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I wouldn't want to hijack this thread, but I don't think there was any ask/tell from a debt collector. I know little to nothing about the court process, agencies that buy debts to collect on, or ingenius ways of getting out of debt, but I can fill in some blanks on what a third party agency that I work for does. It might even be helpful! I don't know if you'd call me a particularly successful collector either, but I'm not in any danger of losing my job as far as I can tell so I must be doing something right. But in regards to calls at different numbers, especially work or cellphone, it's our company policy to always take numbers off the listing if when calling a workplace anyone there says 'Don't call.' For cellphones it's sort of the same; we can call them, sometimes right away but in other states we have to try and reach a home phone first, because a lot of the time they're not always identified as cells and most of the time people don't mind. But if you say that you are talking on a cellphone and we're using up minutes or just ask to call another line, we'll take that number out too. Generally, with third party collections we mostly seem to be the 'carrot' approach to getting paid rather than the stick. We can't garnish wages, take people to court, etc etc, so it's mostly calling and looking for people that want to pay their debts and working with them for a payment schedule or a settlement. Which could be important to know when getting called by a collector; all I particularly need to hear is 'I don't intend to pay' or 'Handle this only through mail' before I'll add the right notes to make sure you're not bothered and most of the people I work with would do the same, since talking about something you don't want to do is just wasting everyone's time. Oh, saying that you're dead, out of country, in jail, not the right person, etc, really only works for a little while until someone does skiptracing and gets a new number or address. It really is just easier to play ball and say 'Don't call me anymore' so we can all move on with our lives. By the way, I do fully approve of suing or getting your AG involved with scumbags who're harassing people. Ultimately it means less competition down the line, and hopefully without those jackasses the well won't be as poisoned. In my job I just want to talk to people who have intentions on paying, and getting a runaround from well-meaning relatives, friends, etc, who pick up the phone (And who I can't even hint at the word 'debt' with except in the case of spouses, or those with written permission on file if they're getting a friend/relative/pimp to pay their debt) and stall me over and over again gets annoying really quickly. It's easy to understand why they'd do it but it's frustrating because I definitely have no plans on cursing, threatening, or intimidating someone over their debt when I could just as easily move on to the next file if they don't want to pay. Also, it's not allowed at our company to be sarcastic or demeaning, so I can't imagine it being allowed at any other agencies with any professionalism. Probably not as actionable as other cases of harassment or barristry but it might be good for getting at least the jerk giving you a hard time fired if you call the company and talk to someone higher up.
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Feb 22, 2010 22:49
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So I just got a disturbing phone call earlier. A man claiming to be from processing services or some other thing called me to inform me that I was to be served a subpoena tomorrow. He gave me a telephone number to call to a debt collection agency. I called them up to see what was going on and it's in regards to an old debt that I honestly had forgotten about (stupid, I know), but I haven't received any prior calls or letters from these people. Basically the guy tells me that I am going to be served but if I fork over a "generous settlement amount" then he could call "them" and stop the process. He then tries to verify my information and at first, has my birth date, address, and social security number wrong, but then looks at something else on my credit report and comes up with the correct information (I didn't tell him). He told me that a civil suit would basically destroy my chances of getting jobs in the future and rattled off a list of bad sounding things that would happen to my assets. I've never been served before so I honestly don't know if I am legitimately being sued, or if this is some elaborate scare tactic. If it turns out I really am about to be sued, what should my first move be? I haven't received so much as a phone call or letter from these people ever, and I wouldn't have because they didn't even have my right loving address.
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Feb 23, 2010 23:11
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DarthJeebus posted:So I just got a disturbing phone call earlier. From the tone you've given them, this agency sounds like scum and may have already violated FDCPA in that phone call. I highly doubt you'll get served tomorrow (or ever). If you do, let me know what the summons and complaint say, if anything else is attached, and any other questions you have. But you're right to think it's basically a scare tactic.
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Feb 23, 2010 23:40
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I have a bill on my credit report for $74. Apparently its an old bill with Sprint that never got paid. Its now in the hands of some debt collections agency. While $74 isn't that much and I could offer to do a pay-for-delete, is there anything else I can try to get it removed from the credit report that'll save me some cash? Would my first step be to contact the credit agencies and dispute the validity of said item? Or would you suggest something else?
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Feb 24, 2010 03:38
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Factory Ten posted:I have a bill on my credit report for $74. Apparently its an old bill with Sprint that never got paid. Its now in the hands of some debt collections agency. While $74 isn't that much and I could offer to do a pay-for-delete, is there anything else I can try to get it removed from the credit report that'll save me some cash? Would my first step be to contact the credit agencies and dispute the validity of said item? Or would you suggest something else? So far, I've found that contacting the Credit Reporting Agency is a mixed bad. I've sent chexsystems two validation requests, and I just get a form letter back saying "yup it's legit" with no other documentation. I've had much better luck emailing the collection agencies themselves. But try both, it's only $6.00 to send a letter with a certified receipt, so try it.
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Feb 24, 2010 05:21
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Sorry if I missed something on this earlier, but I recently got a letter from an agency on something I defaulted on in 05. I fired back a debt verification letter and got a response. They basically said they wouldn't contact me further about this debt and they 'attached an original validation of debt that verifies this debt.' The validation they attached is nothing more than: As of the date of this communication, you owe $1,189.95 on Account number (some number) which is now owned by LVNV Funding LLC. Should you desire to pay off the account in full, you should contact us at 1-888-665-0374 to determine the payoff balance as interest, payments, credits, fees, and/or other permissible charges can continue to cause your account balance to vary from day to day. The only other thing they show is my previous creditor which is accurate. This seems like a pretty flimsy 'validation' to me. Where would I go from here? Do some research and fire back another letter or start negotiations for a pay for delete?
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Feb 24, 2010 11:37
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Swastikatzen posted:Sorry if I missed something on this earlier, but I recently got a letter from an agency on something I defaulted on in 05. I fired back a debt verification letter and got a response. LVNV is a lovely firm, don't bother trying to reason or deal with them. They're notorious for ignoring written agreements and generally being dicks about your debt. Send another letter demanding more information about the debt and the chain of custody and calling bullshit on their verification. Once that's been sent, dispute by mail with the bureaus. Factory Ten posted:I have a bill on my credit report for $74. Apparently its an old bill with Sprint that never got paid. Its now in the hands of some debt collections agency. While $74 isn't that much and I could offer to do a pay-for-delete, is there anything else I can try to get it removed from the credit report that'll save me some cash? Would my first step be to contact the credit agencies and dispute the validity of said item? Or would you suggest something else? As said above, try both. In the end, though, an old cell phone debt that's under $100 isn't going to dent your credit that much so you might just want to let it go.
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Feb 24, 2010 22:22
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CubsWoo posted:As said above, try both. In the end, though, an old cell phone debt that's under $100 isn't going to dent your credit that much so you might just want to let it go. My credit rating is about 10-15 points below what I need for a Sallie Mae loan. I kinda need every bump up I can get. 
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Feb 25, 2010 01:41
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Factory Ten posted:I have a bill on my credit report for $74. Apparently its an old bill with Sprint that never got paid. Its now in the hands of some debt collections agency. While $74 isn't that much and I could offer to do a pay-for-delete, is there anything else I can try to get it removed from the credit report that'll save me some cash? Would my first step be to contact the credit agencies and dispute the validity of said item? Or would you suggest something else? Like others have said, it probably won't have any real impact on your credit rating overall. What I'd suggest is that the next time they talk to you, ask what the original debt amount was and stick to it until they tell you. If it's accruing interest or additional charges everytime the debt switches hands then you might have a problem that you'll need to negotiate on or find a way to get it deleted, but if it's stayed at the same amount while you were with Sprint and after it was charged off to a collection agency, you could probably just ignore it completely. Though if you really just want to get your credit score up, just pay it completely. It's just 74 dollars, any real savings you'd get on it would probably mean not seeing a movie for the next month or two, or switching to generic ketchup for awhile.
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Feb 25, 2010 19:05
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So my wife and I are systematically paying off all of our bad debt in order to get a bigger house. The law firm that had the one big item ($5300), apparently pulled my wifes credit report when we paid them off, bought a bad debt from someone else and tacked on 400 bucks in fees. Is there any damned way this is legal?
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Feb 26, 2010 23:54
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A collection agency just sent me a notice of a debt that I owe because of a surgery in 2007. Due to some mistake with my father's insurance being switched a few days earlier than it should have, my operation was not covered when the bill was sent out. We tried to work with the insurance company but they have done nothing. I am broke and have no way of paying 4,000 dollars. Is this situation different than credit card debt? Maybe harder to fight? Since this letter is from the first collector after the surgery company they will probably have all my information on file and the rights to sue me in small claims court I assume. Is it possible to fight this off in some way? What kind of letter should I send them? Also I have no property, no other debts and will be moving out of state at the end of the school semester.
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Feb 27, 2010 08:57
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Safety Engineer posted:So my wife and I are systematically paying off all of our bad debt in order to get a bigger house. The law firm that had the one big item ($5300), apparently pulled my wifes credit report when we paid them off, bought a bad debt from someone else and tacked on 400 bucks in fees. Is there any damned way this is legal? Legal is a funny word. They can charge you whatever the hell they want, but typically if it goes to court they have to account for it and show it was done properly. So yes, they can do what they've done. Just demand proper accounting, since the debt has now changed hands. The Waffler posted:A collection agency just sent me a notice of a debt that I owe because of a surgery in 2007. Due to some mistake with my father's insurance being switched a few days earlier than it should have, my operation was not covered when the bill was sent out. We tried to work with the insurance company but they have done nothing. I am broke and have no way of paying 4,000 dollars. Medical bills are a bit different, but would go to court all the same. You may just want to send them a letter saying you don't want to be contacted about the debt as you have no means to pay it. They may still move for a judgment, and there's not really much you can do if they've got all their ducks in a row. This is the kind of situation where, once you do have the ability to pay, you might want to seek them out and work with them.
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Feb 27, 2010 13:40
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Okay, so I definitely did not get served, and I don't think I'm being sued. My understanding is that they made a few bigtime violations of the FDCPA by not only posing as someone from the Processing Service office, but telling me that they were taking me to court when they weren't. What recourse do I have? I didn't have the presence of mind to record the phone call, but I did take pretty detailed notes. I still haven't gotten any sort of letter from them.
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Feb 28, 2010 21:17
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DarthJeebus posted:Okay, so I definitely did not get served, and I don't think I'm being sued. My understanding is that they made a few bigtime violations of the FDCPA by not only posing as someone from the Processing Service office, but telling me that they were taking me to court when they weren't. What recourse do I have? I didn't have the presence of mind to record the phone call, but I did take pretty detailed notes. I still haven't gotten any sort of letter from them. Until you get the letter, you don't have a whole lot to stand on. So just wait and see if they send the letter, and try to record any future phone calls. If you just want them to leave you alone, send a letter asking them not to call you anymore, because no time or place is convenient.
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Mar 1, 2010 12:54
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I walked away from some debt several years back, probably a total of anywhere from $3000-$5000 across a couple credit cards, the bulk of it on one MBNA (now Bank of America) card. I got the usual range of collection calls and letters afterward, and largely ignored all of them. I was dealing with some personal issues at the time, did not have the means to pay the debt, and was afraid of trying to deal with it. Young and stupid. In the last year, I moved and have started the process of getting my life back on track. My next logical step would be to get this debt off my record and start the slow and painful process of rebuilding my credit. Now, the complications. My move was pretty stealthy in that I did not leave a forwarding address or phone number (friends and people who I wanted to stay in contact with knew how to get ahold of me), and what few month-to-month financial obligations I had at the time I was taking care of online, and continued to do so. So, I managed to leave the calls and letters behind. I've read a lot of this thread and took the first step in getting my big 3 credit reports from annualcreditreport.com. The big debt that seems to be agreed upon by all three is around $8800 from Asset Acceptance. I checked on the county courthouse where I used to live and found what I assume was a judgement against me from them. Civil court, from February of last year, with a bunch of dockets related to it listing what looks like attempts to contact me about it (MOTION TO CONFIRM ARBITRATION AWARD). Moreover, while one of the initial attempts to contact me via certified mail lists my correct address, four subsequent listings show an incorrect address (same town, but I definitely never lived there and know nobody who does). I still lived there at the time of the initial judgement (I moved about a month afterward), but I know I was never personally served. Whether I got something in the mail or on my door that I might have trashed without noticing, I can't say. The last thing in the court docket was a Notice of Hearing with the hearing date set for a couple weeks ago, for APPLICATION TO CONFIRM & ENFORCE ARBITRATION. The copy of the notice, naturally, was addressed to the wrong address in my old town, and they haven't yet found me at my current address (in a different town, same state), but I'm sure they will eventually. Regardless, it's probably better to deal with this now than let it go and hope it goes away/quiets down. I know that $8800 is way more than I originally owed to MBNA/BoA, but interest, fees, etc. Are my options here pretty limited since it seems like I'm post-judgement? Will the length of time between the judgement and my attempts to dispute/invalidate it (over a year at this point) lessen my chances of success? Do I have any leeway with Asset Acceptance over the $8800 they say I owe or, again, does being post-judgement gently caress me in that regard? For reference, it's iffy that I'd be able to pay off that entire amount at the moment. Back on my feet, yes, but able to set aside that much money, not especially likely. If I -am- hosed, would setting up a payment plan be a possibility with AA?
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Mar 1, 2010 23:41
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I think that you have excellent grounds to fight this, seeing as you weren't properly served. The other side not only failed at that, but also sued you for an amount that bears no reasonable relationship to your original debt. Wait for CubsWoo or another expert before you do anything, but I think you can get the judgment vacated at the very least. Hell, I'd be surprised if the debt collection agency you're dealing with hasn't left itself open to a lawsuit with these kind of tactics.
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Mar 1, 2010 23:55
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Mar 2, 2010 02:44
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Corkscrew posted:I walked away from some debt several years back, probably a total of anywhere from $3000-$5000 across a couple credit cards, the bulk of it on one MBNA (now Bank of America) card. I got the usual range of collection calls and letters afterward, and largely ignored all of them. I was dealing with some personal issues at the time, did not have the means to pay the debt, and was afraid of trying to deal with it. Young and stupid. In the last year, I moved and have started the process of getting my life back on track. My next logical step would be to get this debt off my record and start the slow and painful process of rebuilding my credit. You may be able to get the judgment vacated, but it'll depend on your state. Check the court record for things like alias summons - it may be considered sufficient summons for them to mail one to your last known address. Even with that, though, most judges will vacate a judgment and send everything back to the court system if you can show you weren't living at that address at the time (dig up old mail, utility bills, things like that.) Also it's interesting that from what you've shown it looks like it was sent to arbitration at the creditor's request (not surprising, seeing that 12-18 months ago going to arb was in their favor.) See if you can find out who handled the arbitration claim. If it's a group called NAF, you should be able to get the arbitration verdict nullified due to their gross misconduct towards consumers/getting shut down by the MN AG. If it's from AAA or JAMS you may still be able to, but I'd want a lot more info on what happened first. First things first, though, contact the courthouse (or better yet, go in person) and ask how you can begin the process to have the judgment vacated. You'll need the plaintiff/their law firm's info to send copies to them, and depending on how backlogged the court is you should get a status hearing within 60 days to discuss it. The time between could be a factor, but usually not, since these things come up quite a bit. As far as paying it back if you need to, don't worry about that yet. They may have a judgment, but it's telling that they haven't tried to enforce the judgment yet. You haven't had any account seizure or pay garnishments, which is good. If everything stays as is, I'm fairly sure Asset Acceptance would work on a payment plan with you to pay it down. Don't bother with countersuit/counterclaims just yet, work first on getting the judgment gone and then think about moving on the offensive once they have to restart proceedings.
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Mar 2, 2010 15:34
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I'm helping my cousin on this one. We sent a debt validation letter to NCO financial systems, inc. who were trying to collect on an old card my cousin had. So old he can't remember the original creditor, but he remembers it was sold to providian, then to SST, where he defaulted, then to NCO for collections. The response he got from the validation letter in the op was "Thank you for your recent communication. I can assure you that we are committed to assisting you; however, we have been unable to locate the matter you have referenced from the information we have been provided. Please provide us with further identifying information such as your social security number, the name of the original creditor, the creditor's account number and/or reference number and the billing address of the account. A copy of any correspondence you may have received from us would also be of assistance. Kindly contact me at the above address with this information." So is he in the clear as far as them being unable to locate the debt with just his name/address and their reference number that they provided, or is he required to send some or all of that information back to them?
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Mar 5, 2010 19:51
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zharmad posted:I'm helping my cousin on this one. We sent a debt validation letter to NCO financial systems, inc. who were trying to collect on an old card my cousin had. So old he can't remember the original creditor, but he remembers it was sold to providian, then to SST, where he defaulted, then to NCO for collections. The response he got from the validation letter in the op was They need all that poo poo to collect the debt and the fact they're asking you for it is pretty hilarious. Is the debt on your cousin's credit report? You should be able to contest it if so, as they can't prove the debt is yours. You should also be able to write a cease communications letter unless they can validate the debt. There might be another step that CubsWoo knows of, but there should be examples of how to do both of these things above from earlier in the thread.
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Mar 5, 2010 23:15
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Knightmare posted:They need all that poo poo to collect the debt and the fact they're asking you for it is pretty hilarious. Is the debt on your cousin's credit report? You should be able to contest it if so, as they can't prove the debt is yours. You should also be able to write a cease communications letter unless they can validate the debt. There might be another step that CubsWoo knows of, but there should be examples of how to do both of these things above from earlier in the thread. Actually, the validation letter contained a cease communication except via writing, despite this they have called 5 times since they receive the letter (yay return receipt certified!), which my cousin recorded (Michigan is a one party consent state). Basically at this point its building to a small claims lawsuit.
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Mar 5, 2010 23:57
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zharmad posted:I'm helping my cousin on this one. We sent a debt validation letter to NCO financial systems, inc. who were trying to collect on an old card my cousin had. So old he can't remember the original creditor, but he remembers it was sold to providian, then to SST, where he defaulted, then to NCO for collections. The response he got from the validation letter in the op was That's a classic collector tactic: "We'd love to help you, but we don't have any of your information, so please do us a favor and give us all of the stuff we need to collect on this debt we bought." Send them a second letter telling them to gently caress off, and that you intend to sue if they continue collection attempts (reference the phone calls post-cease communication letter as well.) If they don't go away, congrats, your cousin will be getting a check cut from them.
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Mar 6, 2010 02:34
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An outside collection agency representing a hospital filed against me recently, I filed an answer with boilerplate defenses, and proceedings are scheduled for later on this month. I decided to look up the case records of the plaintiff attorney's prior cases to see what my chances were....he has a 100% win record for his last couple dozen cases (these are not including summary judgments because the defendant didn't show). Now that I have the money from my annual bonus check, I'd just like to pay in full and get this dropped. From the internets, I've learned that this will involve a "consent judgment" entered into the docket. 1. What's the best way to go about proposing a settlement in full? 2. Does a consent judgment remain on court record or on my credit report (which has not yet been dinged from this) ? Because I'll be applying for various government security clearances in the future, I'd like to make sure I don't have to declare anything resembling a "judgment" in my history. Edited to add: 3. Okay, apparently they just reported to the credit bureaus as of a few weeks ago, as it's now showing up. Additional question: How do I get this off? Bored College Guy fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Mar 6, 2010 |
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Mar 6, 2010 22:08
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Burning Beard posted:What about Business Cards? Apparently I may be on the hook for CC cards that were issued to me from a business I was involved in. It's total bullshit and has hosed me hard. Personally my stuff is perfect and in order save for some student loans. In other words, five cards want ME to pay the entire debt of a small Corporation that went out of business 4 years ago. This fight has been going on for ages. I thought I would give a small update on my case. My lawyer basically told me to file Bankruptcy because apparently if my name is on any of the business CC invoices, supposedly I'm hosed. I'm not too happy about this. Basically it will be a Chapter 7 no assets and once that is hopefully through then the violations can start a rackin' up. The worst part is that I have absolutely nothing beyond 6 figures of Business CC debt they are trying to pin on me. The only other outstanding debt is my student loans... and we know about that. I am hoping that because of the circumstances I would be too hosed when it comes to house/car loan as well as co-signers. It will clear everything off at least and protect me from these cocksuckers but still... I don't even get anything cool like a huge LCD Tv I couldn't afford out of it. The other two guys that were involved? Well, apparently one filed already and the other is off the grid, more or less. I only used those motherfucking cards for the business, the other guy took vacations on them. Pisses me off and depresses me at the same time. Lesson: The Big Banks will do whatever the gently caress they want, regardless of whatever you have. Bend over and take it.
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Mar 7, 2010 21:45
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Bored College Guy posted:An outside collection agency representing a hospital filed against me recently, I filed an answer with boilerplate defenses, and proceedings are scheduled for later on this month. I decided to look up the case records of the plaintiff attorney's prior cases to see what my chances were....he has a 100% win record for his last couple dozen cases (these are not including summary judgments because the defendant didn't show). A consent judgment will stay on your credit report/court record, like other judgments. What I would suggest, if you want to pay instead of fight, is to contact the legal firm and see if they'll, as a condition of you settling (and maybe offer less than 100%, but if you don't care about that go ahead and offer the full amount) in return for them dismissing the lawsuit/deleting off the report. This way the case goes away, a judgment isn't entered on your credit report, and they get their money. I'd probably still fight the case, but I can't speak for what's best for you (and the 100% win rate may not include dismissed cases that the firm gave up on) - if you want to pay or think you'll lose, paying is a good option. Just try your best to see if they'll drop the case first, so you don't have the judgment hanging on. CubsWoo fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Mar 8, 2010 |
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Mar 8, 2010 02:40
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What do I do when a creditor doesn't respond to a validation of debt letter? I sent out a bunch, and most of them have not responded. So now what? Do I send a copy of the letter and the certified mail signature to the credit reporting agency and say "Look, they didn't respond, remove it!" How do I "prove" they didn't validate debt in a timely manner?
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Mar 8, 2010 15:08
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Pagan posted:What do I do when a creditor doesn't respond to a validation of debt letter? I sent out a bunch, and most of them have not responded. So now what? Do I send a copy of the letter and the certified mail signature to the credit reporting agency and say "Look, they didn't respond, remove it!" How do I "prove" they didn't validate debt in a timely manner? You don't have to prove they didn't validate - they have to prove they did. Send that info to the bureau, and a second letter to the creditor detailing what you're doing/warning them not to validate to the agency without proof being given to you. The tone should hint towards an intent to sue letter.
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Mar 8, 2010 17:27
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CubsWoo posted:You don't have to prove they didn't validate - they have to prove they did. Send that info to the bureau, and a second letter to the creditor detailing what you're doing/warning them not to validate to the agency without proof being given to you. The tone should hint towards an intent to sue letter. Cool. Also, how do you monitor your credit? I've already pulled my free credit report from annualreport.com or whatever, but is there a good resource for keeping track of stuff on a more frequent basis? Is it worth paying the $15 a month to freecreditreport.com?
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Mar 8, 2010 19:25
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Pagan posted:Cool. I get mine from Quizzle.com. It's free, and there aren't any predatory strings attached (as far as I can tell.)
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Mar 8, 2010 21:36
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So if I pay off the collection agency that holds the account for a credit card we used to have, does the original credit card company update that the acct is now paid off on my credit report? If it doesn't show as paid off, will disputing it with proof of paid in full from the collection agency do anything?
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Mar 9, 2010 00:37
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Safety Engineer posted:So if I pay off the collection agency that holds the account for a credit card we used to have, does the original credit card company update that the acct is now paid off on my credit report? They should update, and if they don't, you prove the the bureau you've paid and they'll update it themselves.
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Mar 9, 2010 03:31
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Over a year ago I moved out of Maryland. I just received a notice from MD saying I owe about $2500 for "insurance lapse default". It's the first notice I've gotten about it, possibly because it was addressed to a non-existent address a block away. There's no explanation other than "insurance lapse default" so I'm guessing they didn't get notified properly when I registered my car in the new state and switched insurance. But I don't know that for sure--it really just says I owe them money. So does any of the stuff in this thread apply because it's a state going after me not a private creditor? The only instructions included with the notice say "If you have a valid dispute, notify the Central Collection Unit in writing as to its basis within 30 days of the first notification of the matter in dispute". Since I don't actually know for sure why they want $2500 from me, how do I do that?
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Mar 11, 2010 00:25
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CubsWoo posted:A consent judgment will stay on your credit report/court record, like other judgments. What I would suggest, if you want to pay instead of fight, is to contact the legal firm and see if they'll, as a condition of you settling (and maybe offer less than 100%, but if you don't care about that go ahead and offer the full amount) in return for them dismissing the lawsuit/deleting off the report. This way the case goes away, a judgment isn't entered on your credit report, and they get their money. I recently contacted this attorney's office and spoke with his legal secretary, who was shocked/flabbergasted that I wouldn't trust them to dismiss the case automatically after mailing in a payment (either she's a very good actress, or perhaps this particular attorney/CA actually does have a sense of ethics). In any case, I am appearing in his office next week to personally hand over the check and have us both sign an order of dismissal. Since his legal secretary was less than helpful in making sure all of my stipulations were going to be in the paperwork, I am planning to send this letter ahead of time CMRR: I am writing to confirm the details of the stipulations I am proposing in exchange for payment in full. This is not an admittance to this debt. As discussed with your legal secretary xxx, I am prepared to present a certified check for the amount of $xxxx.xx under my proposed agreement with the following stipulations: a dismissal of the case with prejudice, removal of all references to this debt filed with any and all credit reporting bureaus, an acknowledgment that the debt has been settled in full, and an assurance this debt will not be re-assigned to another collection agency. I will be appearing in your office in person on xx/xx/xx to sign the agreement and present the certified check. Please contact me at the address or phone number listed above if needed. Does this look good/sound like a good plan? Hopefully I am not missing anything. (Yes, I am still planning to show up in court on our assigned date in case they try to pull something)
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Mar 11, 2010 10:54
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Bored College Guy posted:I recently contacted this attorney's office and spoke with his legal secretary, who was shocked/flabbergasted that I wouldn't trust them to dismiss the case automatically after mailing in a payment (either she's a very good actress, or perhaps this particular attorney/CA actually does have a sense of ethics). In any case, I am appearing in his office next week to personally hand over the check and have us both sign an order of dismissal. Since his legal secretary was less than helpful in making sure all of my stipulations were going to be in the paperwork, I am planning to send this letter ahead of time CMRR: This seems really well done. Good work! eater posted:Over a year ago I moved out of Maryland. I just received a notice from MD saying I owe about $2500 for "insurance lapse default". It's the first notice I've gotten about it, possibly because it was addressed to a non-existent address a block away. Most of what's here should apply, so definitely dispute it. Find out why they want the money and see if it's valid.
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Mar 12, 2010 03:39
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I just read the first page of this thread and it comes to me at a good time. I have had debt for about 3-4 years now due to me not being able to work, it took me 1 1/2 years to get on SSI for some form of income so I can actually help out with paying my share of things as this whole time my wife has been so great in working and helping make ends meet. Well I called up the biggest person I owe debt to ($22k) for student loans as I had defaulted on them. After getting in contact with them they agreed to wipe my credit report clean of showing it being defaulted and report it as being current, they said it would take about 9 days to show up correctly on my report. So that's one small victory I have thanks to this thread. I believe in paying off my debt to them as they have been nothing but great and willing to work with me on getting it all straightened out, but I don't like dealing with collection agencies that treat me as human garbage and threaten me. I've had some scum debt collectors call me in the past trying to milk a payment out from some other debts I owe, even using the well you're going to be getting served threat several times, have yet to be served any papers. With the student loans out of the way all I have left is a $219 debt for a power bill and last month it showed they charged off the $9k in debt for a car that got repossessed 3 years ago, Statue of Limitations in my state is 3 years so not sure if they are going to sell the debt (most likely) to a collection agency or just consider it a loss. Question for the OP: Is the $219 debt even worth writing the collection agency a pay for delete letter (I C Systems Inc.) or should I not even bother with it? I haven't gotten any letters or any type of contact from them on it so I'm not even sure they've tried to collect on it! I'm hoping by doing payments on my student loans it will help me actually start the process of repairing my credit since I know it's going to be a long road.
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Mar 13, 2010 15:36
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kicktd posted:I just read the first page of this thread and it comes to me at a good time. I have had debt for about 3-4 years now due to me not being able to work, it took me 1 1/2 years to get on SSI for some form of income so I can actually help out with paying my share of things as this whole time my wife has been so great in working and helping make ends meet. Well I called up the biggest person I owe debt to ($22k) for student loans as I had defaulted on them. After getting in contact with them they agreed to wipe my credit report clean of showing it being defaulted and report it as being current, they said it would take about 9 days to show up correctly on my report. So that's one small victory I have thanks to this thread. If it's on your report, it may be worth trying to settle on a PFD, but at $200 they might not take much less than the full amount. Your call.
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Mar 15, 2010 20:48
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I've been making $100 monthly payments to MRS Associates for a Chase account I defaulted on in 2007. Before they contacted me, they had actually gotten ahold of my parents who then called me about it. This happened a few times. I asked them not to contact my parents any more, and they haven't since. Knowing now that contacting friends or family about your debt is a violation of the FDCPA, do you think it's plausible to use that against them? If so, how? Or did that go out the window when I started making payments?
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Mar 16, 2010 17:25
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GoochBag posted:I've been making $100 monthly payments to MRS Associates for a Chase account I defaulted on in 2007. Before they contacted me, they had actually gotten ahold of my parents who then called me about it. This happened a few times. I asked them not to contact my parents any more, and they haven't since. Knowing now that contacting friends or family about your debt is a violation of the FDCPA, do you think it's plausible to use that against them? If so, how? Or did that go out the window when I started making payments? Possible, but very, very difficult due to the time in-between. You can still ask them to validate at this point, regardless of your payment status.
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Mar 16, 2010 17:36
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I bookmarked this thread for the future if another collection agency tried their lovely law breaking tactics on my student loans so I would know what to do. They don't like hearing that I'm on disability and there's not much they can do before they tell me I'm just not trying hard enough. So I can't thank you enough for this. I just got a letter in the mail about an old CC I had with National City. PNC just bought them out, and I'm pretty sure it's been over 4 years (statute for PA) since I last paid on it, and it's the first I've ever heard about this debt. When I request this info from the collection agency in my DV letter, will they be able to provide it? If not, does the burden of proof lay on me? I checked through the thread again but I may have missed this information. And for the SSI guy, if any of your student loans are through the Dept. of Education, they can forgive theirs once you're on SSI as long as it's for at least 3 years after they forgive them. I got through the first hoop and my friends mom's took about 6 months total to have a decision made. Once their collectors got ahold of me they were super nice once they heard about that, not so much with the loving assholes that last had my Sallie Mae ones.
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Mar 17, 2010 00:09
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zamiel posted:I bookmarked this thread for the future if another collection agency tried their lovely law breaking tactics on my student loans so I would know what to do. They don't like hearing that I'm on disability and there's not much they can do before they tell me I'm just not trying hard enough. So I can't thank you enough for this. The burden of proof is never on the debtor to prove a debt. The creditor (whomever it may be) has to be able to prove the debt to you, or the collection won't stand up in court.
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Mar 17, 2010 01:08
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