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Ignore it. It's too old to put on a credit report and they can't sue.
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Aug 16, 2021 19:22
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I’m in Lake County, IL and my partner (not actually married, but our finances impact each-other greatly) is being sued by a debt collector for an unpaid Citibank. He missed his court appointment saying “I was going to just lose anyway, so it doesn’t matter. I actually just saved having to pay the appearance fee.” How much more worried should I be? What are the consequences of this? (Note: I am in a wheelchair and he works as my caregiver. If he is not here, I can’t get out of bed and starve.) It seems like it was the first collector, and they got the paperwork directly from Citibank. The paperwork he received directly states there is an appearance fee. I know he hosed up by not going. He’s incredible in a lot of areas, but some…. The debt was $1700, so not ruining. It’s not a tiny amount either. What can we do now?
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Aug 23, 2021 23:13
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GordonComstock posted:Does anyone have a good sample letter to credit agencies after a collection agency failed to validate debt? Basically, they've never given me a written notice that I owed the debt, I learned about it through a credit check and recently sent a validation letter certified mail that they never responded to with written notice. Google hasn't really led me to anything particularly useful, it's mostly just debt validation letters. In light of the collection agency not validating debt, I believe I've got the right to dispute it with the credit bureaus (please correct me if I have that wrong). This exact same thing is happening to me, but I'm about to send my first "hey wtf" certified letter to the collections agency. I've got a mystery $2k debt that no one can tell me what it's for, no one will respond to my emails, and there's actually no way to even pay it if it WAS my debt cause there's no paper trail or account number. How can I show evidence to the bureaus if the evidence is "no one will respond to me"?  Edit: The mystery debt was supposed to fall off my report in 2023, but disputing it apparently made that removal date disappear, so I'm, uh, double freaked out Lieutenant Dan fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Aug 24, 2021 |
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Aug 24, 2021 15:53
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I know it’s a good idea to have all communication in writing. Is there a standard letter I can give to my partner to send to a collector if he wants to pay off the debt? (Same guy that was taken to court and missed his court date)
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Aug 28, 2021 02:06
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I'm worried that what I'm about to post is kind of lame, but I would love some thoughts: I got a random call today from a local debt collector. I didn't pick up because who picks up unknown numbers, but the message basically said "I'm from AssholePrick debt collection agency, and I'm calling about a debt, call back XXX." The person didn't mention my name or anything else. I googled the number to confirm it's a debt collection agency but...I couldn't tell you who I might owe. I pay all my bills, own a home, have great credit. Should I bother picking up? Calling back? Just ignore it? I've received nothing in the mail, and this has been my address for 4 years now, soooo...... 
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Sep 21, 2021 22:19
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Ignore it and block the number
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Sep 21, 2021 23:22
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vortmax posted:Ignore it and block the number Mmmmm I love it.
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Sep 21, 2021 23:47
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My mother is 75, on Medicare with supplemental insurance, and she always pays her bills on time. As she gets older, I'm having to get more involved in her financial affairs. Today she got a letter from a collections agency, alleging that she owes $200 to a local hospital where she does get occasional treatment. She has a lot of doctors at a lot of institutions, and there's no indication on the collections letter what procedure or office this bill is actually for. There's not even a date. As far as I can tell, the letter is from a legitimate collections agency, but if this is a legitimate debt, she never got a bill for it. I have zero experience with collections and have been lucky to have very few medical bills, so this is all new ground for me. I would like to figure out A) what the debt is for, B) why she never received a proper bill and C) assuming it's real, how we should go about paying it/paying the least amount possible. Who should we contact first? The hospital? Her insurance? Edit: Just now seeing that sending a debt validation letter should be our first step. Edit 2: My guess is that this will end up being something her insurance should have paid for, but there's no way of knowing that until we hear back about the DVL, is that right? Edit 3: Is it normal to get collections letters totally out of the blue without a bill/second notice/final notice? Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Oct 1, 2021 |
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Oct 1, 2021 18:16
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Valicious posted:I know it’s a good idea to have all communication in writing. Is there a standard letter I can give to my partner to send to a collector if he wants to pay off the debt? (Same guy that was taken to court and missed his court date) Your partner will be receiving the court papers finding the default judgement against him, and likely that they're initiating garnishment proceedings. There should be contact information with that if they just want to pay it off. FYI, it's going to be rather more than $1700 now.
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Oct 2, 2021 06:32
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Lester Shy posted:My mother is 75, on Medicare with supplemental insurance, and she always pays her bills on time. As she gets older, I'm having to get more involved in her financial affairs. Hospitals in my experience send things off to collections at the first opportunity. I've been waiting for bills and never receive one from the hospital but get one from collections. In those cases I usually contact the hospital directly since it's something I was expecting, and so far the collection activity stopped after I did so.
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Oct 4, 2021 13:16
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I'll check with the hospital, but here's what's confusing me: who actually owns the debt now? If it's a legitimate debt, who do we owe money to, now that it's been sent to collections? I'd be happy to pay the hospital directly (assuming it's not something insurance should have covered) but I'd want to make sure that settled it.
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Oct 4, 2021 15:16
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Definitely send a debt validation letter certified mail with return receipt to the collection agency and wait for a reply. If they reply it should point you to the original creditor. If they don't reply, well...
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Oct 5, 2021 03:34
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Lester Shy posted:I'll check with the hospital, but here's what's confusing me: who actually owns the debt now? If it's a legitimate debt, who do we owe money to, now that it's been sent to collections? I'd be happy to pay the hospital directly (assuming it's not something insurance should have covered) but I'd want to make sure that settled it. This is going to vary; there are debt collectors that essentially buy up debt companies don't want to try and collect at a reduced rice, then try to wring money out of those people. That is normally what 'debt collectors' means, that your debt has been passed on to someone else because the originator gave up on it. But, there are also companies that essentially just serve as outsourcing for collecting debts, they don't actually purchase or own the debt but act as an agent for the originator to hassle you in their place. My experience is that hospitals generally use this version; basically they have enough lovely bills that they don't really want to do more than basic billing and follow up, but also don't want to sell them off for pennies, so they give a collection company a cut to chase people down. If the bill is legitimate and you just want to pay it, you can usually pay the collector and you're fine. If there is an issue with a bill, you can usually take it back to the hospital and then pay them directly and tell the collections people it's resolved. They normally respond to DVLs with statements and such because they're working with the hospital and can actually provide that, so you should get some documentation as what it was for (although probably just a date of service and the group - that might be enough for you to figure it out)
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Oct 5, 2021 13:57
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vortmax posted:Definitely send a debt validation letter certified mail with return receipt to the collection agency and wait for a reply. If they reply it should point you to the original creditor. If they don't reply, well... That reminds me, I actually sent out a debt verification letter a couple months ago to what seemed like a legit company. Certified mail confirmed receipt but they never responded. Am I good?
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Oct 5, 2021 18:27
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They can’t try to collect without responding but they have unlimited time to respond. They could also sell it to somebody else.
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Oct 6, 2021 00:23
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Good to know, thanks!
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Oct 7, 2021 01:02
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Big Taint posted:They can’t try to collect without responding but they have unlimited time to respond. They could also sell it to somebody else. I’m going through this right now where the collection agency did not respond to my debt validation letter, and so I’m disputing the debt with all three bureau agencies. If they never validate the debt, legally I cannot know if they have the right to collect it. So potentially, a debt collection could hold my credit score hostage until I pay debt that’s never been verified? That sounds like a hell of a loophole in law.
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Oct 7, 2021 14:26
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If they verify with the credit reporting bureau before validating with you, that is illegal collection activity.
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Oct 7, 2021 14:32
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Sub Rosa posted:If they verify with the credit reporting bureau before validating with you, that is illegal collection activity. In my case, they’ve never verified with me. They called once, left no voicemail, I googled the number and saw it was a collection agency and connected it to an outstanding bill at my previous apartment. Eventually each credit bureau listed it, tanking my credit score. I sent a debt validation letter, they called and left a voicemail after they received the letter. Never once sent me a letter, or responded by mail to my validation letter.
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Oct 7, 2021 14:41
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GordonComstock posted:In my case, they’ve never verified with me. They called once, left no voicemail, I googled the number and saw it was a collection agency and connected it to an outstanding bill at my previous apartment. Eventually each credit bureau listed it, tanking my credit score. I sent a debt validation letter, they called and left a voicemail after they received the letter. Never once sent me a letter, or responded by mail to my validation letter. It has become time for you to contact an attorney.
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Oct 9, 2021 18:09
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Big Taint posted:It has become time for you to contact an attorney. Thanks for this, I may have to revisit attorneys, since the first one said “just pay it”. Today I received notice Experian is deleting the debt from my credit report, is it a reasonable assumption that the other two agencies will follow suit?
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Oct 18, 2021 23:16
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GordonComstock posted:Thanks for this, I may have to revisit attorneys, since the first one said “just pay it”. Today I received notice Experian is deleting the debt from my credit report, is it a reasonable assumption that the other two agencies will follow suit? Not really, though it does increase the odds since one of them found something actionable
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Oct 18, 2021 23:31
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this is in washington state. about 10 years ago my wife managed to get a default judgement against her for a credit card debt. the law firm representing the credit card company eventually went through with garnishment 2-3 years later in 2013. not all of the debt was satisfied before she quit that job and stopped working for a few years but to my surprise this week the law firm has managed to resume the garnishment but they did not notify us in writing before doing so. is this legal? the garnishment document lists the address we moved from 7 years ago. somehow they figured out my wife's new employer but not our most recent address. is there any way i can fight this because they didnt notify us? i have enough money to pay it off but i'm really irritated they didn't contact us prior to restarting the garnishment.
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Oct 28, 2021 17:50
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You're solidly in "ask a lawyer" territory. She had a default judgment against her, and after there's a judgment it's hard to escape without legal wrangling. The 7 years applies to debts and records, but I don't know if that applies to a legal decision whose obligations haven't been fulfilled. And since it's a judgment and garnishment I doubt there's reporting requirements because the legal system has already decided they can't be relied on to responsibly pay.
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Oct 30, 2021 16:04
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Hoping this is the right place to ask; if not please point me elsewhere. My mom died a few weeks ago, in Texas. She had a couple of bank accounts that I had access to via my own login, but were not joint accounts - she made them so someone other than her estranged husband would have access to them. I emptied them after she died, to consolidate the money in one account to disburse. She is still married, but he is mostly not in the picture. She owes $2500 to a Wells Fargo credit card; what are the obligations here? A friend of mine in banking says I have none - the debt wasn't mine, and I didn't sneak in to her account to pull the money out, it was all above board. Either the debt died with her, or it goes to her estate, which at present - because I took the money out - is $0. Or it goes to her husband? I don't know the rules here, and I want to get all my bases settled before contacting WF.
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Nov 10, 2021 22:19
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Are you the beneficiary on those accounts? Just because you have access to the money doesn't necessarily mean you can just take it.
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Nov 11, 2021 04:05
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SlapActionJackson posted:Are you the beneficiary on those accounts? Just because you have access to the money doesn't necessarily mean you can just take it. At least one bank account names us both, although that was all her doing. I didn't sign any papers saying this is a joint account, but both of our names are on it.
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Nov 11, 2021 04:30
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You should probably ask in the legal questions thread, though they will almost certainly tell you to consult with a TX estate lawyer for specifics. The generalities are: If you're listed as a joint owner on an account, the money is already legally yours and you can take it. If you're listed as the beneficiary on an account, the bank will transfer it directly to you when you give them the death certificate, but you probably shouldn't take it beforehand. If you're neither, then you can't take the money, it's part of your mom's estate and needs to go through probate. Your mom's estate is legally obligated to settle her debts with any assets in the estate. WF should get paid from this. Heirs get anything left over. Did your mom have a will? If not her husband is entitled to a big chunk of the inheritance, possibly all of it. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-texas.html If so, the executor will be responsible for settling accounts and disbursing the rest.
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Nov 11, 2021 05:35
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No will. As for her husband, he's more than welcome to try, but I have almost no contact info for him and, so far as I know, he's made no effort. I certainly won't make any effort to get him involved in this. He abandoned her in the hospital and forced me to have to make the end-of-life decisions so I am very much not interested in helping him. Looked at the two savings accounts I pulled the money out of - Ally lists me and her as "owner"s of the account, and Wells Fargo lists my name alongside hers on the statement. So this would seem to fit the "joint owner" bit: The money (in those two specific accounts) is mine, but these debts aren't, is that the correct way of interpreting that? She did this arrangement on purpose so that I would have access to her money in the event something happened, but he wouldn't have access. I'm fine with settling her debts with smaller companies but I would be very happy if I could legally avoid having to pay anything to Wells Fargo.
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Nov 11, 2021 07:57
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You personally don't owe anything to WF or any other of you mom's creditors. You can take the joint money and do nothing else. If you decide to become executor of the estate, you as executor owe it to them to settle up, and owe it to her husband to track him down and give him his share. If you don't want to do that, you don't have to. But you can't get your rightful share of the inheritance until someone does.
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Nov 11, 2021 14:19
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The estate totals about $4k in assets and roughly the same in debts, so calling any of it an "inheritance" is a stretch.
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Nov 11, 2021 15:09
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In that case, yeah, just walk away.
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Nov 11, 2021 15:21
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I'd try to get a consultation with an estate lawyer. But in my mom's case I pulled the money from her account and closed it. There was no property other than her car. Then when her bank (Bank of America) tried to bill her for fees (because they didn't actually close the account) I sent back a copy of the death certificate and they hosed off.
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Nov 14, 2021 22:36
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https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1466498135883231233 Even if they contact you via social media, you have rights.
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Dec 2, 2021 22:29
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CaptainJuan posted:https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1466498135883231233 the right to goatse a motherfucker
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Dec 19, 2021 03:16
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I'm helping my girlfriend rebuild her credit. She has two delinquent accounts from 2018. One is Capital One and I can't remember the other. Credit Karma told her everything was cool and she got a secured Capital One and a secured BofA card this year to start her rebuild. I had her download the Experian app yesterday to see if I could start referring her some of my cards yet. Turns out the two accounts haven't gone away as CK suggested and her actual FICO is much lower than her Vantage Score (shocker). Anyway, the Capital One account was sold off in 2020 and despite her last payment being in 2018 it shows the last activity as 2020 now. If she calls Capital One can/will they recall the debt so that she can settle with them? Or does she have no choice but to deal with whoever owns it now?
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Dec 20, 2021 21:16
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There’s really no downside to disputing it with the CRA, but send a dunning response to the company first. Has she ever received any communication from the collectors? Their contact info should be on a credit report IIRC. Send them the standard dunning response and then dispute with CRA after 30 days. If you get no response but they keep reporting to the CRA that’s an FDCPA violation as I understand it. Best case is you never hear anything and the dispute removes it from the report. You will need to keep an eye out for it being resold and popping back up for a while.
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Dec 21, 2021 01:03
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Big Taint posted:Send them the standard dunning response and then dispute with CRA after 30 days. If you get no response but they keep reporting to the CRA that’s an FDCPA violation as I understand it. Also this is a strategy to be able to sue them for 5k or use the ability to as leverage to get them to delete negative tradelines. So make sure everything is mailed certified with return receipt requested so you have the legal paper trail basically if that is the strategy you want to take.
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Dec 21, 2021 04:37
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Shroomie posted:I'm helping my girlfriend rebuild her credit. She has two delinquent accounts from 2018. One is Capital One and I can't remember the other.
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Dec 21, 2021 14:04
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Dik Hz posted:What's your girlfriend's goal here? Pay as little as possible? Settle the debt as quickly as possible? Improve her credit report? Make sure this goes away for good? She just wants to get rid of it and fix her credit. It's only like $1,500 so paying in full isn't a problem. Paying less is always cool, though.
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Dec 21, 2021 18:54
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