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Tonia B · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:04 pm Subject: VKI

I have been contacted by this company as a result of a dental bill from Dental Care Alliance. The crazy thing isthat I have been paying the debt and sending the checks to DCA, however I get this strange call from VKI saying that DCA sent my account to them, although my account has not been sent to collectioins or been placed on my credit report according to them. They however, were contacting me to settle the rest of the account and make payment arrangements. I only have a few hundred left on the account so they were willing to cut that in half which was fine. The problem came when I reqeusted for the agreement to be sent to me in writing prior to me giving them my information. I did and do not feel comfortable giving them my banking information. The guy Gary offered to email me the agreement three separate times, I have yet to receive the agreement yet they call me every other day. I am trying to research this company with Dental Care Alliance, they however are not responding to my calls or letters. Please advise.

Guest · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:32 am Subject:

Don't give them any of your financial information! If you do get a settlement in writing (which I doubt), send them a money order or cashiers check.

big Jim · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:19 am Subject:

You do not have to speak to any of the clowns from this collection agency. The Debt Collections Act states that once you have sent them notice in writing (I would send certified) informing them that they (nor any collection company for that matter) are not to contact you by phone they cannot legally continue calling you. If you call them however it removes the restriction. The viloation/civil damages are $1,000.00 for EACH OFFENSE. the Untied Sates Supreme Court has ruled (in one of their very infrequent consumer friendly decisions) that each telephone call consitutes a SEPARATE violation. In orther words if after reciving the written notice, they call you 40 times this counts as 40 violations of the law not one single one and as such the damages (which buy the way are set forth in the Act itself not arbitrary) would be $40,000.00. Being rude, vulgar, using profanity and such are also prhobited behaviors and once again each time it is done is another $1,000.00 in damages. Hope this helps people against these criminal acts.

boo, boo3 · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:36 pm Subject: suspena

What happens when you go to court for not paying credit card debt?

Krs · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:05 am Subject: Valentine & Kebartas

I have been dealing with them for almost six months. I am tired of the threatening, the demoraltizing, and not to mention just plain rude attitudes that I get when I do answer my phone. It got to the point I stopped answering.
Now today, I got a phone call from them asking who my lawyer was. I haven't heard from them since the middle of september of this year, now they are going to sue me.
It is not my fault that they won't work with me. I made an offer to make payments in an amount that I know I could afford and still be able to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach. My offer was not good enough for them. So they 'refused' to work with me.
If this whole thing does go to trail, I am thinking that the judge is going to laugh at someone and it is not going to be me. I have dates, times, names, and most of the conversation written down. They are not lawyers and they also have to get lawyers, which if I lose my case, I have to pay for. What?
But, I believe that the judge will side with me only because of how my situation came about. It hasn't gotten any better financially either. Sue me, the only thing that you are going to get is a laugh in the face. Harrassing phone calls several times of the day. And some of them before the time that is set forth by law. *Should have been there. It was funny when I told the agent that he called me too early per the laws of collection practices. It shut him up right away. HAHA dude, caught ya

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:22 am Subject:

Actually Krs, if it does go to court you will probably just have a judgement placed against you. You need to get proactive and take those facts to a NACA attorney and sue them first.

meredith · Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:37 am Subject: V&K

Dont deal with these people, they are currently in non compliance with me regarding a contractual payment plan, They are suppose to deduct a certain amount out of my account each paycheck, instead they double dipped leaving me with nothing and will not return my phone calls! I blocked them from being able to take out any more money (bet they will call then) and am reporting them to the BBB

Argonatic

When a collector takes on an account, they are required by law to send you notice within 5 business days. They are also forbidden by law from contacting family members or employers.

After they call the first time, send them a letter requesting validation of the debt and a cease and desist from calling you. There are numerous samples of validation and C&D letters available on the web that you can use. They are required by law to respond within 30 days to your request, and they have to prove that you agreed to pay them money (which you didn't), that they are licensed to practice collection in your state, and more. Naturally, they will fail to validate the debt. So if they call again or again attempt to collect, send them another letter telling them that they have violated the law and that they need to not only stop attempting to collect from you but that they need to remove and derogs that they may have reported to the credit bureaus. (The credit bureaus violate the law, too, and if they have derogs on your report, they need to prove to you that the collector or creditor has validated the debt, which they usually cannot do).

Tell the collector, too, that you are filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, your state attorney general, and the American Collectors Association, and do so. This will definitely stop them without you ever engaging with them or paying them a penny.

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:53 am Subject:

There are so many things wrong with this that I don't know where to begin:

tryingtopay · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:54 pm Subject:

My boyfriend had a phone account with US Cellular that was pretty old. Valentine and Kebartas began calling to make arrangements, explaining that US Cellular sold the account as a charge off to them. My boyfriend made arrangments with them, and paid the balance off months ago. Today we got a message from US Cellular offering 60% off the balance to settle the account. I'm trying to figure out if this is somehow an honest mistake, or if Valentine and Kebartas are really criminals that mislead us into paying them what they were not owed. Anyone have any advice on how to prove that we paid the balance if US Cellular further insists that we owe it??

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