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Qu Appelle posted:I've skimmed through the thread, but I couldn't recall this scenario: Collections agencies are allowed to contact a debtor's place of work once to get info, but only once. And you are not required to give them anything. This page quotes the relevant part of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_law/Understanding-Your-Debt-Collection-Rights.jsp#2 Just mentioning that to the person on the phone may be enough to stop the calls. If not, try and get their mailing address and send them a cease & desist request by certified mail. If they keep calling they are violating the FDCPA.
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Sep 9, 2011 20:58
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My fiance has a dental office that she hasn't been to in years. They called her out of the blue the other day trying to collect on about $200. She's always had coverage and religious about paying her bills, and doesn't remember missing anything. They say they've tried to contact her but she moved(left forwarding though). She thinks they're wrong or trying to gently caress with her, so she's wondering what her options are. Does she have to give her new address? Does she have to talk to them on the phone? Should she request the bill in writing? She has some ungodly high credit score (850-900) and doesn't want that to change.
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Sep 10, 2011 18:02
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Hey all, so I joined Bally Total Fitness around 3 years ago out here in West LA. My brother already had a membership and the guy at the gym offered that I could sign onto his plan with no contract and no enrollment fee for $24 a month, so I joined up and signed some paperwork. To be honest I can't remember reading all of the paperwork, but I'm a fairly details oriented guy so I imagine I did. Anyhow I moved a few months ago and my new apartment complex has their own gym, so I called Bally to cancel. Apparently I'm under a 3 year contract and it's coming to an end in December. I disputed this, they claimed I was, I told them I never signed a contract, they claimed I had, I told them to send me a copy, they asked me to pay a $10 processing fee, I told them to gently caress off and hung up. I removed my credit card from their auto pay and haven't paid since. I've gotten some letters in the mail but have been ignoring them, and just now I got a phone call from Alliance Creditors asking me to pay the $122 balance of my contract. I told them I would only accept correspondence in writing and hung up. Now, should I just suck it up and pay the $122? I truly believe I didn't sign a contract, but I also have a bad feeling that maybe I took the scumbag gym employees word and just signed the paperwork and maybe I did slip into one. Should I just pay it off so as to not affect my credit? $122 isn't going to break me one way or another, but I'd rather not give into the assholes if I can help it. Please advise!
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Sep 20, 2011 20:09
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Send a debt verification letter to the debt collectors. Ask for a copy of the contract with your signature. Send it first class with a read receipt.
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Sep 22, 2011 06:54
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In March of 2005 I broke a lease in Texas and abandoned the property. The account went to collections and I never bothered to pay it. From what I understand, this information isn't supposed to be on my credit reports after seven years. Is that seven years from the date I abandoned the property, or the date that the collection agency reported the account to the credit bureaus? In the OP it states the SOL is from the date I last paid, which would have been February 3rd, 2005. My other question is how long does it take for these places to get this stuff off your reports after you notify them it's been X amount of years.
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Sep 25, 2011 21:58
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So I'm trying to get a job still. It's been almost half a year and only 3 interviews. It's pretty lovely. In fact, it goes beyond that to super lovely. At this point I'm running out of hope, getting almost 5 months past due on a credit card with over $5,000 on it, and I haven't made a penny in 3 months thanks to my thyroid. That's not including the 3 other credit accounts that are past due, as well as personal loans and whatnot. And thanks to a failed credit card application I now know that my credit score is at 523. Now the liquidation part of chapter 7 scares the living gently caress out of me. Trying to go for debt consolidation is an option, but only with income. Assuming I get this job, is there a debt consolidation place that won't try to gently caress me over? Is it worth spending 5 years paying this off? Would it be better to just say gently caress it and go for the bankruptcy option, to hell with my credit score? Hahaha, my Macys card has a minimum payment due of $1,536. Kilo147 fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 06:56
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753951 fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Nov 8, 2013 |
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Sep 28, 2011 18:07
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Unfortunately there's no deadline for CAs to respond to your validation request, however as long as you responded within that initial 30 day window they cannot engage in any collection activity until they do verify. Another thing, I don't know much about student loans, but I don't believe the FDCPA is applicable with those, student loans are pretty much collectable until the end of time. vvv that's great! ohnobugs fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 18:19
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AuntBuck posted:Collections agencies are allowed to contact a debtor's place of work once to get info, but only once. And you are not required to give them anything. This page quotes the relevant part of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: Turns out I didn't have to do that. They called, I politely explained that he no longer works here and I have no contact info for him, and wished them a nice day. They haven't called back, and it's been over a week now.
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Sep 28, 2011 22:41
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753951 posted:So I sent a letter to the collections agency that's trying to collect on the three school loans my ex-wife refuses to pay. They're probably either preparing to sue you or (most likely) they're selling the debt off to yet another collector. If it's the latter prepare to go through the same thing all over again.
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Sep 29, 2011 04:35
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So... mind if I jump in here? I think I'm about to be sued in NY by a collections/firm type place; I (stupidly) ignored the dunning letters I received before I had a look at this thread, and now I'm at the point where if they're going to sue me, I'm going to have to pay them anyway, so might as well gently caress around and learn stuff, right? Anyway, long story short -- I came home to find a summons-looking thing taped to my door, and the next day received another in the mail. I checked down at the city court and sure enough, it looks like I'm in the system there and so I'll need to file an answer, I guess. A couple questions about the best way to proceed from here. And I know that you are not my lawyer and any suggestions you give does not constitute legal advice. But I figured I could use at least a little help: 1) It's too late for debt verification at this point, right? What might I have screwed myself out of? Victory? 2) The city court has a form I can fill out for my answer, with the first "reason" being a general/generic disagreement. Should I just go that route, or should I be more specific in my Answer? I don't really know what I'm doing, but I have noticed a few little things. Should I bother nit-picking the following: 2a) It doesn't look like the process server filed an Affidavit of Service, which is apparently something that should happen, right? The only thing I saw when I looked myself up at the courthouse was the original complaint. Is this, therefore, Improper Service, and can/should I request a dismissal? Is it even worth going down this road? 2b) I have two documents from them demanding two different amounts (one, dated the day before I received the summons and which is a few hundred more than what the summons demands). Does this constitute Incorrect Amount? 3) Is a [url="https://"http://www.debtorboards.com/index.php?topic=12550.0"]graduated denial[/url] worthwhile at all? Will this still allow me to guide this mess toward arbitration? That seems like the way I might want to go since the amount owed is not really that large. Or will it just annoy the clerks or something?
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Sep 30, 2011 22:13
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You're going to be far better served by checking out the legal q/a thread. There aren't any people in here who practice law, so you're going to get general, "this is what I think you would do in this situation" type answers (if you get any at all). Plus, you're kind of on a tight time frame here.
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Oct 2, 2011 04:50
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NancyPants posted:You're going to be far better served by checking out the legal q/a thread. There aren't any people in here who practice law, so you're going to get general, "this is what I think you would do in this situation" type answers (if you get any at all). Plus, you're kind of on a tight time frame here. Thanks, NancyPants, I appreciate the input. I've gone ahead and posted it there as well. If anyone cares to chime in here, I would still be interested in reading any sort of "this is what I think you would do" answers as well.
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Oct 2, 2011 06:01
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Jinkeez posted:2a) It doesn't look like the process server filed an Affidavit of Service, which is apparently something that should happen, right? The only thing I saw when I looked myself up at the courthouse was the original complaint. Is this, therefore, Improper Service, and can/should I request a dismissal? Is it even worth going down this road? The process server does have to file a proof of service, but they don't necessarily have to file that right away. Also, if you file for a dismissal you were obviously served so I don't know if that would help you.
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Oct 2, 2011 15:18
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AuntBuck posted:I hate to say it, but if they got a judgment against you, you just sent them your new address. They don't have to respond to you, they can just begin garnishing you. Were you served or contacted at all by this company? Are they representing the original creditor or are they a collections agency? Judgments are far more difficult to get out of and they are collectable for much longer. Go back and read through the thread and start doing some research. Ok, so, the plot thickens. Since the last post, my small debt has disappeared off of my credit report completely without any further action (I just pulled a new one tonight). Apparently their confusion over my identity culminated in them giving up. Score one for the home team. Now, the other, bigger debt. I received no response of any kind from the debt collector on the larger debt - we'll call them Company A. No report of a judgment, no appearance of garnished wages, no calls or response letters, nothing. However, a couple days ago, I DID receive a brand new collections attempt from a completely different company that seems to be related to the same debt - they claim to represent the same original creditor as Company A. We'll call this new arrival Company B. So, Company A has been completely silent since my original debt validation letter. They still show up on my credit report, though. The amount they're looking to collect is north of $9000. Company B has now also appeared on my credit report. The amount THEY'RE asking for is about $2000, AND if I pay within a month they'll discount it down to about $1150. Now, putting aside the fact that I haven't heard poo poo from Company A, my guess is that they sold some or all of my debt to Company B (I'm leaning towards some, otherwise they would show up on my credit report as a Closed Account, no?). From what I've read this is a pretty common practice, and my guess is paying off Company B will have literally zero effect on Company A's balance or attempts to collect from me. I realize it's impossible to say with any certainty if I'm right, but am I probably in the ballpark here? Regardless, I'm gonna send a debt validation letter to Company B and see what I get back. As for the potential judgment against me from Company A, I'm going to call the clerk of courts where I lived at the time tomorrow morning and see if I can find out any further info on that before proceeding further with anything against Company A. Weirder and weirder.
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Oct 3, 2011 08:52
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I posted in this thread a while ago, about a debt collector. You guys helped me out and I sent off the proper paperwork, to tell them to gently caress off; well months later and they are back with proof that I owe them money. They sent me the hospital bills, what do I need to do now? The bill is from 2008, at a hospital in WA State, and I live in Arizona now. I'm pretty sure because of the age of this bill now, they cannot collect on it, but i'm not 100% on that. March 4th, 2011 is when I sent the letter to them, demanding proof. [edit] Forgot a detail, when I checked my credit report in march, because of this debt, the debt was not on there at all. Is that important? Will it show up if I don't pay? I should also point out that the bill does not specifically state what I owe. I mean, it is a huge list of things and no where on it does it say "you didn't pay for this, this and this." I said come in! fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 03:30
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I said come in! posted:I posted in this thread a while ago, about a debt collector. You guys helped me out and I sent off the proper paperwork, to tell them to gently caress off; well months later and they are back with proof that I owe them money. They sent me the hospital bills, what do I need to do now? The bill is from 2008, at a hospital in WA State, and I live in Arizona now. I'm pretty sure because of the age of this bill now, they cannot collect on it, but i'm not 100% on that. What do you mean by huge list of things? Like details about what you got treatment for, or just general line items like "Room - $500, medicine - $200, etc..."?
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Oct 4, 2011 05:15
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dvgrhl posted:What do you mean by huge list of things? Like details about what you got treatment for, or just general line items like "Room - $500, medicine - $200, etc..."? Sorry for not being more clear; It was a detailed list of what I got treatment for, lists medications, procedures that were done, etc. It covers a 3 day stay in the hospital in WA (Evergreen Hospital). I said come in! fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 05:17
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I said come in! posted:I posted in this thread a while ago, about a debt collector. You guys helped me out and I sent off the proper paperwork, to tell them to gently caress off; well months later and they are back with proof that I owe them money. They sent me the hospital bills, what do I need to do now? The bill is from 2008, at a hospital in WA State, and I live in Arizona now. I'm pretty sure because of the age of this bill now, they cannot collect on it, but i'm not 100% on that. First off I'm not an expert, medical billing is slightly different, yadda yadda. Is it an actual bill, like an invoice that would be sent to you, or does it look more like a computer printout or something that you as a customer/patient would never see? Because if it's the latter, that's not proper validation. They can't just say "You owe X amount, pay up." The site design is crap, but this page outlines what proper validation is pretty well under the "Debt Validation Strategy" section: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml You can fire off another letter to them letting them know this is not satisfactory and you still want proper validation. Also, this could count as a collection attempt without validating, which is a violation of the FDCPA.
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Oct 4, 2011 05:25
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I would say it's definitely an invoice. It's just 3 pages of what was done, given, and what it cost. I'll go look up what I should say in my letter that states this isn't proof.
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Oct 4, 2011 05:31
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I said come in! posted:Sorry for not being more clear; It was a detailed list of what I got treatment for, lists medications, procedures that were done, etc. It covers a 3 day stay in the hospital in WA (Evergreen Hospital). There were some posts in this thread a while back dealing with medical collections and HIPAA violations. Someone might chime in with the info to point you in the right direction, but it would probably be worth searching for. But from what I understand, it is a violation of HIPAA to share specific medical treatments to collection agencies. EDIT: reading up more on it, I'm confused. There seems to be some people who say the hospital could in this instance release that info to the CA, and others who say they still can't go that detailed. You'll probably need to research this more carefully, and again hopefully someone that has gone through this can chime in for you. dvgrhl fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 05:32
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dvgrhl posted:There were some posts in this thread a while back dealing with medical collections and HIPAA violations. Someone might chime in with the info to point you in the right direction, but it would probably be worth searching for. But from what I understand, it is a violation of HIPAA to share specific medical treatments to collection agencies. That's what i've been gathering too. If you were to look at these documents, you would see exactly what medications I was given, the dosage, and what treatments were given and the cost of all of them. I'm gonna have my dad help me tomorrow with getting a hold of a lawyer for free advice, because i'm not sure how to do that. I've never done that before. The collection agency is called CBCS, and from what i've seen of them from Googling around, they are shady. They deal primarily with medical bills. [edit] I think I found how I can nail them. In my letter back in March, I asked them to provide the following; 1. Agreement with their client, that authorizes them to collect this debt. 2. agreement that bears signature of the alleged debtor where he agrees to pay the debt. 3. complete payment history on the account, that proves I owe the amount they wish to collect. None of that was given to me today in the mail. I said come in! fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 05:36
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My husband has an old credit card account that defaulted and was sent to a debt collector. He was given the credit card when he was 18, ran it up to its £6,000 limit within a year and then paid the minimum back for the last 10 years with the total never actually going down because of the charges and interest. So he stopped paying it, it got passed to a debt collector and they kept calling him at work and home until he agreed to make repayments of £30 a month. I think we should stop paying because at this rate it'll take 18 years to pay off and all that time will be live in his credit record thing. Obviously though it's hard to dispute as he agreed to make token repayments so I drafted this letter... quote:
Is this going to just cause more trouble than it's worth? For the record he will have more than paid off the original amount he spent on it - the monthly repayments were about £200 - £250 and he was paying that for a decade.
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Oct 5, 2011 19:53
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753951 posted:So I sent a letter to the collections agency that's trying to collect on the three school loans my ex-wife refuses to pay. Is this private or federal? Did you consolidate with your spouse (terrible idea, btw) or are you a reference? If it's federal and you aren't a comaker, endorser or did a spousal consolidation you're in the clear. If you are a comaker, endorser or did a spousal consolidation, you should probably contact a lawyer to get your ex wife to pay her loans. If you're on good terms with her you could do a forbearance and get her to sign it with you, if it's a spousal consolidation, but if you're not, it's lawyer time. If it's a private loan, I have no idea. Also, I work in customer service for a student loan company, and if no one minds, I have no problems with lurking both here, and in the student loans thread.
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Oct 7, 2011 03:22
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Ok good news (I think), they didn't (?) verify my Bally membership! So I sent a debt dispute letter requesting the following: (1) the amount of the debt; (2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed; (3) Provide a verification or copy of any judgment (if applicable); (4) Provide a copy of any contract and/or documentation WITH SIGNATURE (if applicable); (5) Proof that you are licensed to collect debts in the State of California They only replied with a financial statement that shows each of my monthly payments for gym membership to Bally, and shows where I stopped paying and the remaining "balance". However the reason I had been unable to quit Bally a few months ago is because I was under a contract! So since they did not send me a copy of my signed contract like I asked, what is my next step? Do I tell them to cease and desist and point out that no ticky, no laundry? They also in the letter did not provide proof that they were licensed to collect debts. Also there's 4 (potential) violations of the FDCPA in their calls to me, should I mention these in my reply? For reference, here's a photo example of the first page of what they did send me.
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Oct 8, 2011 04:41
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Alright I spoke with my father who's an attorney but not currently practicing (yes I could have asked him in the first place instead of posting here, but I wanted to hear different opinions) and he advised me to write another letter demanding a copy of the contract with signature. So here's what I've drafted, give it a read and tell me if something is missing or unclear or what.quote:Dear Alliance One,
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Oct 13, 2011 04:41
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I got my answers elsewhere.
Bili Rubin fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Oct 19, 2011 |
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Oct 16, 2011 04:00
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What a great thread! I have an... interesting predicament of my own, now. I have an initial credit history not dissimilar from the OP's. I ended up filing bankruptcy, though. It was mentally more beneficial for me to turn that mess into a clean slate--and I hate fighting with strangers, and checking the voice mails was really stressing me out. Since then, my credit has been improving steadily. All of my non-student-loan debt went away in the BK... I consolidated ALL of my student loans, and have been making payments on them for several months. I'm totally in the black and after a couple years of living on cash, I'm getting legitimate credit card offers in the mail now  But, the bad news from left field: I have a debt collector now, who is trying to collect on a $700 student loan. I had originally defaulted on that loan (just that one, it was a Perkins, none of the other loans through Sallie Mae defaulted). But I consolidated it! I don't actually owe this debt. I'm repaying it, right now, along with the rest of my loans! I made super-sure to include the defaulted loan in my consolidation. I didn't rehab it since I didn't want to wait 6 months to consolidate (my other loans would have defaulted, too, if I had tried to rehab the Perkins). I've already given the guy a verbal C&D on phone calls to my home or work numbers. And I explained the situation--I do not owe this freaking debt! I included it in my consolidation, and he needs to gently caress off! So, where the hell do I go from here? Can I just contact the credit bureaus and have them take it off as a fraudulent claim?--I know TransUnion is reporting it, I haven't checked the others since my free reports for them are not available yet this year. Is there anything stopping him from just putting it back on there? Can I send him a letter with documentation showing that the loan was paid in full by the federal consolidation dudes, and that I'm current on my consolidation payments? Will he pay any attention to that, or just try to keep scumming money out of me? The collection agency is the General Revenue Corporation, if that is relevant.
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Oct 18, 2011 09:27
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I've read most of this thread but I am still fuzzy on some things. What exactly does a dunning letter look like? Is a dunning letter one of the many letters I get from my creditors telling me that they want me to pay my debts? I moved to a different state and failed to update my new address with my creditors. I have three creditors that have sold the debts to collections agencies but I haven't received anything by mail at my new address in this new state. My understanding is that I must be served at my home if they intend to seek a judgement from a court, am I correct? Thanks for the clarification!
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Oct 18, 2011 09:51
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martyrdumb posted:I've already given the guy a verbal C&D on phone calls to my home or work numbers. The first thing you need to do is send this collection agency a letter, explaining that you will only deal with them by mail and to not call you. Ask them for proof that they are legally allowed to collect on the debt and proof that the amount they want from you, is correct. There are example letters posted in this thread that will get you going in the right direction with this. Also might be helpful to just scan any documents you have showing that you don't owe them this money, and send copies. In the mean time, if they do call you, the only thing you want to say is that you will only deal with this by mail. Also, warn them that you will report it next time, if they call you at work. They are not allowed to do that at all and someone correct me if I am wrong here, i'm not entire sure, but you can sue them for that.
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Oct 18, 2011 15:15
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Woodsy Owl posted:I've read most of this thread but I am still fuzzy on some things. What exactly does a dunning letter look like? Is a dunning letter one of the many letters I get from my creditors telling me that they want me to pay my debts? A dunning letter is a term that covers any letter attempting to collect a debt. They usually start off sweet and forgiving and get meaner every letter until they threaten your first born. Re service: see a lawyer. You must be served but if they can't find you they can serve you by publication. Service by publication means that they put an ad or statement in a newspaper or some trade publication that says "HAY WOODSY OWL WE ARE GONNA SUE YOU DOODZ". Once they've served you by publication they can get a default judgement against you (assuming you don't answer the suit).
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Oct 18, 2011 21:39
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Roger_Mudd posted:A dunning letter is a term that covers any letter attempting to collect a debt. They usually start off sweet and forgiving and get meaner every letter until they threaten your first born. That's lovely, so I have to watch the Public Notices section of all the newspapers in Utah and Montana? Thank you very much for responding.
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Oct 19, 2011 09:20
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Woodsy Owl posted:That's lovely, so I have to watch the Public Notices section of all the newspapers in Utah and Montana? Normally some lawyers who need clients will read the public notices section and try to contact people served this way, hoping to generate business. I wouldn't count on it though, and there is to guarantee that a lawyer will be able to find you even if he bothers looking.
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Oct 19, 2011 10:54
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Woodsy Owl posted:That's lovely, so I have to watch the Public Notices section of all the newspapers in Utah and Montana? Not really, there is usually a publication designated by the court. It's a pain in the rear end, better to just update your address.
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Oct 19, 2011 15:21
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Relevant court case from Western District of NY. Technically not binding outside that district, but the rule of law is such that you would be foolish not to apply it in other courts if you came to litigation. I'll bold the relevant parts for those of you all like TL;DR. NY Law Journal posted:
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Oct 19, 2011 19:19
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Robo-caller that calls me about every 6 months on my cell phone fishing for me to call back, worth it to pursue under FDCPA? I don't have any debts in collections, that's why I know they're fishing.
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Oct 20, 2011 01:22
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My girlfriend got a lab bill that her health insurance didn't cover and didn't tell us for $500 about 3 months ago. I sent a debt validation letter the day after I got the dunning letter. I just got the validation back, 3 months later. It looks legit, am I still on the hook even though it took them 3 months instead of the 1 month I requested? e: on further inspection, the lab invoices that they used in this validation are dated three days ago, which I guess means they're reprints and not copies on the original. Is this at all relevant? Am I being scammed? Goatman Sacks fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Oct 21, 2011 |
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Oct 21, 2011 02:57
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Goatman Sacks posted:My girlfriend got a lab bill that her health insurance didn't cover and didn't tell us for $500 about 3 months ago. I sent a debt validation letter the day after I got the dunning letter. I just got the validation back, 3 months later. It looks legit, am I still on the hook even though it took them 3 months instead of the 1 month I requested? Just curious, who's the debt collector? Me and you are in a very similar situation.
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Oct 21, 2011 03:27
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I said come in! posted:Just curious, who's the debt collector? Me and you are in a very similar situation. American Financial Credit Services, inc
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Oct 21, 2011 23:18
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Goatman Sacks posted:American Financial Credit Services, inc Darn, I have CBCS. They are very shady.
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Oct 21, 2011 23:23
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