Academy services collection agency

I was just contacted about a past due citi card. I 100% admit that I owe the money and I have been trying to make payments on it.

About an hour ago I get a phone call and the number comes up on my caller ID like this:

ACS8002200606
215-320-0424

I pick up the phone and it is a guy by the name John Britton. He said he is from Academy Service and talks so fast I can barely understand him. I managed to pick up the words Lawyer, Lawsuit, Legal Department. But he said it so quick I didn't know what he was saying it in reference too.

Once I acknowledged who I am he said that it was in reference to the citi card debt I had in the amount of $4600. He said he was authorized to accept a $4000 settlement and when could I pay that. I told him that I do NOT have that kind of money laying around and asked about a payment plan. I told him that I can reasonably afford $200 a month for the next 3 months and then I can start making bigger payments.

He asked for my work number (I'm unemployed). He asked for my work address (again, I told him that I'm unemployed). Then he asked for my husbands information. I told him I will not give that out since my husband isn't even on my credit card. I got it before we got married. He wanted both of our cell phone numbers. When I told him that he may contact me only at my house number he got mad.

He said that he wanted $200 on Thursday, than $300 on next wednesday. Then $1,000 on the 10th of September and then $300 a month after that. I told him there is no way I can reasonably afford that! He kept telling me that he is surprised I haven't gotten served papers yet. He asked me if I currently have a lien on my home or have been served with court papers. When I told him no I don't have a lien and I haven't been served anything he said that he is surprised that I haven't been served yet.

Well, that scared the hell out of me. So I gave him my checking account info. Which now after reading info on this company I feel so dumb about. I told him I'll try to get the money together.

He told me that if I get a knock on my door and I'm being served papers to call him back and they can work something out. He said that the payment should stop that from happening though.

I got his name and number. When I asked for the company name he just said "Academy Services". Well, after doing some digging online I realized that they are "Academy COLLECTION Services". Had I known they were just a collection agency I would have never given out the information I did. But this guy had me terrified and made it sound like they were a law firm.

I called citi cards and they said that I can send them payments every month so I don't drop further behind. The guy was nice, he said that I could ignore ACS and eventually they would give up collection efforts and send the file back to citi cards, at which point citi cards will see that I have been making payments and then they may be able to work something out with payment arrangements as opposed to legal action.

I'm so clueless about this and I don't know what is the right thing to do. Should I just send the $200 that I can afford to citi cards and ignore ACS? I also read somewhere that they have a nasty habit of harassing your family over the situation. My parents don't know how deep in debt I am and I don't want them to know. They have enough to worry about raising my 2 younger siblings and a grandchild.

I'm so worried that I'm to the point of vomitting.

Thanks for any help.

AJ

any help would really be appreciated!

Close your bank account ASAP! They will make un-authorized debits and put you further in a hole!

Hold on! Don't close that bank account yet.

First: Contact your bank. Talk to the branch manager where you opened your account. Explain that you have a company that is going to be trying to debit your account, and you are revoking their authorization to do so. Use those words: revoking authorization. Ask your bank to put a hard block on any debits by any company named "Academy" anything.

Second: Write a letter to Academy and advise them that you are working with the original creditor on this account, and that they are not to contact you any further on this account, either by phone or mail. State in the letter that this is a request to cease and desist all contact regarding this account.

Third: make arrangements to pay Citi, and stick to the arrangements. If you make arrangements with them and aren't able to keep them, you may end up right back with Academy again. Make sure you're making payment arrangements that are affordable for you.

Let us know if you need more help.

the info that he gave u about taking u to court or a lean on your home is wrong... they are not able to do that.... but citi bank is... but they wont do that over 4000 debt. i work for acs. we hear about alot of these complaints from ppl... we are taking action on this.. anything u read on the internet is not always true. we as a company are hear to help you get out of what ur in... there are some ppl that have been let go from our company because of these complaints.... im sry that u feel this way... if u do look us up alot of the things said are from years ago....

Academy Collection Services is just that - debt collectors. It is against the law for them to represent themselves as attorneys. Perhaps you could file a complaint. They are bottom-feeding collectors with a very, very bad reputation. If you can work with the original creditor, you'll be much better off.

I have worked for collection agencies for the past 20 years and ACS is the worst. They want and expect their collectors to be brutal and to get the money at all costs. What a surprise they were hit with a 2.5 million dollar fine for violations.

that is not nearly enough in my opinion.

I recently received a call from them and this is the call verbatim (I recorded it)
ACS: "________ are you going pay that debt?"
Me: Who is this?
ACS: "I talked to you 2 days ago"
Me: "I'm sorry, who are you?"
ACS: "Are you going to pay the debt or not?"
Me: "I'm sorry, I don't know who you are"
ACS: Hung up

I knew it ws ACS from my caller ID. But when I answered and he did not give his name or his company name, I was in no mood.

Unfortunately, I'm having to deal with a couple of collection agencies regarding money I owe. Thankfully, the other agencies are more understanding and I have made acceptable arrangements to pay. The people at ACS are the rudest people I have ever encountered. With my hours being cut, I'm barely able to pay for rent and when I factor in ACS' rudeness, I could care less about them.

I'm sure life as a collection agent is pretty rock bottom, but as I distribute my last pennies, ACS will be at the absolute bottom of my list.

Follow this advices when it comes to these scumbags.

ANSWER THE CALLS THAT YOU KNOW (PHONE NUMBERS)
DO NOT ANSWERS THE CALLS YOU DON'T KNOW

PERIOD.

These method by the way is used by security network engineers
to keep hackers away from entering protected systems. here we are talking about millions of tcp packets you are talking about a bunch of scumbags.

From a security Engineer

Something very similar happened to me. I am a 20 year old college student they tried contacting for my grandmothers old navy card!!! they said if i didnt make payments than i would be taken to court and i would also be denied my loans and financial aid. My mother took over at this point because i was getting so upset. The bottom line is that they cant do anything and even if they were to take you to court, they have a TON of harrassment charges against them. DONT GIVE ANY INFORMATION TO THEM!!!

TK...your example is a flagrant violation of FDCPA a couple of ways...disclosing the debt and threatening things they cannot do.Â* I would be talking to a NACA attorney if I was you....easy $1000 in your pocket which I know most students can use!!

I had a very pleasant conversation with Mr. John Britton today. It will be the last time I talk to these idiots. He hung up on me, and I got mad and called him back. These guys are crazy. I don't know how they sleep at night treating people the way they do.

I told the female who answered that I have no biz with them, she was told to remove my number from thier database, and to never call this number again. She was told if she, anyone from this company... the jerks are calling me back right now... I asked for a supervisor... a Ken HOST answered. He was told to stop calling me. I asked for the owners name, he asked why.. I told him if he makes me find it, the results wil not be as positive for them. He refused to provide the owners name. I told him to stop calling my number.

Today, September 15, 2009, at 942 am est. recieved a call from a Tom Reid. He was asking for a person i have never heard of. I asked him his name and screamed," my name is Tom Reid, can you not hear me?." I asked him what company he worked for again in a screaming voice asked me if i was XXXX, so i said to him if u dont tell me who you work for then you dont know who you are talking to. He then immediately disconnected the call. Fortunately his number showed up on my caller ID and proceeded to call the number. THe operator answered and i told her that a Tom Reid just called me and was very belligerent and wanted to my a complaint to his supervisor, the operator connected me to Tom Reid's Supervisor named Bill Hall. i told Mr. Hall that I have a complaint regarding one of his subordinates and Mr. Hall stated oh boy. i explained to him that his employee was very belligerent and rude. Mr. Hall asked for my name and number, which i provided and specificly told him to never call again because i was not the person they were looking for. He said he would look into it.

do not let these collection agency bully you around. Its better to deal with the original debtor than these collection agency, if they mistreat you or threaten you in any way call your BBB or other agency that deals with collection agency. I have contacted my BBB and they are now looking in the company.

I have the similar situation. I know I owe the money they are saying. Should Ipay the settlement or is it better to contact citi bank. I dont want to send a payment to a company that may be a fraud?