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Holy poo poo it's been a month! When I sent out my DV I photocopied the original green receipt and the paper receipt showing what I paid. The dates on them are 12/3/10. Like I've said before, on the green receipt mailed to me after it got delivered, there is no date (or postage marks) on it. So.. its been six weeks. Do I just re-contact all three CRA's and go "hey, I asked them to verify, I got no response, so take it off my record!"? e. I just looked and Northland Group was never on there, but Capital One still is. The last four of the account number is the same on the NG collection letter as the Capital One account. Since NG didn't reply, Capital One should come off, yes? Capital One says it updated its information on 1/2011..? ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jan 14, 2011 |
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Jan 14, 2011 16:57
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A friend of mine lives in the same town as someone with the same first and last name as him. Apparently this other guy is up to his eyes in debt and my friend gets collections calls all the time from agencies looking for the other guy. Telling the collectors that they have the right name but the wrong guy hasn't been working too well. What should he do to get them off his back and perhaps collect a nice settlement for his troubles? He's in a two-party state, so could he just answer the calls with "This call may be recorded for my records. Please hang up if you do not agree to this", then start recording to document violations?
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Jan 19, 2011 20:29
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2508084 posted:So.. its been six weeks. Do I just re-contact all three CRA's and go "hey, I asked them to verify, I got no response, so take it off my record!"? In theory, the CA's shouldn't be able to validate. If they do without first sending you something, they're violating the FDCPA. The best way to go about this in the future, is to send your dispute to the CRA as soon as you get the green card from the CA. Since it's been over six weeks, they have 30 days on top of the time you've already given them. Disputing when you get the green card gives them 30 days. If they validate to the CRA without validating to you, you've got them on violations and a strong case to go "Well, well, well... how did they validate this with you, if they couldn't validate this with me?" to the CRA's. quote:e. I just looked and Northland Group was never on there, but Capital One still is. The last four of the account number is the same on the NG collection letter as the Capital One account. Since NG didn't reply, Capital One should come off, yes? Capital One says it updated its information on 1/2011..? Hillridge posted:A friend of mine lives in the same town as someone with the same first and last name as him. Apparently this other guy is up to his eyes in debt and my friend gets collections calls all the time from agencies looking for the other guy. Of course... if your friend strikes a deal with the person they're actually looking for, where they split the violation money in exchange for testifying about third-party disclosure, that's different. To make the calls stop, tell your friend to complain to the Attorney General in the state where the calls are going to, as well as the state where the collection agency is located (if possible).
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Jan 20, 2011 06:43
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TWiNKiE posted:Totally depends on the status of the account. If Capital One hasn't actually sold it, there's no reason to expect them to delete the tradeline. So they can just.. loan my debt to companies and when they don't verify they don't take it off. Why is NG contacting me about a debt they don't own but want payment for? 
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Jan 20, 2011 14:57
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2508084 posted:So they can just.. loan my debt to companies and when they don't verify they don't take it off. Why is NG contacting me about a debt they don't own but want payment for? They can say "Okay, gently caress this. We're paying our employees $12 an hour to go after these people. Northland Group says they'll harass them in exchange for 7% of what they recover. Go for it." NG has to abide by the law. However, when you say "gently caress you, prove it.", it's likely they went back to Capital One and said "Nevermind. This guy has a pulse, and he's not worth the effort for us. You deal with him." If NG was never reporting in the first place, there's not much they have to do besides tell Capital One that you disputed. Capital One basically has three choices at that point: 1) Try again internally. 2) Get a more aggressive collector to go after you. 3) Decide that they're not getting anything out of you, sell the debt to someone else, and write off the difference at tax time.
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Jan 20, 2011 19:04
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So should I dispute it again? I disputed it through the CRA's in October to see what shook loose. One disappeared, then I sent a DV to NG who never replied. Do I ask for verification from Cap1 again?
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Jan 21, 2011 04:47
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A debt collector has been calling my house, looking for a family member who does not and never has lived with us. It's been on average 3 calls per day - what can I do to stop this? A verbal "gently caress off, he doesn't live here" hasn't stopped the calls. Would the next best step be sending a letter to the CA telling them in writing to gently caress off?
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Jan 21, 2011 06:38
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2508084 posted:So should I dispute it again? I disputed it through the CRA's in October to see what shook loose. One disappeared, then I sent a DV to NG who never replied. Do I ask for verification from Cap1 again? Based on what I've read, it looks like you were issued a Capital One card that you asked for when you were 18, and the balance wasn't paid off. You can't DV an OC. Ever. (Well, you can, but they have absolutely no reason to answer it.) Ulysses S. Grant posted:A debt collector has been calling my house, looking for a family member who does not and never has lived with us. It's been on average 3 calls per day - what can I do to stop this? A verbal "gently caress off, he doesn't live here" hasn't stopped the calls. Would the next best step be sending a letter to the CA telling them in writing to gently caress off?
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Jan 21, 2011 09:24
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Here is sort of an odd predicament that my wife and I are in, and need suggestions for the best course of action we should look at doing. My wife's mother took out a credit card in her name without us knowing back in 2005(maybe early 2006), and we had no clue about it until 2007-ish when we went to get a car loan and were denied because we owed upwards of $4500 for a credit card that we didn't apply for, and another $3000 or so for my wife's old credit card(which her mother got a hold of and ran up without paying on, also without telling us). After confronting her, she admitted to both as well as hiding the collection letters sent to her house(where both cards were registered). We paid off the $3000 one with tax returns one year(stupid on our part, but hindsight is always better), and her mother agreed to make payments on the one she took out illegitimately(again, stupid). Fast forward to now, she stops making payments randomly for 6-7 months at a time, and keeps sending $20-25 when she can afford it and we're getting nowhere. She has recently stopped making payments again and we're sick of this. We want to get this taken care of so we can begin to rebuild her credit, because it's horrible at this point and has stopped us from any lending company even considering us for a loan. We got a letter from a lawyer in the mail recently (probably because her mom either didn't pay or wasn't paying enough fast enough) threatening to garnish my wife's wages if we didn't pay the amount they want to settle for, $2500~ or so. It mentions the amount owed on the debt is at $3,075. At this point, I'm fairly certain the debt has been sold at least once, and is currently owned by group called Midland Funding but have no clue as to how many other times it has been sold over the years. We are also paranoid of having our bank accounts frozen. My sister-in-law had her bank account frozen with no prior notice sent to our address for over a month and a half while she worked with lawyers to help unfreeze it, and we would be financially devastated if this happened, not being able to reach any of our savings and whatnot. What might be the best way to approach handling this situation? My wife just wants to pay it and get them off our backs with our tax returns, however I'm against paying out $2500 to a company for a credit card we didn't even take out in the first place. Her mother is on disability and has hardly any money leftover after paying bills, and only seems to make the smallest payments possible when we strong-arm her into it so there is little chance of her actually paying off the debt. Should we attempt to "pay for delete" and settle for as low as possible? My wife likes the idea of sending a debt verification letter, similar to the one shown here. I'm against paying anything, but we have to do something. We would like to buy a house in the next few years and want to start the process of rebuilding her credit, even if only a little bit. We live in Illinois, and are debating contacting a set of local free attorneys who work with low income families such as ourselves, but want some suggestions from another source as well. Thanks for any suggestions in advance!
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Jan 22, 2011 00:04
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Yarrbossa posted:Mom opened a credit card. It's one thing to say "I didn't open this account, I have no idea where it came from, and you can't prove otherwise." It's something else to say "I didn't open this account, I have no idea where it came from, but I'll make half-assed payments on any bill that comes my way." If there are no ties to your wife (other than the fraudulent application itself), send a letter to the lawyer and say you didn't open the account and want a copy of the application. Otherwise, counteroffer $500 and deletion and go up from there. Midland likes to sue, but they're easy to trick. Next time Mom opens an account, either file a police report, or be prepared to do this dance again. Edit: It certainly wouldn't hurt to talk to a legal assistance person, but more likely than not, they're going to push you to throw your mother in law under the bus. Simply put: telling you to do anything else would pose an ethical problem for most lawyers. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Jan 22, 2011 |
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Jan 22, 2011 07:11
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Good god, find out if you're actually traceable to this account. If you are, do a standard debt validation and a pay for delete offer. If not, do a debt validation letter and send them a picture of your balls telling them to suck it.
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Jan 22, 2011 09:35
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Yarrbossa posted:I'm against paying anything, but we have to do something. We would like to buy a house in the next few years and want to start the process of rebuilding her credit, even if only a little bit. You might be able to pay nothing, there was a goon a while ago that had her dad do similar type of things (archive access required) and was able to disclaim the debts effectively. However, as I recall the companies wanted to see a police report. Is that something you and your wife are willing to do against your mother-in-law, legally accuse her of identity theft? There's also the fact that it's in collection, and they tend to care less about the original lender being defrauded by identity theft and more about getting a return on their purchase of the debt. You might also put a fraud alert on your wife's credit report either way. It should make it harder for your mother-in-law to do again. It sounds like her financial situation hasn't changed, and she's done it once already...
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Jan 22, 2011 15:30
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I do not believe that we ever made a payment from our accounts(I'm against paying anything for it). Can we call and verify this sort of thing? Her mother usually just made payments with a money order rather than a checking account over the phone.fordan posted:However, as I recall the companies wanted to see a police report. Is that something you and your wife are willing to do against your mother-in-law, legally accuse her of identity theft? There's no way my wife will file a police report against her mother. It's out of the question as far as she's concerned. If this ever happens again, things might change but she doesn't want to get into that situation and possibly ruin her mothers relationship with our daughter. Knightmare posted:Good god, find out if you're actually traceable to this account. Do we want to call Midland or the lawyers to ask about whether or not there is any link to us? Should we just send a letter and say "We did not open this account, and would like to see any evidence you have otherwise including the original credit application"? Should we give them a time frame (30 days) to respond, and if we don't hear anything back...should we contact Midland(or the lawyers) again demanding it be taken off? Sorry for all the questions, we've just never dealt with anything like this before. It's hopeful that they shouldn't have any link from my wife to this account, giving us some sort of case. It's sad that we're in this mess in the first place... Thanks for the suggestions, we really appreciate it.
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Jan 22, 2011 16:41
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Yarrbossa posted:There's no way my wife will file a police report against her mother. It's out of the question as far as she's concerned. If this ever happens again, things might change but she doesn't want to get into that situation and possibly ruin her mothers relationship with our daughter. Gotta love how kids defend their parents when they commit felonies against them.
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Jan 23, 2011 00:55
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Yarrbossa posted:Do we want to call Midland or the lawyers to ask about whether or not there is any link to us? Should we just send a letter and say "We did not open this account, and would like to see any evidence you have otherwise including the original credit application"? Should we give them a time frame (30 days) to respond, and if we don't hear anything back...should we contact Midland(or the lawyers) again demanding it be taken off? When were you first contacted by this company? There's a 30-day window where they're required to respond to debt verification requests, outside of which they don't legally have to respond. Either way, writing a letter to the lawyer (who is representing Midland?) asking for verification and stating you (your wife) never applied for the card and never used it is probably useful. Send it certified, return receipt requested. Best case, they'll go after your MIL based on the address of the statements. Second best, they ask you who might have done it and you have to throw your MIL under the bus without filing a police report. Worst case, they'll ask for a police report, at which point you explain you're not going to throw your MIL under a legal bus, and work out a settlement. First two cases, you can get it off your wife's credit report once they go after your MIL for the debt. If you work out a settlement, it'll hit your wife's credit report unless you can get a pay-for-delete as part of the settlement. I'm not sure giving them a time limit to respond in is useful. It's not like you can say "Ha, ha! You didn't respond inside my arbitrary window so your debt is null and void!" There's not even a window in which they must respond to the debt verification letter; they just can't continue the collection process until they provide it. They on the other hand can give you a deadline since the weapon they're threatening you with, a lawsuit, can be filed at any time, so the deadline is in theory a courtesy. edit: If it takes them over 30 days, I'd probably contest the debt with the credit reporting agencies. But you're not impacting their ability to collect from you if they do eventually get verification. Any chance the MIL will either voluntarily consent to allow a police report to be filed if you mention the problem or tell the creditor she was the one who opened the account? The latter option is a bit tricky since she's essentially confessing to a crime, but doing it to a private party who probably wouldn't go to the police. hobbesmaster posted:Gotta love how kids defend their parents when they commit felonies against them. I can't blame his wife for not wanting to accuse her mom of a Class 2 Felony (thought identity theft was a misdemeanor until I found this chart). It's an icky situation any way you go. fordan fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Jan 23, 2011 |
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Jan 23, 2011 15:32
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A hopefully easy question. I sent a PFD letter to a collector a couple weeks ago. Today, I get a form letter pretty much stating that they acknowledge my letter and they offer me a settlement of half. They did previously verify this debt. However, I know if I pay their settlement, all I'm going to get is a "settled" tradeline. Is there any specific followup letter I should send them, again telling them that it will only be paid if it gets deleted?
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Jan 25, 2011 01:16
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tensai posted:A hopefully easy question. I sent a PFD letter to a collector a couple weeks ago. Today, I get a form letter pretty much stating that they acknowledge my letter and they offer me a settlement of half. They did previously verify this debt. However, I know if I pay their settlement, all I'm going to get is a "settled" tradeline. Is there any specific followup letter I should send them, again telling them that it will only be paid if it gets deleted?
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Jan 25, 2011 06:06
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I offered 25%. It's only $200 total, but they send me the same form letter they've sent before with a $125 settlement and "account will be deemed settled".
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Jan 25, 2011 07:49
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tensai posted:I offered 25%. It's only $200 total, but they send me the same form letter they've sent before with a $125 settlement and "account will be deemed settled".
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Jan 25, 2011 22:19
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I'm applying for a house in about two weeks and one thing the lister has specified will result in auto-denial is unpaid utility debt on a credit report. I've got $115 that has been passed to a collection agency. The house lister mentioned proof of payment will excuse the negative entry. What is the best way to go about getting this taken care of? I'd love to negotiate a pay for delete, but I'm not sure I have the time.
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Jan 28, 2011 18:38
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Tigren posted:I'm applying for a house in about two weeks and one thing the lister has specified will result in auto-denial is unpaid utility debt on a credit report. I've got $115 that has been passed to a collection agency. The house lister mentioned proof of payment will excuse the negative entry. What is the best way to go about getting this taken care of? I'd love to negotiate a pay for delete, but I'm not sure I have the time. What worked for me, was getting a money order made out to the agency, and giving the rental office a photocopy. Then I took the actual money order back to the bank and said MY GIRLFRIEND had already paid, got my money back, and sent a DV to the collection agency instead. 
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Jan 28, 2011 19:10
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CubsWoo posted:You can still dispute, but since it's 30 days after their first contact/dunning letter, they have no obligation to respond to your request. You can bring up in court that they refuse to validate, and most firms will still validate the debt on request, but that may also put you on their radar if they've not been bothering you about the debt recently. Sorry, I should have specified that at least three of them already are being re-aged. And yes, I would prefer to fix my score now or as soon as possible, as I'm looking to rent a new place and nearly everywhere I look wants to run a credit check. Tell me if I'm heading in the right direction, but my ideal plan would be to fire off validation and dispute letters according to this flowchart and hope that since a lot of these debts are old and have probably be re-sold several times, that the JDB's won't be able to validate and they will (hopefully) get dropped. Here are the issues I feel like are hindering me: - At least 3 of these debts originated 4-5+ years ago, and I did not keep any sort of records. The account numbers on my credit report are all truncated and listed like "8347XXXXX" and so I don't have the full # to put in the validation letter - Not having any documentation also means I can't prove that they're being re-aged Thoughts? I really appreciate any advice, just want to at least put something in motion even if it will take a while to get resolved. Here are a list of the current accounts listed in collection on my report, along with the amount and the timeframe that *I* think the original debt goes back to. ASSET ACCEPTANCE LLC Amount: 9,375 (Originally a 4,000 credit card) Date Opened: listed as 7/1/2010, actual date more like 2005/6 LVNV FUNDING LLC Amount: 942 (Unsure, but think it was originally 800 PayPal credit) Date Opened: 7/1/2008, actual date more like 2005/6 AMSHER COLLECTIONS Amount: 389 Date Opened: listed as 6/1/2009, unsure but may be accurate. I suspect it might be double-listed as one of the other 300ish debts listed below, however MIDLAND CREDIT MGMT Amount: 324 (unsure) Date Opened: 6/1/2010, not positive but it's at least 3+ years old NCO FINANCIAL Amount: 543 (unsure) Date Opened: 12/1/2007, this may be accurate PARSON BISHOP COLLECTIONS Amount: 300 (unsure) Date Opened: 12/1/2007, might also be accurate Intrepid fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jan 31, 2011 |
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Jan 31, 2011 03:24
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Intrepid posted:Tell me if I'm heading in the right direction, but my ideal plan would be to fire off validation and dispute letters according to this flowchart and hope that since a lot of these debts are old and have probably be re-sold several times, that the JDB's won't be able to validate and they will (hopefully) get dropped. But, if you're out of that 30-day window, the CA's and JDB's have no legal requirement to get back to you in 30 days. quote:Here are the issues I feel like are hindering me: For the sake of credit repair, it's why you have to keep hounding them. Eventually, they have to produce something credible. In the absence of that, they need to leave you alone. Whatever they're sending you is whatever you need to DV them -- after all, the data they have came from somewhere, and they should be able to match up 8347XXXXX with your name and address. Whatever you do, don't help them by verifying any information that they don't already have. If they're sending to your house, they obviously have your address, but if they dream up some horseshit about needing your SSN to "verify", refuse. They believe you are who they think you are enough to demand money from you. quote:Thoughts? I really appreciate any advice, just want to at least put something in motion even if it will take a while to get resolved. Here are a list of the current accounts listed in collection on my report, along with the amount and the timeframe that *I* think the original debt goes back to. Let's start with the good news... For all but Asset, you're probably going to be able to knock those debts off of your report. DV them all, pester them often, and the ones that don't fold immediately will probably give up if you're a big enough pain in their rear end. After you DV them once, do it again when 45 days pass, if they don't respond. If they do respond, bitch about what they responded with. You could probably send "nutcase" letters to them where you appear to be insane by threatening to complain to the BBB, FTC, AG, NACA, your senator, congressperson, Oprah, the local news station, and anyone else you can think of in the same letter. And the bad news? Asset is probably going to sue you, and soon. They'll try the easy way for about six months, then they usually sue for debts $2,000 or more. That's where the * above comes from. There are (basically) two schools of thought on sending out DV's: 1) You have a right to full validation, and should make them cough it up every time. Everyone cares that the negatives say you dispute the info, and it magically invalidates them. Period. 2) Validation is a great way to trick CA's in to violating, and give you a lot of insight as to what they're going to present to a judge if they decide to sue. But if you're within the statute of limitations, it also annoys the CA's and lets them know that they've definitely found you. Sometimes it's better to lay low, rather than wake the sleeping giant. At the end of the day, if and when Asset sues, they're going to have to bring the same docs to court that they'd need to validate with. Assuming they have them, and that you show up to challenge what they do (or don't) have.
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Jan 31, 2011 07:04
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I was recently served by an original creditor (Capital One credit card), who I haven't heard from in about 2 years. I last paid in Sept of 08 and live in Idaho. They're being represented by an attorney (who happens to be an ex-prosecutor). They're suing for about $200 more than the amount at the time of charge off, and asking for about $250 more in attorney fees. I've got no job and nothing better to do, so I'm fighting it. Most of the guides for lawsuits on the creditboards website are regarding third party collections, so I thought I'd also post here for advice. My question is how to opt for arbitration, as I'm fairly sure my credit card agreement included that as an option. I don't have access to the contract, and the complaint gave no documentation of any kind, just listed claims of how much is owed (about $700, plus $250 in legal fees, for a total of around $950). They'll have to provide the agreements in court, which means I should be able to look at it and argue that I opt for arbitration, right? Should I somehow add that to my affirmative defense section? I don't want to verify that there's a contract, just in case they can't produce it... Whovian Bookworm fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Jan 31, 2011 |
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Jan 31, 2011 21:44
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Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it. Just had a couple questions for clarification:TWiNKiE posted:That's pretty solid if you've just received your dunning letters, and why you should almost* always respond to the first dunning letter you receive with a DV. Out of curiosity, are they even able to prove if/when they sent said dunning letter? And even if so, who is to say that I actually received it as they probably haven't had my correct address for a while? I haven't received any notice about debts in well over a year or two at least. quote:Whatever they're sending you is whatever you need to DV them -- after all, the data they have came from somewhere, and they should be able to match up 8347XXXXX with your name and address. Whatever you do, don't help them by verifying any information that they don't already have. If they're sending to your house, they obviously have your address, but if they dream up some horseshit about needing your SSN to "verify", refuse. They believe you are who they think you are enough to demand money from you. Hmm.. since they haven't been sending my any correspondence or calling me for so long, I'm assuming that they've lost track of me altogether (or stopped trying?). I've moved around a ton in the last several years, even went overseas for a year. Like you said, I'd rather not hand anything to them on a platter like my address. I just opened a PO Box -- can I send letters to them with that as my return address? Or will they claim that they are unable to verify who I am because I don't provide them with a real one? quote:Asset is probably going to sue you, and soon. They'll try the easy way for about six months, then they usually sue for debts $2,000 or more. So I looked closer at my credit report and found that the date of last activity for the original debt that Asset is now trying to collect for (citibank cc) was in November 2005 - meaning that in my state of NY, it will become time-barred in November of this year if I'm not mistaken. Should I try to clear the other debts, and then wait until Nov. to file a validation/dispute against asset? quote:At the end of the day, if and when Asset sues, they're going to have to bring the same docs to court that they'd need to validate with. Assuming they have them, and that you show up to challenge what they do (or don't) have. Sort of devil's advocate to my previous question above - isn't asset a well-known shitbag JDB that hardly has the right to collect on what they say they do? And if so, why not just let them come at me and make them prove it?
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Jan 31, 2011 22:27
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Chouzan posted:My question is how to opt for arbitration... Most people want things out of arbitration. Intrepid posted:Out of curiosity, are they even able to prove if/when they sent said dunning letter? And even if so, who is to say that I actually received it as they probably haven't had my correct address for a while? I haven't received any notice about debts in well over a year or two at least. For the sake of a 1-2 punch by DV'ing and disputing with the CA's, you'll be well past the 30-day period anyway after you've gone back and forth with them arguing about whether or not you got their letter. quote:Hmm.. since they haven't been sending my any correspondence or calling me for so long, I'm assuming that they've lost track of me altogether (or stopped trying?). I've moved around a ton in the last several years, even went overseas for a year. Like you said, I'd rather not hand anything to them on a platter like my address. I just opened a PO Box -- can I send letters to them with that as my return address? Or will they claim that they are unable to verify who I am because I don't provide them with a real one? I still have my PO Box because I did exactly what you're suggesting. Use that as your address for all correspondance with them, and make sure your letters state that they can reply to that address. You can't always bet on their silence as them forgetting about you. Put yourself in their position. Parson Bishop might have paid $6 for your debt. Would you double that investment in postage, when the person clearly isn't interested in responding? Probably not. quote:So I looked closer at my credit report and found that the date of last activity for the original debt that Asset is now trying to collect for (citibank cc) was in November 2005 - meaning that in my state of NY, it will become time-barred in November of this year if I'm not mistaken. Should I try to clear the other debts, and then wait until Nov. to file a validation/dispute against asset? Are they calling / sending letters often? If not -- again, this is just me -- I wouldn't provoke them until December. On the debts that are relatively new, I'd offer 25% PFD's. quote:Sort of devil's advocate to my previous question above - isn't asset a well-known shitbag JDB that hardly has the right to collect on what they say they do? And if so, why not just let them come at me and make them prove it? As far as making them come prove it, that's probably what I'd do in your position. If the card was charged off last summer, I don't know that I'd try to wait them out. But when you're this close to the SOL, and they want almost twice the original debt... I mean, right off the bat, they're going to talk to you like paying $4,500 is some grand gesture on their part and not $500 more than you owed in the first place. Make them come to your state. Make them play by your state's rules. Make them explain to a judge how $4000 is $9300. Make them bring the application, and prove it wasn't opened by someone else.
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Jan 31, 2011 23:11
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TWiNKiE posted:Why on Earth would you want to do that? Maybe it's outdated, but early in the thread someone mentioned that arbitration was pro-consumer, and most contracts required the credit card company to pay for the arbitration: CubsWoo posted:If they pursue you for the debt (and they will, trust me) mention in any letters to them that you will choose to elect (and use 'elect,' that's important) arbitration to settle the matter privately. This sucks BoA into a black hole that they likely will not get out of - they need to pay for nearly the whole cost of the proceedings (you pay $250, and if you're at 300% of the poverty line or below, you get a waiver - AND BoA, as per your agreement, may need to forward you the money to begin as per the contract language!) and the climate of arbitrators has shifted very pro-consumer. BoA will not want to throw $50000 and years of their time into arbitration to get your $11k, trust me. I've recently dealt with them for an amount close to what you owe, and they've thrown up the white flag. I don't know how much arbitration would cost or whether things have changed since that was posted, but even if it IS anti-consumer now, Capital One might give up if they have to pay for arbitration. Especially considering the debt is rather low.
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Feb 1, 2011 00:33
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Chouzan posted:Maybe it's outdated, but early in the thread someone mentioned that arbitration was pro-consumer, and most contracts required the credit card company to pay for the arbitration: This gives a pretty decent background on arbitration: http://www.citizen.org/publications/publicationredirect.cfm?ID=7545 Between Jan. 1, 2003, and March 31, 2007, arbitrators working for the Minneapolis-based NAF ruled for businesses in 94 percent of the California cases examined. In fact, 90 percent of the NAF cases were handled by just 28 arbitrators, who awarded businesses $185 million. One arbitrator handled 68 cases in a single day – an average of one every seven minutes, assuming an eight-hour day – and ruled for the business in every case, awarding 100 percent of the money requested. The same arbitrator is an attorney with his own practice serving business and corporate clients. quote:I don't know how much arbitration would cost or whether things have changed since that was posted, but even if it IS anti-consumer now, Capital One might give up if they have to pay for arbitration. Especially considering the debt is rather low. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Feb 4, 2011 |
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Feb 4, 2011 20:45
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Here's an article that outlines why both Chouzan and TWiNKiE are right: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-binding-arbitration-system-crumbling-1282.php Because of figures that TWiNKiE posted, a lot of arbitration firms attracted attention from governing bodies. When they got noticed, the firms decided that rather than face lawsuits etc. they would simply stop serving as arbiters for the CC companies. Those that stayed open swung back the other direction, ruling strongly in favor of consumers. Because of this CC companies tend to not ask for arbitration anymore. However, if you still have a contract with an arbitration clause, opting for it might not be a bad idea if you're being taken to court already. Obviously if you've got some FDCPA violations that you can throw back at the CC company, keep it in court. If, however, they've got you and you've got a arbitration clause, you can elect to pursue it as outlined in the contract and the CC company will basically be stuck. Either they get stuck in that their arbiter won't take the case, or their arbiter will take the case but will rule against them so they don't want to pursue it. Basically this allows you to stonewall and delay, and the CC company can't really do anything about it without violating their contract with you. I've never done any of this myself, but that's the rationale behind wanting to go to arbitration.
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Feb 4, 2011 21:00
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I have a totally small situation but I'd like some advice as to how to handle it. Today I get a message in the mail saying that Credit Protection Association LLP has contacted me "on behalf" of Comcast because I kept some equipment that was rented to me instead of returning it as I was supposed to. The value of the missing item is $40.00, and I think I know what it is and why it never got back to where it was. Well mea culpa, $40 out, whatever. Life goes on. But the notice says that they have reported my name and debt to credit bureaus because it's my "third notice," and that I'm beyond the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act validation period so I can't dispute the charge. I am absolutely certain I have never received any notices from them prior. I guess I'd like the following - to make any negative credit that may or may not exist go away. I haven't checked my credit report in a year so I'm eligible for the free check. Should I start by checking my report to see if this is on it? Where should I go from there? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. This thread is a great resource.
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Feb 7, 2011 19:53
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A collections agency is saying I owe a small amount of money (<$100) to the state in back taxes because of a failure to file a sales and use tax form on time. The letter essentially says I owe the unpaid tax (amount unknown) + $40 late fee + interest. At the bottom of the letter it says to send the form and payment to: Department of Revenue Collection Agency Section P.O. Box XXXXX Capital City, State 99999 However this is not the mailing address of the department of revenue. I dont know why they would use a P.O. Box for this when they use a brick and mortar mailing address to actually collect the tax. Any idea how I can quickly look up who owns this P.O. Box? I see there's an FOIA form I can mail to the postmaster but I am betting that takes a few weeks to get back. I am wondering if that PO box isn't actually the collection company misrepresenting themselves and possibly violating a provision of the FDCPA 15 USC 1692e Sec. 807.
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Feb 9, 2011 00:47
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TWiNKiE posted:On the other hand, a collection agency who has been sending you letters for years, offering to take $7.99 for the $50 you stiffed Columbia House is likely to remove, rather than waste any more time trying to collect from you. Mid September last year my mother ended up in the hospital and never made it back home. Over the last two months of getting the mail and checking the answering machine I keep seeing 2-4 calls a day from Sun Sentinel (Local paper). I call and have the following abridged conversation: -Hi I'm calling because this number keeps appearing on the caller ID -Yes we are looking for <My mother> -She passed away 6 weeks ago -I'm sorry to hear that (yeah). We are calling about an outstanding balance of $24 -For what exactly? -Her subscription was auto-renewed in september and service was stopped in december for non-payment. -Ok. Like I said, she passed away. -Well I can offer a $7 reduction if you pay it now -You expect me to pay for a subscription that she neither requested or received? -......Yes -Why would I do that? -She should have cancelled -While riding screaming in pain in the ambulance or while knocked out from painkillers in the hospital? -So will you be taking care of this now? -gently caress you I'll loving burn the $17 and send them the ashes. More on topic after 18 months of unemployment and nearly getting evicted I lucked out on a good job and decided to see how badly Amex reamed me for the $1000 I still owed them from last March when I made the last payment before going completely broke. My credit report says "Amex - Good standing, never late"  Now I actually feel more obliged to pay it off sooner since they didn't destroy my credit.
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Feb 9, 2011 04:27
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Feces Starship posted:I have a totally small situation but I'd like some advice as to how to handle it. The line about not being able to dispute is partially true. You can still dispute it, but they're not legally required to do much. It's worth doing if you're thinking that they'll sue you, and you want to show the judge that you tried to work something out, but there's really not much more it accomplishes. Lord Gaga posted:A collections agency is saying I owe a small amount of money (<$100) to the state in back taxes because of a failure to file a sales and use tax form on time. The letter essentially says I owe the unpaid tax (amount unknown) + $40 late fee + interest. At the bottom of the letter it says to send the form and payment to: Unless your state has some really advanced privacy / consumer protection laws, there's probably nothing stopping the government from farming out collections to third parties. But then... it's also a debt small enough that a scammer might be hoping you just pay it. So, I'd call and ask someone at the Department of Revenue to verify that it's legit. Toasticle posted:More on topic after 18 months of unemployment and nearly getting evicted I lucked out on a good job and decided to see how badly Amex reamed me for the $1000 I still owed them from last March when I made the last payment before going completely broke. My credit report says "Amex - Good standing, never late"  A quick way to get that to stop is to tell them they have to hit up her estate for the money, and that you're not the executor. As for Amex, I'd play nice with them. They're actually shockingly reasonable more often than not.
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Feb 9, 2011 05:56
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Here's a flipside question. If I'm an attorney and wanted to hire a collections agency for my firm, are there any that are particularly reputable? What rates would I be looking for?
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Feb 9, 2011 10:38
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SWATJester posted:Here's a flipside question. If I'm an attorney and wanted to hire a collections agency for my firm, are there any that are particularly reputable? What rates would I be looking for? I use Asset Acceptance as an example largely because they're local, and I've had to go up against them a couple of times. I think it's easy to trick them in to violating. But because they're local, the fact that I can easily haul them in to a small-claims court in my jurisdiction, or bitch to our shared Attorney General's office plays a significant role. I'm not so foolish as to believe that a publicly-traded (AACC) company that's doing relatively well is jam-packed with people who don't know what they're doing. Rates are going to depend entirely on what you want them to do. If you just want them to nag some clients on the phone, they're probably going to want around 7% of what you recover and a payment processing fee (think in terms of PayPal where there's a flat $10 + X%) If you want them to actually try to settle over the phone with parameters you stipulate, that's going to cost more. If you want skip tracing, that's even more. A quick PACER check of your shortlist should show how well the companies do in court, assuming you have a couple of hours to do that sort of research.
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Feb 9, 2011 20:31
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Regarding arbitration, another forum I've been following had a post recently detailing how much JAMS arbitration can cost the collector... They were required to pay $22,000. I *believe* that's why people are suggesting arbitration. If you're being pursued for less than a thousand or so, a collector might balk at paying so much more than the amount they can collect. Furthermore, it seems most arbitration clauses in credit card agreements state that fees related to arbitration (including legal representation fees) incurred by each side are just eaten. I know that JAMS has a maximum amount that the consumer can pay in fees... If my case gets that far (if they don't back down) I'll probably update with how much was paid out.
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Feb 12, 2011 04:09
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TWiNKiE posted:
I find myself in the same situation you're referring to here, except that the OC has sold the debt to a CA (a CA that is currently attempting to collect on this debt). Is there any reason at all to expect them to work with me in getting that tradeline removed from my report? I feel like any attempts to negotiate with the CA won't benefit me in any way because of this. It also seems that the CA (Cap One) has been updating the report as well.
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Feb 16, 2011 18:22
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I am helping my roommate deal with a debt collector, and sent them a DV letter with the following text:DV posted:Thank you for your recent inquiry. This is not a refusal to pay, but a notice that your claim is disputed. They replied with this, and only this:  This is not a validation letter in any way, is it? Are they in violation of the FDCPA? What should our next move be?
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Feb 16, 2011 21:47
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bootleg robot posted:I find myself in the same situation you're referring to here, except that the OC has sold the debt to a CA (a CA that is currently attempting to collect on this debt). Is there any reason at all to expect them to work with me in getting that tradeline removed from my report? I feel like any attempts to negotiate with the CA won't benefit me in any way because of this. It also seems that the CA (Cap One) has been updating the report as well. Are you saying that you know for sure that the debt was purchased (not assigned) to a CA, and that both the CA and OC are reporting each month that you're not paying? traveling midget posted:They replied with this, and only this: So, is it "proper" or resembling what you asked them for? No. But is it an actionable violation? Well... no. Basically, you send them another letter acknowledging that they've sent you a verification, but reminding them that you asked for validation -- not verification. They don't have to send you everything you asked for simply because you asked for it, but they do need to cough up something concrete (e.g. past statements). Don't be shocked if they come back with a letter citing Chaudhry vs. Gallerizzo as a reason they don't have to give you what you want. Unless you live in the 4th district, that ruling has fuckall to do with anything. This FTC opinion letter, on the other hand, is illuminating, and a nice addition to a "gently caress you, I don't live in the 4th district" response: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/letters/wollman.htm
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Feb 16, 2011 22:57
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My wife just got a phone call this morning saying she was going to get arrested for defaulting on a payday loan awhile back. I'm pretty sure this has to be a violation of the FDCPA? What should I do about it? edit: This is from a pretty shady bill collector posing as a law office I'd imagine.
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Feb 18, 2011 18:19
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