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Tindjin posted:CubsWoo, would you recommend getting an individual account with each of the three credit reporting services or do one of their "3 in 1" accounts? I need to dispute a few things on each report and try to clean up a few smaller issues. I was thinking of justing doing the individual one at each to get the easier access for the disputing process as none of their combo packages mention anything about disputing items at the other two sites. You don't want to make your disputes online. In a nutshell: you're doing a lot of their work for them, and you're potentially shooting yourself in the foot. Disputes have specific codes in each CRA's system. For instance, one for "Not mine". If you're feeding them a "Not mine" code, they're not likely to do much more than contact the creditor and say "Is what you told us true?". More likely than not, the creditor will answer back "Of course!", and in a matter of seconds (because no real person will be involved) your dispute will be turned down, and you risk getting hit with "We've already investigated this." if you try disputing again. Instead, you want to send them a letter that questions every possible aspect of the account. The account number's wrong. The balance is wrong. The dates are wrong. And so on. A real person has to enter this in, and decide what bucket to put you in. Understand that this person isn't a well-compensated private investigator. I'm sure you can figure out the rest. quote:I guess it's time to get the item of my dad's off my report, from a 1969 Sears card, since I wasn't born until 1974 I think that is gonna be the easiest one. Loco179 posted:Cubs... UltimateKO posted:I live in Florida and I owe about $11k on a Bank of America cc, Iv been seriously considering just stop paying this car because in a nutshell, Im drowing. If you stop paying, they're going to nag you for 90 days. Then they're going to pay someone to nag you, and chances are, they'll be less polite about it. Since you owe $11,000, they will then almost certainly sue you, and you will almost certainly lose. It is entirely possible that you can get them to stop charging interest, and let you pay it off over time, without doing too much damage to your credit. That won't happen if you don't call them. CubsWoo parrots CreditBoards theories reasonably well, but he hasn't mentioned that most of the tactics work on old debts that have been shuffled around for years. Is AT&T going to haul you in to court over a $250 ETF from 2006? Not likely. Chances are, that debt has passed through three or four different companies by now, who have purchased it for $5, $2, $0.09, and $0.005 going down the line. If they're not reporting, or your credit is trashed enough that you don't care that they are, you can bide your time and try to trick a collector in to violating, and collect some money from them. But over the past year or so? Collections and capital losses mean something very different now. To be honest, I wouldn't gently caress around with any debt over $500 that's within SOL and went in to collections less than two years ago. And, I've been paying attention to credit issues and helping friends (after fixing my own credit) for nearly nine years.
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Jan 7, 2010 00:58
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Loco179 posted:Yep sent them a certified letter with return sig. What you might try, is an Intent To Sue letter, detailing when they received your letter demanding that they stop calling, and the number of times they've called since then. In theory, you are entitled to $1,000 for each time. (Of course, in practice, this isn't necessarily what you would be awarded -- especially if you can't prove it.) So in your letter, you could even say something along the lines of "It is my intent to seek and obtain legal satisfaction for your <number of> violations of <relevant sections> of the Fair Debt Collection Practices act. However, in the interest of resolving this matter amicably, I would be willing to settle out of court for <amount of alleged debt -- assuming it's less than the violations>, and apply this amount directly to the alleged debt. Consistent with my dispute, I would also require that you remove any information related to this matter from any data collector or furnisher you may have provided it to." You need to be careful in your phrasing so that your letter isn't easily construed as blackmail or extortion. If they weren't suing you, I'd consider being more forceful.
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Jan 7, 2010 03:02
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Bored College Guy posted:Shite! I woke up to a process server this morning with a summons. The in-house counsel of a local collection agency filed on their behalf, attempting to collect on $2000 of medical fees. This local agency works directly with most of the health care facilities in the area, and in my interactions with them they have been completely legit and following the FDCPA to the letter. Hit the "Help, I've Been Served!" forum on CreditBoards. You're more likely to find people there who are lawyers / paralegals / have been sued for medical collections. quote:On my one and only dealing with the collections agency, they refused to setup payment plans and demanded payment-in-full within a month to avoid "legal proceedings" (considered it an empty threat - whoops!). I'd love to pay it off slowly, but they refused to budge unless it was paid in full in that small span of time. If nothing else, it lets the collector know that you're not pulling a "gently caress you, sue me." bluff. And as there's no such thing as debtor's jail (at least, in the US), it also gets them a step closer to realizing that you don't have the money to pay. Judgement or not, they can't get $2,000 out of you if you don't have $2,000. And if they garnish your wages (assuming you have wages to garnish in the first place), they're potentially getting smaller payments than they would if they just worked with you. Perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates to a judge that you're willing to pay, and that they're being less than reasonable. Remember that the judge is a real person, and is probably annoyed when he or she has to deal with things that could be settled out of court. quote:What are my options here? Do I need to retain an attorney to respond to the summons and file with the court? What should I put in my letter? That shouldn't stop you from trying, though. Check with your state's bar association. Chances are very good that they have a lawyer referral service that can help you for little to no cost. Depending on your financial situation, they might find someone to represent you for next to nothing. But, I don't want to give you false hope. If you're 19 and live with your parents in a nice suburb, I wouldn't count on that. quote:Added: So far they haven't dinged my credit.
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Jan 7, 2010 04:26
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CubsWoo posted:This is good advice if the online disputes aren't working. Personally I've only had one problem mark that didn't go away with an online dispute, but a written one sent to the bureaus will generally be more effective. Then again, I've been happy with online disputing. Let's say the dispute comes back verified. Now what? Your initial options are either to tell them to prove it, or try disputing again. If you tell them to prove it, they'll stall. And more importantly, if you want to dispute multiple angles, you're going to have a harder time. They have a relatively solid leg to stand on in dismissing your dispute as "frivolous" by using the rationale "The consumer said _____ was incorrect. We validated it, and now they're coming back and saying everything is incorrect." It's also nice to have a copy of that green card to go along with the copies of your court filing, when you send them your last letter warning them that you know they got your disputes, and you're going to sue them if they don't delete or give you better proof that they verified with the creditor. quote:This, on the other hand, is terrible advice. Especially in today's climate regarding the use of arbitration. UltimateKO, check to see if your BoA card has pushed through a 'Change in Terms' notice recently. If you've been keeping good records of the items you've received from the company, you'll have a copy of it. If you haven't had your terms changed recently, you're in luck, and you should stop paying on the card. If they pursue you for the debt (and they will, trust me) mention in any letters to them that you will choose to elect (and use 'elect,' that's important) arbitration to settle the matter privately. This sucks BoA into a black hole that they likely will not get out of - they need to pay for nearly the whole cost of the proceedings (you pay $250, and if you're at 300% of the poverty line or below, you get a waiver - AND BoA, as per your agreement, may need to forward you the money to begin as per the contract language!) and the climate of arbitrators has shifted very pro-consumer. BoA will not want to throw $50000 and years of their time into arbitration to get your $11k, trust me. I've recently dealt with them for an amount close to what you owe, and they've thrown up the white flag. Here's why I think that is terrible advice: This is going to accelerate a chargeoff. Having a chargeoff on your report is basically poison if you plan to get any sort of credit card or loan at a reasonable rate. You are potentially better off having a bankruptcy on your report. (The rationale being that you can only declare bankruptcy so many times) The person in this situation also hasn't expressed an unwillingness to pay, or that there's been any ratejacking or other wrongdoing. As for arbitration, the creditor almost always gets to choose who the arbitrator is. If anything, you want out of arbitration. Good luck convincing an arbitrator that you should be able to walk away from a legitimate debt. quote:Also, arbitration waives both parties right to litigate - so you have an angle to countersue if they move to sue you after you elect. You've shut the door to going to court, if you agree to arbitration. And honestly, unless you can demonstrate that the $11,000 comprises of $7,000 in "hard" debt and $4,000 in default interest because you made a single payment late, you're not going to win. "I don't have any money / I don't want to pay" will get you absolutely nowhere with an arbitrator. quote:So far I haven't seen collectors or OC's wisen up one bit about collecting fairly or properly yet, and if anything have become more aggressive, more frustrated, and more likely to violate now that the public's wallets have tightened up. That's all fine and good when they go sniffing for zombie debt, or you absolutely have them dead to rights on violations. Beyond that, though, you typically don't want to wind up in court. Don't get me wrong. I've sued and been sued before, and as luck would have it, I've come out on top each time. But that doesn't make it a particularly enjoyable or productive experience. quote:You can try to hammer out a settlement, but in my experience once they've pulled the lawsuit trigger they're gunning for the judgment. In their eyes, they've already spent the time and money putting the lawyer on retainer, they've spent the initial filing fee for the case (usually around $250-300) and they haven't gotten anything from you so far. It's always cheaper to stay out of court, and working something out doesn't waive their right to haul you in to court if you stop paying. quote:They're in it for the full amounts now. And the judges, at least here, don't care. They're more annoyed that you're defending yourself at all instead of him ruling a default, and in their eyes there's nothing unreasonable about the plaintiff pushing for everything they're owed. Bud Hibbs, Creditboards, and others are catching on. As a result, courts are filling up with defendants who come in with half-cocked ideas about laws they don't really understand, butcher Latin to sound brilliant, and generally waste everyone's time. There's a vast difference between people who will sit down, take the time necessary to understand what they're defending, why they're defending it, and how to follow proper procedure, and people who are cheered on by armchair lawyers who in all likelihood have never set foot in court, and are taking a "defense by numbers" approach. And honestly, it isn't unreasonable to sue someone for the full amount they're owed. quote:Plus, judgments usually can be collected for 10, sometimes 20+ years depending on the state (and bear interest the whole time) so they can just sit back and wait for you to have an income to garnish. If they're tacking on ridiculous fees, or violating your rights, that's one thing. (Personally, I have no shame in adding "If they're a debt-buyer" to that list.) But if you legitimately owe someone money, and all they're asking you for is the money they're owed, you're better off staying out of court. CubsWoo posted:"Closed" can mean a lot of things, usually the report will say 'closed by consumer' or 'closed by creditor' or something like that.  quote:Generally an account will stay on your report for 7 years from the month you stopped paying on the account (or in the case of a non-collections account, paid off the balance in full) and then falls off. quote:Some creditors will try to 're-age' the account and make it look newer than it is, and that's what you need to look out for. Make sure the dates on your report match up with your own records. quote:Most states have specific statutes that say the court will not press charges or otherwise pursue criminal cases against people who don't pay unsecured debt. It would have to be a lot of money and an air-tight case where the creditors could prove clear intent of fraud. Courts don't necessarily have the burden to collect on a judgement. They tell you to pay the plaintiff, and you're supposed to. If you don't the plaintiff can go back to the court and say "The defendant didn't pay me!", at which time the court will send a summons to the defendant and ask about all of their finances, to try and determine why payment hasn't been made. If the defendant has a good reason (documented illness, loss of work, other clear inability to pay), there's not much that can be done. But if the defendant is just not paying, he or she could be hit with a contempt of court charge (though the person would probably need to be a smartass to the judge, or a complete douche for this to happen) and could be looking at garnishment.
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Jan 7, 2010 18:09
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amateur economist posted:Yeah, if you go in front of the judge and say "Sorry judge, as you can see, I have no assets" and the plaintiff can show evidence that you have 100k squirreled away offshore, that's the situation in which I believe you can be hit for contempt. jassi007 posted:So a bit of a question related to this thread. My mom is seperating from her 2nd husband. 60% of their combined income was his. So now she has a lot of debt in her name, and not enough income to satisfy it all.  Assuming they're joint assets / debts, it's in both of their best interests to pay as normal. Otherwise, both of their credit reports are going to get trashed. multigl posted:How can I get these fucks to quit calling me? Chances are, you can file your complaint(s) online.
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Jan 7, 2010 22:01
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CubsWoo posted:Arbitration... quote:I agree that you don't want to do form-letter 'defense by numbers' or anything like that, but the resources for pro se defendants are very expansive and helpful, and the majority of debt lawsuits don't expect the debtor to put up even a token defense, let alone show up. I can put out a box of hammers with a "FREE!" sign, and know that some people will take the hammers, and build something useful. Others will take the hammers simply because they're free. And others will take the hammers to smash out car windows. quote:I will agree that in most cases, pre-lawsuit, it's a better idea to try and work with them. But once they've moved to sue, you have nothing to lose by making them do the actual work to prove their case instead of sheepishly taking a judgment or settlement. Right off the bat, settling out of court keeps you from getting a judgement tacked on to your report. If the plaintiff has you on a legitimate debt, is the original creditor (or is acting on their behalf), and hasn't slammed you with unconscionable fees and / or interest, you have nothing to gain by going to court, other than hoping that they don't show up, or that you can catch them on a technicality that will only postpone the inevitable (at best). The person who shows up in court to sue you is typically not the same person making $8 an hour to nag you on the phone. If you have a non-JDB hauling you in to court, they're much more likely to have their i's dotted and t's crossed. You need a legitimate defense, or a defense that's as good as legitimate. quote:In my state, at least, the judge can't force you to pay a debt even with a judgment. They can order your accounts seized and your pay garnished(and subpoena you to find these things), but post-judgment, even if you have money, if none of it can be seized via a garnishment/seizure order, they can't legally press charges for not wanting to pay. Lief posted:I was called about 8 times with a spoofed number (000-000-0000) by FIA Card Services (B of A goons) after I asked them to make all correspondence through the mail. I was behind on a payment. Can I sue? 2) Did your request say it was inconvenient or not allowed by your employer? 3) Can you prove that you sent it? 4) Can you prove that they received it? 5) Can you prove that they called you? You can sue anyone for anything you want. Assume each "no" reduces your probability of winning by 20% jassi007 posted:She takes home about $600 every two weeks. If he's low-income and on SSDI, she's not getting a fat alimony check. Her income alone doesn't come close to covering her expenses, based on the numbers you've provided. Right off the bat, her most basic living expenses are $1,680 - $1,780 on $1,200. I'm taking what you said at face value, so I'm assuming that doesn't cover things like clothing, any entertainment, etc. She's working with a $480 - $580 deficit before we even talk about another $40,000 in unsecured debt (and if she's got 12 cards with $12k in debt, that paints the picture of multiple subprime cards with APR's in the high 20's). No amount of legal fuckery is going to make twelve credit cards, an auto loan, and a personal loan go away, and modify a mortgage, and modify another auto loan, and make food and medicine cheaper. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Jan 8, 2010 |
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Jan 8, 2010 20:27
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FyRe posted:I have no assets of garnishable wages to speak of. I tutor under the table. Someday between now and the SOL running out, you (hopefully) will have a (semi)permanent place to live, a checking account, and so on. The fact that you don't have them today is not a guarantee that they can't try tomorrow. TheWevel posted:What's the best way to go about getting a charge-off removed from my credit report? It's from the City of San Diego and it's from parking tickets. I live in Georgia now. I was thinking of sending them a letter and doing a pay for deletion. Anybody ever dealt with a city before? It's only on my Experian report but since it's a charge off and not a collection I think it's hurting my score more. I know cities are doing interesting things with tolls and parking, but a charge-off is a tax thing. Unless the city extended credit to you and wrote it off of their taxes as uncollectible, it isn't a charge-off. So, you could send a letter to Experian saying it's reporting wrong. You could make a combo out of the dispute and say that it's reporting wrong, and you want everything else verified, because you think the line itself is bad.
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Jan 12, 2010 00:31
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EBT posted:So long story short I assume the 500 dollars in medical bills from 2006 is not a big deal anymore? More likely than not, the debt would fall under UCC, which many states respect in relation to their SOL. So, it's possible (though you'll want to verify this) that the debt will be outside of the SOL this year. If you're applying for a platinum / signature credit card, auto loan, or lease, it's possible that this will be a problem. If you're applying for a mortgage, on the other hand, most lenders will overlook medical collections under $2,500. Once you're sure you're outside of the SOL, you can get that collection off of your report without much difficulty (assuming they're reporting to begin with). Long story short: It's probably covered under "third party disclosure" under HIPAA, and the collection agency is going to be more likely to remove it than have you take them to court to sue for damages. CubsWoo posted:Failure to answer a dispute makes it fall off, yes, but if they can prove to the bureau that the debt is valid, it can go back on. As far as I can tell there's not some kind of double jeopardy rule that says a valid debt can't be reported on if they didn't respond in 30 days. If they reattach the tradeline and can't supply proof of a valid debt, then you have something. quote:(B) Requirements relating to reinsertion of previously deleted material. It's at this point that the reporting agencies are often more apt to respond to a "BOO! I'm going to sue you!" letter. Edit: Pagan posted:But if the record dropped off because the collector didn't respond in 30 days, how can they just put it back on again? Couldn't you write the credit agencies and say "this has already been proven frivolous?" Or even seek legal remedies against the collector for fraud? I'm asking because I did dispute a bill that I didn't recognize, Experian agreed that it wasn't mine, but then I got a letter from a collector just a few days ago for the same bill. Realistically, the value of the debt and probability that you'll pay it go down substantially as time progresses, and eventually, it won't be worth trying to collect on. But until the collectors give up, you have to do the dance with each one that reports, unless you can corner one on a violation and get them to agree not to sell or reassign the debt. The SOL plays a large part here, but all the SOL really does is keep them from suing you. I believe some courts have ruled that debts beyond the SOL are "uncollectable" and that trying to collect is a violation of the FDCPA, but this isn't explicitly codified in the FDCPA. So the rule of thumb is typically "They can try forever. They just can't sue." TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Jan 14, 2010 |
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Jan 14, 2010 17:56
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CubsWoo posted:Suits on out-of-statute debt do happen, and they do win/get defaults against people who don't know any better, since the judge doesn't really ask for much (or any) proof if the defendant isn't there. Of course such a judgment will get vacated if the defendant knows what they're doing, but once again, a lot of people just don't know their rights. I sometimes write with the assumption that everyone answers their summons (which is absolutely not true), shows up to court, and finds a diplomatic way to say "Bullshit!". 
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Jan 14, 2010 22:24
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CubsWoo posted:What did they include? It sounds like very little, in which case you need to send them a letter telling them, very nicely, to go gently caress themselves and never contact you again. I've seen more than one who waits until they get your DV before reporting it, and then tacks it on your report as a disputed collection. Sending a full C&D inside of seven years is risky. Doing it when you're not positive you're out of SOL is just plain foolish. quepasa18 posted:I'm pretty sure they're not required to give you a lot of that information. Debt collectors don't have to give you whatever random things you demand to see. What's required is proof of the debt in the form of invoices or whatever, and the name of the original creditor, if any. Maybe the law in your state requires that, but I'm fairly certain the FDCPA does not. A CA isn't required to prove to a debtor that a debt is in or out of the statute of limitations. If they were, JDB's would fold left and right. Acknowledging that they know (or have reason to know) that they're collecting an uncollectable debt is tantamount to sending people checks for $1,000. They do, however, have to produce a full accounting of the alleged debt when asked to do so. From what I've read (though I'm reluctant to say it's legal precedent), this specifically means copies of old bills going back to the DOFD. They may also be required to prove that they're licensed in your state (depending on your state's law). It's also common practice to ask that they prove they have a legitimate right to collect on the debt, but this does more to help you in court than anything else. "I didn't pay them because they didn't prove that I owed them anything" is an okay defense.
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Jan 26, 2010 21:19
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BusinessWallet posted:I actually just called back again with my GV number and didn't identify myself, and spoke to a supervisor. Collectors openly talk about passing the phone to the person in the next cube if someone demands to speak with a manger. And while the legality is certainly questionable, good luck proving that the person you're talking to isn't a supervisor. quote:She said that they're a debt collector company, not a debt collection agency and I asked the difference and she said that they can sue. I asked her what states they have the power to collect in and she said that she wouldn't be able to answer that, but I did get her to explain that they send out a debt dispute letter, the first one that they always sent you which I have not received. quote:I think that they acquired the debt very recently and they're trying to collect on it before I get it or something. I will call them and talk about the settlement. When I said pay for delete the rep had no idea what I was talking about, and I said that I would only settle if the record would be erased from my credit report. He said that it would be "settled in full" and I would have to fax the record to the 3 credit bureaus and it would be taken off my credit report in 4-6 months. This sounds fishy to me? It doesn't sound like what has been talked about in this thread. You should consider crafting a specific DV / PFD strategy, if you're willing to pay. quote:I forgot to mention: He did ask me where I work, what I do for a living, how much I make in a month, where I bank, stuff like that. I didn't give him any info, but I thought it was strange that he asked. He said he was trying to help me with the settlement and gave a bullshit explanation. If I was a collector, I'd love to know how to bother you at work. And how hard I can squeeze you for money, how likely you are to remain employed, and to make you simple to garnish if I already know where you keep your money. If you said "I work part-time at Kentucky Fried Chicken, usually on the biscuits but sometimes I clean the Pepsi machine. And I usually cash my paycheck at the liquor store, so I don't need a bank account." a collector is going to be more apt to take a tiny settlement and leave you alone. Keep in mind that for better or worse, the collector deals with information. The more they can get, the better leverage they have. If you come out of the gate offering $800, why can't you do $1,000? If I know you never answer your phone at Acme Corp. from 12:30 - 1:30 and I start leaving messages with your receptionist or "accidentally" start hitting your co-workers' extensions looking for you, maybe you'll pay that extra $200 to make me stop embarrassing you. If I know your credit report is pristine other than what I've got on you, and I know that you're a neurosurgeon, you're going to have more money and inclination to pay me than the KFC guy who is $15k in the hole and has three judgements and every collector in town looking for him. If you're playing hardball, maybe all I need to do is make sure my next letter to you warns that I just might have to ask a court to let me garnish your checking account at First National of Anytown. Never, ever give a collector more info than they have. Don't verify SSN's. Don't verify phone numbers other than the one they called you on. If you're in credit repair for the long haul, get a PO box and stop verifying your home address. If you don't have the personality type to flatly tell a person "I decline to verify that information." tell them that you're concerned about identity theft and that for all you know, they're not who they say they are. If they want to prove otherwise, they shouldn't mind doing it in writing. CubsWoo posted:At this point, I wouldn't pay. Find their address and fire off a DV letter CMRRR. Any company that does a PFD will be happy to wait for you to send them a confirmation letter, sign it, and return it. At this point, I'd start with something like this: quote:To Whom It May Concern: They'll likely (re)send a "Hey, you owe us money." letter, where you can come back with "Prove it." / "I don't think that dollar amount is right, but I probably owe something. Let's call it 15%, you tell the CRA's that it was all a big mistake, and we'll all be happy." / "Oh my Christ, please don't hurt me. Paypal sent." TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Dec 10, 2010 |
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Dec 10, 2010 07:56
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antwizzle posted:This line is so hilarious I'm almost tempted to call one of my junk debt buyers just so I can use it on them I told their collection agency to pound sand, and called them to settle for about 25% of the outstanding balance. If the OC hasn't sold the debt, they're going to be delighted to have 25 cents on the dollar from you, instead of 9 cents that they'd get if the collection agency brokered the same deal. Some CA's require the OC to refer you to them as part of their contract, though. The way around that is risky, but paid off for me in the past. Send a cease and desist to the CA, and a settlement offer to the OC, both CMRR. Wait to get your green cards back and call up the OC. If they try to bounce you to the CA, tell them you sent a C&D. Ask for a manager and explain what you've done, and offer to settle. If nothing else, you've got yourself a paper trail that demonstrates that you tried to work something out with the OC, which may help you in court. You know this, but more importantly, the OC does, too. Now they get to decide... sue you and hope you have 100%, settle with you for the 10% you say you have, or sell off the debt to a JDB for 2%, because any CA they send after you is going to get shut down with a C&D? CubsWoo posted:I would still attempt the PFD, even if you're unlikely to get it. If they outright refuse, counter with what you currently have. If you're excessively anal you can also ask them to have the agreement returned notarized, but I only slip that in with JDBs that are settling with me. Most (though certainly not all) collectors will talk to you as long as they think they're going to get something out of you. It's exceedingly rare that you'll find one who says "gently caress this. I'm just going to sue you." Well... it's rare to find one who says that and means it, at least. You just need to be 110% sure that your bases are covered: Did they agree that the balance would be considered paid in full? Did they agree not to continue collection, and not to sell or transfer any outstanding balance to another party? Did they say they would remove the information from your credit reports -- or that they would refuse to verify if you disputed? Do you have this all in writing on actual paper with the company's letterhead? CubsWoo posted:Also, a quick heads-up on a collection tactic that is popping back up recently: Another trick is to send you a "preapproved" card with a $1,500 limit. What's that you say? The $1479 balance you already owe? Well, we've been keeping that for you from your last card. piranhas posted:Can a collection company garnish my wages because of student loans without suing me? Otherwise, it depends on your state's laws regarding wage garnishment. mintskoal posted:2. When you get the green card (return receipt) back, start your timer. They have 30 days to verify that they own the debt and can collect it. They cannot take any action against you during this time.. Make sure the verification you get back isn't just a printed document from notepad that says "We can collect $500 from Business Wallet" Sending a DV doesn't preclude a creditor's right to sue, assuming the creditor files suit in a court of competent jurisdiction within the statute of limitations. If that weren't the case, everyone would send a DV upon receipt of a summons.
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Dec 10, 2010 21:04
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LorneReams posted:If they sue after they recieve the verification request, but before they verify, then yes that's a clear cut violation. It dosen't stop them from sueing you, and you can't really use it as a defense against delinquency/default judgment, but it does give you standing to countersue for the violation. There's nothing stopping CA from responding with an affidavit of debt and filing suit. Whether or not they provided adequate validation is up to the judge. So in essence, the DV covers you from the day the CA receives it, to the day they choose to respond. fargom posted:1. The case number from what I can tell is not the correct format. She stated that it was filed at the Fresno county superior court, how would it not be in the public record yet?
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Dec 10, 2010 22:45
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fargom posted:This was my initial plan, however, the lady was adamant that there would be no record of the case since it is not "public information" yet. Also the case number format does not match what the court in question uses. You have absolutely nothing to lose by calling the court and asking. And who is going to know better as to whether or not something's been filed at a specific court? Some CA with an autodialer, or a clerk at that court?
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Dec 10, 2010 23:25
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2508084 posted:I was given a credit card at 18 with Capital One. Capital one is listed on my credit report, however, there is Credit One Bank listed as a closed account. I don't recall ever getting a second credit card. It remained after I disputed it through the CRA's and I'm going to send them a DV. Its just throwing me that I legitimately don't know who that is and don't recall ever having a second card. I guess I'll find out if they respond to the DV with a member agreement? Did the CRA's already come back with "verified"? If you're still waiting on their response, you might want to hold off on DV'ing. quote:The actual, important question I have: I racked up about five grand in ER bills over three years. Being stupid, young and homeless, I didn't know there were charity case options where they wipe out the debt (or set it up so you don't get sent to collections and pay what you can). Last year it was on my credit report (at least one, if not all three) as being charged off to a collection agency that had a pretty bad reputation for breaking the fair credit laws. The privacy provisions about third-party disclosure in HIPAA are pretty amazing, and they trump the FCRA. In a nutshell: "The CRA's are third parties, and you disclosed my medical information to them. Pay up, chucklefuck." The more your dispute looked like a boilerplate letter from credit repair forums, the more likely they are to believe that you're trying to lure them in to a trap to sue them. That's not to say that the debt's gone, but if you sent them a "prove it" letter that didn't have a full C&D, you've made their lives much more difficult. And all things being equal, if you have a total of five grand in combined bills, they may have bigger fish to fry. (e.g. People who skipped out on a bill for surgery.) The Experiment posted:1) Will this get reported on my credit report? 2) If it isn't on your reports, I'd leave it alone. Otherwise, get a letter from your employer that says the debt is paid and wasn't your responsibility to send the the CRA and CA. If all else fails, threaten to sue (or actually sue) the CA for violating HIPAA. 3) If they sent you a letter, I would. If you can get your employer to write up a letter explaining the situation, include it as an attachement to the DV. For $35 that's been paid, I seriously doubt they're going to put up any fight. 4) Yes. It's possible to delete if your employer hasn't paid the bill, too. 5) More likely than not, when you were at the hospital, you signed something that said you'd be responsible for any charges not covered by insurance / someone else. Exceptions being in cases where you arrived completely incapacitated and signed nothing, or went to a hospital with the dumbest administrative staff in the country.
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Dec 12, 2010 20:22
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Cloud City Computer posted:So I sent out my first DV letter. Low and behold the company called me before I received the information. I noted the date and time of the call and also have a record of it on my phone. Even if they did and you can, you don't send an ITS unless you're actually prepared to sue.
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Dec 14, 2010 20:56
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Cloud City Computer posted:I faxed it in and have my fax confirmation. I also called them and they verified that they indeed recieved it. I also got my reply back from them today in the mail so it's assured they got it. And is your objective to beat money out of them, or just make them go away and get off of your report?
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Dec 14, 2010 21:21
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CubsWoo posted:Give them a few more weeks to tally up violations. Outside of hiring an actual lawyer (who probably won't take a case like this without good money up front) your goal is much like theirs when it comes to legal action - attempt to settle. Most of the time your letter will be ignored, but it sets up a paper trail if you do file a lawsuit. The first thing you should do is prepare your Complaint for court. You probably won't be going to court, but it's good to have the Complaint available (search Google for samples, or ask on credit repair-centric boards.) Attach the complaint to your ITS letter with the following: Validation was asked for, and it was received. Everything else is rather subjective. They called a couple of days after getting the DV letter -- maybe they sent the validation quickly enough that they assumed it had arrived? Maybe it hadn't been processed yet. They called several times -- but you have to prove that they were calling several times exclusively for the purpose of harassment, and had no legitimate reason for calling. (It's one thing to have them call, tell them to stop, and then show that they called every half hour after that. It's quite another to have never answered the phone.) All but the most pro-consumer state judges would probably look at this and say "So?". It's not like showing up to countersue a JDB on a zombie debt. Short of luring them in to a trap that produces airtight evidence, there's not much wiggle room here beyond invoking HIPAA to get it off the reports, and hoping they do something major in the meantime. Cloud City Computer posted:From the other credit repair boards I've been reading it seems like this is what the warning is as if it's going to be a bad thing that I actually sue. We've already established that they probably have the documentation they'd need to be successful. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Dec 14, 2010 |
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Dec 14, 2010 23:43
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antisocial posted:For the last 2 years I've dodged collection agencies and ignored anything I got in the mail. This was probably a huge mistake. Today when I went into my bank account and found that it was frozen. It looks like there's a hold on the account by a court officer possibly to set up a garnishing of my wages. I'm not sure what to do now. From now on, I'd probably stop saying that you ignore the mail, because that's going to make it difficult to claim that you were improperly served. (I doubt they're going to check this thread to build a case against you, though.) Presumably, the bank told you what court froze the account. So, you need to contact the court and find out why. Who sued you, and when. There are different approaches you can take, but you won't know what they are until you know what you're up against. And if you have direct deposit, now would probably be a good time to change it. 2508084 posted:5k worth of medical debt disappeared off my credit report without me disputing it. The original hospital and the collection agency who obtained it are completely gone from all three reports. Its been a couple days so I don't know if its been overlooked. If the hospital sold the debt to a JDB, they probably want to distance themselves from it. Same goes for their CA. Given the intricacies of HIPAA, it's a wise move for when a JDB down the line inevitably violates something. They're harder to find when you say "gently caress it. I'm suing everyone who ever touched this, and the judge can decide who pays me."
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Dec 16, 2010 18:04
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antisocial posted:I found out from the court officer that the levy was from a law office and they only gave me a number to contact them and the amount I owe for a credit card. You can file a motion to vacate on grounds that you were never served, but having that file would go a long way to proving that you were never served. I'm not an expert on liens by any stretch of the imagination, so CubsWoo may have more insight than I do. 2508084 posted:I have no idea what "the debt is moving" means? Debt is property. Similar to a mortgage, the debt a person owes can usually be assigned (read: sold) to someone else. An original creditor (OC) will often keep the account for as long as they think you'll pay. They can send a collection agency (CA) after you, and the CA collects a fee or percentage of what's recovered. But failing this, an OC will usually sell the account to a CA for a fraction of the value. Lots of people assume that the buyer is a junk debt buyer (JDB), but this isn't always the case. If the debt isn't beyond your state's statute of limitations (SOL), it isn't junk. Though in actions, JDB's and CA's don't act much differently once the debt has left the OC. In terms of rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), you can tell a CA to cease and desist (C&D) and the OC has to decide what to do with the debt. The CA has a legal obligation to tell the OC that you dispute the account. The OC has no obligation to tell another CA, if they choose to continue pursuing the account. If the CA transfers the account to another CA, they are required to inform the new CA, and the new CA is bound by whatever the outcome of your first DV was (assuming you sent one). I'm going somewhere with this... So, let's say the OC is going to sell your account to a CA or JDB. They can remove the tradeline from your reports, and the assignee can add it. By removing the tradeline, the (presumably more accurate) information is gone, unless you kept a copy somewhere. So if the new CA says the account was opened this month on your credit report, you'd have a harder time proving that it wasn't. This impacts you in two major ways: 1) It looks like a new collection account, even if the account has been delinquent for years. This impacts your credit score with more weight than a three year-old debt. 2) When you go to dispute the account on your reports when they reach 7 years from the date of first delinquency (DOFD) or date of last action (DOLA), the credit reporting agencies (CRA's) may reference the date that the new CA lists. One of the intricacies of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is that a tradeline removed by your dispute can't be reinserted. So, let's say you successfully dispute the account listed by a CA today, and they sell it tomorrow. The new CA can't (legally) add the tradeline back to your report. But if the first CA removed the tradeline without you having disputed it, there's nothing that precludes the new CA from putting it on as a debt you owe to them, as long as they're reporting it properly (e.g. not as an open credit card that's 180 days past due, if the debt was really for a medical bill that's been in collections for years). By having removed the tradelines, the OC and their CA have both removed themselves from any dispute equation that might come up in the future. You won't be able to rope them in to a dispute by saying the new CA's date or amount is wrong, or accuse them of violating the third-party disclosure provisions of HIPAA, etc. Crystal clear now, isn't it? 
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Dec 16, 2010 23:53
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Sorry. Depending on what that phrase means, it looks like they just scrapped the debt and removed it from my report because their CA is crooked as crooked gets to avoid a (possible) huge lawsuit? They can't delete everything off my report, sell it to someone else, then put it all back, can they? 
because thats how all this makes me feel.
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2508084 posted:So, I'll just keep an eye out for it to re-appear anytime in the future and take care of it then, unless theres something pre-emptive I can do. Would calling the hospital (it was all at one hospital) do anything at all? I wouldn't think it would, but it doesn't hurt to ask someone who knows way more than I do. If it's a matter of $5,000 in debt and you want to be square with them in exchange for the $1,000 you have on hand, sure, I'd call them. My rule of thumb is: if they're not hurting you by calling you all the time or constantly hitting your credit report, lay low and don't provoke them. If you get good at this (which in the grand scheme of things, is a fate I wouldn't wish on very many people), you can prod old JDB's for fun and profit. But if it's something actionable and they're leaving you alone, leave them alone. quote:The second DV is going out tomorrow! It is okay to send an "unsolicited" DV, right? This CA hasn't contacted me at all about the debt (Credit one bank, the account I honestly don't remember having, but they verified to the CRA when I disputed it there so I guess I did have it.). I have the account number and their address from the credit report when the CRA's updated them all. Don't forget to ask the CRA's how they verified. You're entitled to that information under the law, and the CRA's aren't delighted about complying -- usually because they do it online without involving a real person, which is a no-no if you want to start invoking FCRA rights.
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Dec 18, 2010 06:41
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nbv4 posted:Sorry if this has already been brought up, but where is a good place to get a credit report? A google search brings up a ton of places to get a free credit report, but they al seem really shady. Does it matter, or is there one place that anyone can recommend? LorneReams posted:This should be the ONLY site you go to for a free credit report, unless you need a specific one because you were denied for credit. While a CRA normally has 30 days to verify, they have 45 if you're using a free annual credit report as your basis for the dispute. 2508084 posted:1st collector: If you're trying to collect fines because they didn't respond to you in a timely manner, you're out of luck. All you can really do is bitch at the post office. Your CM number should work for tracking to show when it was delivered. I wouldn't be comfortable with that in a "They were supposed to do ________ in 30 days but it took them 35. Pay me $1,000!" scenario, but otherwise, it's probably sufficient for court or a CRA dispute. quote:2nd, separate, collector for different debt: Please Note: To ensure compliance with federal laws pertaining to debt collection, we are unable to discuss any debt collection issues or answer questions via e-mail. To inquire about an account that has been referred to NCO for collection, please send your inquiry in writing via the U.S. Postal Service to: NCO Financial Systems, Inc. 507 Prudential Road Horsham, PA 19044
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Jan 3, 2011 22:32
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stevewm posted:Maybe someone here can help my mother figure out where to go next with this... She got scammed. quote:I found that American Marketing & Publishing is a BBB accredited business, so I went ahead and filed a complaint with the BBB. The BBB is actually a pretty hosed up organization. If you're not a member and someone complains, they try to extort a membership fee from you. If you don't pay up, you can count on having a lovely rating forever. But because so few people understand that the BBB has as much legal authority as a taco does, lots of businesses pay up and hop to when they get a BBB letter. So, if the company has better than a C rating, chances are they'll work something out with your mom. But, don't take that as a suggestion to skip the DV to the CA. That should always be your first step.
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Jan 6, 2011 07:55
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stevewm posted:They actually have a A- rating... Maybe the BBB complaint will do it then. I'm going to go ahead and make up a DV letter for her to send anyways. Let's say the company responds and says "We have the contract. We published the ad in good faith. Here are the publications: _________" You'll get that back in a letter from the BBB saying how wonderful they are and how wonderful the company is, and are you happy now? No. No, you're not happy. You told them not to do it. You were given a refund. You haven't even heard of ______, much less seen an ad there. Play dumb. Be irrational. The company isn't going to take a black eye from the BBB over $400, and will almost certainly decide you're more trouble than you're worth. They need to communicate that to the CA, though. Save everything you get from the BBB, in case you need it to dispute with the CRA's.
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Jan 6, 2011 20:53
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Quarantini posted:Through some stupid rear end decisions when I was young I have about 9k of credit card debt through 3 maxed out accounts. I have been short on cash and missing payments and frankly ain't getting anywhere with the debt. What is the standard operation to trying to settle debt? Chase and Capital One call me several times a day and I just ignore it since I don't know how to approach it, I would like to settle and get these loving cards under control. I can't pay off a 3.5k card in one payment but could do like $700 if it meant the debt was cleared. And by "call them" I don't mean "wait for their collections department to call you", because you'll want to talk to a person who has the authority to make changes to your account. More likely than not, the people calling you only know how to bitch about not being paid. It's possible that they'll forgive part of the balance if you agree to make very specific payments. For example, they may agree to forgive $1,400 of the $3,500 debt if you agree to let them automatically deduct $350 a month for the next six months. In that scenario, they'll most likely send you a tax statement showing that they forgave the debt, and you'll be responsible for paying income taxes on it. So, don't count on a vacation to Tahiti next year. Chase may be that generous, Capital One probably won't. Capital One is content to sue for surprisingly small amounts of money. No matter what, if you reach a settlement agreement on the phone, it is absolutely essential that you get the agreement in writing. I'm speaking from experience here. About 11 years ago, I was in a similar situation with Providian, called them up, made a nice settlement agreement (40% of the balance, paid in three equal monthly payments), and thought I was golden. A year later, a CA was after me for the remaining balance. I came to discover that Providian listed the remaining 60% as a charge-off (despite never contacting me again after the third payment) and then sold the debt. On one hand, my story had enough credibility that CA's and JDB's were reluctant to haul me in to court. I could provide cancelled checks, and ask the plausible question "If I didn't have this agreement, why would I suddenly decide to pay exactly 40% and then suddenly stop?". On the other hand, they kept listing it as a chargeoff, and it wound up on my reports five separate times as they'd keep selling it from one place to another. It wasn't until it had been passed through so many hands that the last JDB didn't have remotely enough documentation to satisfy a DV, and removed the tradeline from my reports (then making it possible to get the other old ones removed). That was nearly five years after I made the settlement agreement. Get it in writing.
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Jan 7, 2011 22:57
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PoliSciGirl posted:Sorry for double posting, but after I posted in the finance/careers section I felt this was a better fit. quote:I have 4 accounts that have been paid off/charged off and one that I was a month late, but the stupid store credit card put it on my CR. If you don't owe anything, contact the creditors directly and ask them to delete. You'd be surprised how many will, just because you asked. Same goes for the 30-day late. If any of these accounts are still open, you have even more leverage. "I used to be in arrears, but I'm a good customer now. Could you please help me clear this up so that I can continue to feel good about paying you to borrow your money?" quote:I have 21 accounts in good standing, most of them are student loans, but I have been paying on them regularly. I recently closed out my store card because I'm so scared that if I'm 1 day late then that will go on my credit report. All my bad accounts will be deleted by 2014. How can I look like a responsible citizen in the meantime when I can't get any credit? None of my bills are in my name because I'm living for free at my aunt's 2nd home. You need accounts. Lots, and lots of accounts. Get added as an authorized user wherever you can. When your card shows up, cut it up or put it in your sock drawer, or tell the person adding you to their account that they can keep the card. You just want to ride on their good credit. Get a feel for your score on each credit report, and apply for new accounts accordingly. Around 620 on your TransUnion? That's good enough for a Juniper SeaMiles card, and Juniper always pulls TransUnion. 600 on your Experian? Probably good enough for a Target Store Card. Below 600 across the board? You're probably going to want to look in to a secured card. Better yet, secured cards. Just don't fall for Orchard Bank / Applied Bank / Merrick Bank / First Premier scams where you pay upwards to $175 and $8/month for an "unsecured" card with a $250 credit limit. Not only do they cost more money than they're worth, the stigma of having them on your report will hurt you in the future, when you hold accounts with companies that do active risk modeling (AmEx, Citibank, Chase, several others.) quote:Also, since I cannot get a credit card, my husband got a 2nd card for me. Should he cancel the card? I heard that his credit meshes with mine once he does this and I do not want that to happen since we are trying to buy a house in about a year. And as for mortgage applications, the person with the highest income is the one whose credit is taken in to consideration. With an FHA loan, your score doesn't really matter as long as you can hit 620 blended. So if at all possible, you want to be a co-borrower on that mortgage. A mortgage on your credit report can do wonders in conjunction with fresh new accounts, after the mortgage has been reporting for six months. BusinessWallet posted:How does the statue of limitations work if you move state? Let's say you accumulate debt in one state and after a few years, you move to another. What are the stipulations there? Do you fall under the state that you accumulated the debt in or the one you lived in? So, let's say the account charged off in December 2006 and you lived in Ohio until last week. As of last month, the debt is beyond the statute of limitations, and if they tried to sue you, you have an easy affirmative defense. Now let's say that you moved from Ohio to Michigan last week. The SOL in Michigan is six years, so you're fair game again. And no, moving back to Ohio doesn't fix it once you've been served.
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Jan 9, 2011 04:18
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Nissassa posted:Quick question: Do you think a good starting point is to just "dispute" every negative item on your credit and then go from there? Or is that a bad idea for some reason? I know I had a bank teller tell me and my wife that we should do that and see if anything just magically falls off. We never did but I've always planned to do it eventually with a little more research. If this is a bad idea, where should I start? Would I dispute a $50 collection for Columbia House from 2005? Totally. Would I dispute a 30-day late on a credit card account that's still open? Maybe. Would I dispute a $5,000 collection from Citibank on a card I stopped paying on in 2009? Hell no. Consider this: When you dispute something with a CRA, they conveniently verify who you are and where you live. Then they say "Hey! John Doe, who lives a 123 Anystreet says you're talking poo poo about him. You've got 30 days to fix it or tell us to gently caress off." to whoever put the negative info there. So, a collection agency who has been looking to get $5,000 out of you since you moved out of your aunt's basement three years ago now knows where to find you. On the other hand, a collection agency who has been sending you letters for years, offering to take $7.99 for the $50 you stiffed Columbia House is likely to remove, rather than waste any more time trying to collect from you.
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Jan 14, 2011 09:22
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2508084 posted:So.. its been six weeks. Do I just re-contact all three CRA's and go "hey, I asked them to verify, I got no response, so take it off my record!"? In theory, the CA's shouldn't be able to validate. If they do without first sending you something, they're violating the FDCPA. The best way to go about this in the future, is to send your dispute to the CRA as soon as you get the green card from the CA. Since it's been over six weeks, they have 30 days on top of the time you've already given them. Disputing when you get the green card gives them 30 days. If they validate to the CRA without validating to you, you've got them on violations and a strong case to go "Well, well, well... how did they validate this with you, if they couldn't validate this with me?" to the CRA's. quote:e. I just looked and Northland Group was never on there, but Capital One still is. The last four of the account number is the same on the NG collection letter as the Capital One account. Since NG didn't reply, Capital One should come off, yes? Capital One says it updated its information on 1/2011..? Hillridge posted:A friend of mine lives in the same town as someone with the same first and last name as him. Apparently this other guy is up to his eyes in debt and my friend gets collections calls all the time from agencies looking for the other guy. Of course... if your friend strikes a deal with the person they're actually looking for, where they split the violation money in exchange for testifying about third-party disclosure, that's different. To make the calls stop, tell your friend to complain to the Attorney General in the state where the calls are going to, as well as the state where the collection agency is located (if possible).
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Jan 20, 2011 06:43
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2508084 posted:So they can just.. loan my debt to companies and when they don't verify they don't take it off. Why is NG contacting me about a debt they don't own but want payment for? They can say "Okay, gently caress this. We're paying our employees $12 an hour to go after these people. Northland Group says they'll harass them in exchange for 7% of what they recover. Go for it." NG has to abide by the law. However, when you say "gently caress you, prove it.", it's likely they went back to Capital One and said "Nevermind. This guy has a pulse, and he's not worth the effort for us. You deal with him." If NG was never reporting in the first place, there's not much they have to do besides tell Capital One that you disputed. Capital One basically has three choices at that point: 1) Try again internally. 2) Get a more aggressive collector to go after you. 3) Decide that they're not getting anything out of you, sell the debt to someone else, and write off the difference at tax time.
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Jan 20, 2011 19:04
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2508084 posted:So should I dispute it again? I disputed it through the CRA's in October to see what shook loose. One disappeared, then I sent a DV to NG who never replied. Do I ask for verification from Cap1 again? Based on what I've read, it looks like you were issued a Capital One card that you asked for when you were 18, and the balance wasn't paid off. You can't DV an OC. Ever. (Well, you can, but they have absolutely no reason to answer it.) Ulysses S. Grant posted:A debt collector has been calling my house, looking for a family member who does not and never has lived with us. It's been on average 3 calls per day - what can I do to stop this? A verbal "gently caress off, he doesn't live here" hasn't stopped the calls. Would the next best step be sending a letter to the CA telling them in writing to gently caress off?
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Jan 21, 2011 09:24
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Yarrbossa posted:Mom opened a credit card. It's one thing to say "I didn't open this account, I have no idea where it came from, and you can't prove otherwise." It's something else to say "I didn't open this account, I have no idea where it came from, but I'll make half-assed payments on any bill that comes my way." If there are no ties to your wife (other than the fraudulent application itself), send a letter to the lawyer and say you didn't open the account and want a copy of the application. Otherwise, counteroffer $500 and deletion and go up from there. Midland likes to sue, but they're easy to trick. Next time Mom opens an account, either file a police report, or be prepared to do this dance again. Edit: It certainly wouldn't hurt to talk to a legal assistance person, but more likely than not, they're going to push you to throw your mother in law under the bus. Simply put: telling you to do anything else would pose an ethical problem for most lawyers. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Jan 22, 2011 |
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Jan 22, 2011 07:11
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tensai posted:A hopefully easy question. I sent a PFD letter to a collector a couple weeks ago. Today, I get a form letter pretty much stating that they acknowledge my letter and they offer me a settlement of half. They did previously verify this debt. However, I know if I pay their settlement, all I'm going to get is a "settled" tradeline. Is there any specific followup letter I should send them, again telling them that it will only be paid if it gets deleted?
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Jan 25, 2011 06:06
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tensai posted:I offered 25%. It's only $200 total, but they send me the same form letter they've sent before with a $125 settlement and "account will be deemed settled".
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Jan 25, 2011 22:19
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Tigren posted:I'm applying for a house in about two weeks and one thing the lister has specified will result in auto-denial is unpaid utility debt on a credit report. I've got $115 that has been passed to a collection agency. The house lister mentioned proof of payment will excuse the negative entry. What is the best way to go about getting this taken care of? I'd love to negotiate a pay for delete, but I'm not sure I have the time. What worked for me, was getting a money order made out to the agency, and giving the rental office a photocopy. Then I took the actual money order back to the bank and said MY GIRLFRIEND had already paid, got my money back, and sent a DV to the collection agency instead. 
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Jan 28, 2011 19:10
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Intrepid posted:Tell me if I'm heading in the right direction, but my ideal plan would be to fire off validation and dispute letters according to this flowchart and hope that since a lot of these debts are old and have probably be re-sold several times, that the JDB's won't be able to validate and they will (hopefully) get dropped. But, if you're out of that 30-day window, the CA's and JDB's have no legal requirement to get back to you in 30 days. quote:Here are the issues I feel like are hindering me: For the sake of credit repair, it's why you have to keep hounding them. Eventually, they have to produce something credible. In the absence of that, they need to leave you alone. Whatever they're sending you is whatever you need to DV them -- after all, the data they have came from somewhere, and they should be able to match up 8347XXXXX with your name and address. Whatever you do, don't help them by verifying any information that they don't already have. If they're sending to your house, they obviously have your address, but if they dream up some horseshit about needing your SSN to "verify", refuse. They believe you are who they think you are enough to demand money from you. quote:Thoughts? I really appreciate any advice, just want to at least put something in motion even if it will take a while to get resolved. Here are a list of the current accounts listed in collection on my report, along with the amount and the timeframe that *I* think the original debt goes back to. Let's start with the good news... For all but Asset, you're probably going to be able to knock those debts off of your report. DV them all, pester them often, and the ones that don't fold immediately will probably give up if you're a big enough pain in their rear end. After you DV them once, do it again when 45 days pass, if they don't respond. If they do respond, bitch about what they responded with. You could probably send "nutcase" letters to them where you appear to be insane by threatening to complain to the BBB, FTC, AG, NACA, your senator, congressperson, Oprah, the local news station, and anyone else you can think of in the same letter. And the bad news? Asset is probably going to sue you, and soon. They'll try the easy way for about six months, then they usually sue for debts $2,000 or more. That's where the * above comes from. There are (basically) two schools of thought on sending out DV's: 1) You have a right to full validation, and should make them cough it up every time. Everyone cares that the negatives say you dispute the info, and it magically invalidates them. Period. 2) Validation is a great way to trick CA's in to violating, and give you a lot of insight as to what they're going to present to a judge if they decide to sue. But if you're within the statute of limitations, it also annoys the CA's and lets them know that they've definitely found you. Sometimes it's better to lay low, rather than wake the sleeping giant. At the end of the day, if and when Asset sues, they're going to have to bring the same docs to court that they'd need to validate with. Assuming they have them, and that you show up to challenge what they do (or don't) have.
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Jan 31, 2011 07:04
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Chouzan posted:My question is how to opt for arbitration... Most people want things out of arbitration. Intrepid posted:Out of curiosity, are they even able to prove if/when they sent said dunning letter? And even if so, who is to say that I actually received it as they probably haven't had my correct address for a while? I haven't received any notice about debts in well over a year or two at least. For the sake of a 1-2 punch by DV'ing and disputing with the CA's, you'll be well past the 30-day period anyway after you've gone back and forth with them arguing about whether or not you got their letter. quote:Hmm.. since they haven't been sending my any correspondence or calling me for so long, I'm assuming that they've lost track of me altogether (or stopped trying?). I've moved around a ton in the last several years, even went overseas for a year. Like you said, I'd rather not hand anything to them on a platter like my address. I just opened a PO Box -- can I send letters to them with that as my return address? Or will they claim that they are unable to verify who I am because I don't provide them with a real one? I still have my PO Box because I did exactly what you're suggesting. Use that as your address for all correspondance with them, and make sure your letters state that they can reply to that address. You can't always bet on their silence as them forgetting about you. Put yourself in their position. Parson Bishop might have paid $6 for your debt. Would you double that investment in postage, when the person clearly isn't interested in responding? Probably not. quote:So I looked closer at my credit report and found that the date of last activity for the original debt that Asset is now trying to collect for (citibank cc) was in November 2005 - meaning that in my state of NY, it will become time-barred in November of this year if I'm not mistaken. Should I try to clear the other debts, and then wait until Nov. to file a validation/dispute against asset? Are they calling / sending letters often? If not -- again, this is just me -- I wouldn't provoke them until December. On the debts that are relatively new, I'd offer 25% PFD's. quote:Sort of devil's advocate to my previous question above - isn't asset a well-known shitbag JDB that hardly has the right to collect on what they say they do? And if so, why not just let them come at me and make them prove it? As far as making them come prove it, that's probably what I'd do in your position. If the card was charged off last summer, I don't know that I'd try to wait them out. But when you're this close to the SOL, and they want almost twice the original debt... I mean, right off the bat, they're going to talk to you like paying $4,500 is some grand gesture on their part and not $500 more than you owed in the first place. Make them come to your state. Make them play by your state's rules. Make them explain to a judge how $4000 is $9300. Make them bring the application, and prove it wasn't opened by someone else.
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Jan 31, 2011 23:11
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Chouzan posted:Maybe it's outdated, but early in the thread someone mentioned that arbitration was pro-consumer, and most contracts required the credit card company to pay for the arbitration: This gives a pretty decent background on arbitration: http://www.citizen.org/publications/publicationredirect.cfm?ID=7545 Between Jan. 1, 2003, and March 31, 2007, arbitrators working for the Minneapolis-based NAF ruled for businesses in 94 percent of the California cases examined. In fact, 90 percent of the NAF cases were handled by just 28 arbitrators, who awarded businesses $185 million. One arbitrator handled 68 cases in a single day – an average of one every seven minutes, assuming an eight-hour day – and ruled for the business in every case, awarding 100 percent of the money requested. The same arbitrator is an attorney with his own practice serving business and corporate clients. quote:I don't know how much arbitration would cost or whether things have changed since that was posted, but even if it IS anti-consumer now, Capital One might give up if they have to pay for arbitration. Especially considering the debt is rather low. TWiNKiE fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Feb 4, 2011 |
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Feb 4, 2011 20:45
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Feces Starship posted:I have a totally small situation but I'd like some advice as to how to handle it. The line about not being able to dispute is partially true. You can still dispute it, but they're not legally required to do much. It's worth doing if you're thinking that they'll sue you, and you want to show the judge that you tried to work something out, but there's really not much more it accomplishes. Lord Gaga posted:A collections agency is saying I owe a small amount of money (<$100) to the state in back taxes because of a failure to file a sales and use tax form on time. The letter essentially says I owe the unpaid tax (amount unknown) + $40 late fee + interest. At the bottom of the letter it says to send the form and payment to: Unless your state has some really advanced privacy / consumer protection laws, there's probably nothing stopping the government from farming out collections to third parties. But then... it's also a debt small enough that a scammer might be hoping you just pay it. So, I'd call and ask someone at the Department of Revenue to verify that it's legit. Toasticle posted:More on topic after 18 months of unemployment and nearly getting evicted I lucked out on a good job and decided to see how badly Amex reamed me for the $1000 I still owed them from last March when I made the last payment before going completely broke. My credit report says "Amex - Good standing, never late"  A quick way to get that to stop is to tell them they have to hit up her estate for the money, and that you're not the executor. As for Amex, I'd play nice with them. They're actually shockingly reasonable more often than not.
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Feb 9, 2011 05:56
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SWATJester posted:Here's a flipside question. If I'm an attorney and wanted to hire a collections agency for my firm, are there any that are particularly reputable? What rates would I be looking for? I use Asset Acceptance as an example largely because they're local, and I've had to go up against them a couple of times. I think it's easy to trick them in to violating. But because they're local, the fact that I can easily haul them in to a small-claims court in my jurisdiction, or bitch to our shared Attorney General's office plays a significant role. I'm not so foolish as to believe that a publicly-traded (AACC) company that's doing relatively well is jam-packed with people who don't know what they're doing. Rates are going to depend entirely on what you want them to do. If you just want them to nag some clients on the phone, they're probably going to want around 7% of what you recover and a payment processing fee (think in terms of PayPal where there's a flat $10 + X%) If you want them to actually try to settle over the phone with parameters you stipulate, that's going to cost more. If you want skip tracing, that's even more. A quick PACER check of your shortlist should show how well the companies do in court, assuming you have a couple of hours to do that sort of research.
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Feb 9, 2011 20:31
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bootleg robot posted:I find myself in the same situation you're referring to here, except that the OC has sold the debt to a CA (a CA that is currently attempting to collect on this debt). Is there any reason at all to expect them to work with me in getting that tradeline removed from my report? I feel like any attempts to negotiate with the CA won't benefit me in any way because of this. It also seems that the CA (Cap One) has been updating the report as well. Are you saying that you know for sure that the debt was purchased (not assigned) to a CA, and that both the CA and OC are reporting each month that you're not paying? traveling midget posted:They replied with this, and only this: So, is it "proper" or resembling what you asked them for? No. But is it an actionable violation? Well... no. Basically, you send them another letter acknowledging that they've sent you a verification, but reminding them that you asked for validation -- not verification. They don't have to send you everything you asked for simply because you asked for it, but they do need to cough up something concrete (e.g. past statements). Don't be shocked if they come back with a letter citing Chaudhry vs. Gallerizzo as a reason they don't have to give you what you want. Unless you live in the 4th district, that ruling has fuckall to do with anything. This FTC opinion letter, on the other hand, is illuminating, and a nice addition to a "gently caress you, I don't live in the 4th district" response: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/letters/wollman.htm
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Feb 16, 2011 22:57
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