way. Here in MI there doesn't have to be a court date to get a garnishment. If they've gotten a judgment they can file garnishments left and right.
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Oct 18, 2010 12:13
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A good attorney could get an injunction filed immediately that would get her the money back for the time being. Even with the ability to garnish wages, creditors aren't supposed to be allowed to take the full amount if it will prevent you from paying for day to day items, rent/mortgage, and other debt obligations.
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Oct 18, 2010 19:01
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Manic Shampoo posted:Something recently happen to my mom that doesn't make any sense. The bank info would be in her credit report. She should call Wells Fargo - I don't know what state you're in, but they probably didn't give the money to the creditor, they would have frozen it or put it in a holding account. Here they would have taken the money out and held it for 45 days, during which time your mom could file for an exemption based on her income or other factors (the form has a checklist). The bank should have sent her a notice advising her of this, so if they didn't, have her call them and then file for an exemption. Just closing the account does no good, and it may have made it worse if they have no way to get in touch with her.
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Oct 19, 2010 21:31
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Just chiming in to say that I followed the information in this thread and it worked out in my favor. This morning I was sued by Gateway hospital for some medical bills from last year when I dislocated my shoulder and tore some ligaments. I walked into the courtroom completely unprepared to speak intelligently with regards to my defense. My total bills were about $2500. The lawyer, shocked that I even showed up, quickly pulled me outside the courtroom. He tried to set up a payment plan with me. I told him that I was not going to acknowledge that the debt was mine in the first place. He told me that if I didn't settle it today that it would go trial, it would destroy my credit rating, and I would have to pay a lot more in court costs. I then told him it was a chance I was willing to take. We both go back in the courtroom and wait. He continues to stare at me from across the room for about 10-15 minutes. I simply smiled at him and nodded. About 10 more minutes go by and they finally call our names. Before I can get up there he approached the judge and whispered some inaudible poo poo. The judge then proceeds to tell me that the plaintiff was dropping the case. The lawyer told me afterwards that he simply didn't have enough time to deal with a case for $2500 when he has several others involving $50,000 or more. TL;DR: I stood my ground and it worked out in my favor, absolving my debt to Gateway hospital.
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Oct 20, 2010 18:25
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Mother gently caress. I had two debts of my mine sold to credit agencies and ended up paying it off, how long does it take to see the effects it has on my report (as in, if they hosed me or not cause I want to check). One debt I just finished paying off in August and another I'm in the process of paying off and will be done by end of February next year. I decided to just go with a payment plans in hopes that they will clear the reports but reading the OP makes me think otherwise. Debts were an Amex card for 1670~ which was paid off in Sept and another debt by Citi which was 9000~ but I settled for 3300 and I'm slowly paying that off. My biggest concern is just the affects on my credit report since it's in the 400s. If anything, is there anything I can do if the tradeline stays on the report even if I paid off everything? edit: http://www.ehow.com/how_5345604_prove-paid-debt.html this looks pretty accurate for me...can anyone confirm? cLin fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Oct 20, 2010 |
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Oct 20, 2010 20:58
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Quick question here, but first a little background. I (attempted) to sell a WoW account a few months back. Guy contacted me through Craigslist, wasn't local so I was sure it was a scam, but I was in need of cash so I made him gift me the payment over PayPal. Got the check, cashed it, and everything was good. Well, even though it was a gift payment and it clearly said on the PayPal screen the seller was ineligible for a refund, he somehow got one and I ended up owning PayPal the balance. Well, he already got the account, so gently caress that. Fast forward and I received a letter from Pinnacle Financial Services telling me I owed the money. I sent them a validation letter via certified mail and never got a response. That was July 12th. Just the other day I received another letter for the SAME debt but from NCO Financial. Is this legit? Did Pinnacle back out and so PayPal went with someone else? I can't check my credit right now because Equifax is giving me this error- https://fact.econsumer.equifax.com/fact/landing.ehtml so I don't know if both are reporting or whatever. Any advice?
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Oct 22, 2010 19:58
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Brady posted:Quick question here, but first a little background. Pinnacle may have sold it, start over with a DV to NCO. Check your credit when you can.
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Nov 2, 2010 18:54
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