We are being sued by Asset Acceptance for a debt we have over paid!

Asset Acceptance has called me for 10 years trying to collect a debt to Bank of America, a debt the bank hasn't had on the books for thirty years, and Asset thinks I'll give in and send them 3k for their bonuses and trip to the islands. They call every day and I don't even use the phone: ever. It is for the alarm on my house. I have cells. So Asset has these misfits of society working from bar stools for collection purposes. If you pay a debt to these guys, you are one sorry clodhopper. They can not garnish, sell your daughter to slavery or bankrupt your ancestors. It's all talk, blather and no bite. And if you still pay, you will never get a credit uppity from it; the money goes in their pocket and that an end to it. If you wanted good credit in the first place, pay the credit company owed the money.

I have bad debt from over 10 years ago that has been on my credit report FOREVER!!! This Asset Acceptance is a crooked company that rapes people and looks up old debt that the original creditor wasnt collecting on. I am already paying this company $150.00 a paycheck on one debt that they say I owe $1,200 on. The credit card only had a $300 limit. They have started looking up my other debts, now that I am paying, and harrassing me with those as well. Like I am really going to give them my entire paycheck every month so that I can go deeper in debt. Get real!!!!

I have just been called and lambasted by this company for a debt that was owed 28 years ago. After I informed the representative that I was rec=ording this phone call, she told me I had no right to record the call and I had "to pay up no matter if the bill was 100 years ago". Very rude and very illegal.

To the person who says that Asset Acceptance Corp is not a debt collector, it is obvious that you have not read the Federal Law known as the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act , particularly section 803, definitions which states
"
The term "debt collector" means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section 808(6), such term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests.

Many readers of this site may want to do a little research within their individual state laws concerning debt collectors. I did and boy is I glad that I did. The Federal law known as Fair Debt Collection Practices Act specifically states that any debt collector, which Asset Acceptance is one of many, is required to comply with individual state laws. And in my particular state the law specifically states that a debt collector is prohibited from calling more than three times a week for a debt that they CLAIM that my wife owes. Given the fact that Asset Acceptance has been calling my home phone a minimum of 6 days a week for over two years now, without leaving a message and I have obtained the telephone log from my service provider that will prove it in my forthcoming civil case against them, I smile every time the phone rings with another call from them because CHA CHING it’s another $1,000 that will be added to the over $100,000 that, by law i have the right to sue them for. If, we had actually owed them the debt in the first place, it is well past paid off by now because the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) also states that a debt collector is liable for an amount of up to $1,000 per violation of the FDCPA (harrasement is definitely prohibited), up to a maximum of $500,000. And according to Webster’s harassment is defined as “harassment covers a wide range of offensive behavior. It is commonly understood as behavior intended to disturb or upset. In the legal sense, it is behavior which is found threatening or disturbing. ...” The key words here are upset and disturbJ. Hence since any call past their allotted three per week is in direct violation of my state’s law and since by definition that constitutes harassment by them…Guess what folks? And as far as that irksome little twit who posts in this group of postings about their defense of Asset Acceptance’s practices, you might want to find a new place to work fool because the company you are now working for is about to go under from the massive number of lawsuits that they are about to experience….HAHAHAHA!! Yes this is indeed a good day! It seems like that chain email that my friend sent me promising wealth if I forwarded it to 10 friends really worked!

Remembering back to my collection days, they are permitted 3 contacts a week...calling without the phone being answered and not leaving a message or you screening them, it not considered a contact and thus is not a violation. My memory seems to be saying the states of WA or MA?

And your max recovery if you had a case would be $1000 max...not everytime they phone rings. You need to re-read the FDCPA.

Will look for the statutue.

Go to this page and read what it says

http://www.atg.wa.gov/ConsumerIssues...nAgencies.aspx

It clearly says call...it does not say contact...Perhaps you might want to go back and check the laws yourself moderator before you start posting statements like you did!!

When a Collection Agency Contacts You
The first time a collection agency contacts you, it must give its name and address, and the name of the original creditor (the business or person you owe money to). It must also tell you in writing the amount of the debt and any fees which have been added, such as interest or collection fees. You must also be informed of your right to dispute the information.

• A collection agency cannot call or write to you more than three times a week. Only one of those calls can be at work. You cannot be called between 9 pm and 8 am;
• A collection agency cannot harass, intimidate, threaten, or embarrass you;
• A collection agency cannot threaten violence, criminal prosecution, or use offensive language; and
• If you send a written statement requesting a collection agency to stop, it cannot continue to call or write to you to demand payment.

I am pretty sure she is right...they don't count a call that is not connected, it isn't a call then.....if they leave a message on the machine or voice mail, that would constitute a call....but just calling and no answer? A court wouldn't uphold that.

You have to read the actual laws themselves, not the consumer guidelines... The key word is COMMUNICATE, which means actually taking with or leaving a message for the debtor. Dialing a phone is not a communication.

Under prohibited practices...

(12) Communicate with a debtor or anyone else in such a manner as to harass, intimidate, threaten, or embarrass a debtor, including but not limited to communication at an unreasonable hour, with unreasonable frequency, by threats of force or violence, by threats of criminal prosecution, and by use of offensive language. A communication shall be presumed to have been made for the purposes of harassment if:

(a) It is made with a debtor or spouse in any form, manner, or place, more than three times in a single week;

Here is the definition of the word "call": I have underlined something that both of you may want to use for your edification rather than writing things like "I'm pretty sure"

To say in a loud voice; announce: called my name from across the street; calling out numbers.
2. To demand or ask for the presence of: called the children to dinner; call the police.
3. To demand or ask for a meeting of; convene or convoke: call the legislature into session.
4. To order or request to undertake a particular activity or work; summon: She was called for jury duty. He was called to the priesthood.
5. To give the command for; order: call a work stoppage.
6. a. To communicate or try to communicate with by telephone: called me at nine.
b. To dial (a telephone number): call 911 for help.

7. To lure (prey) by imitating the characteristic cry of an animal: call ducks.
8. To cause to come to the mind or to attention: a story that calls to mind an incident in my youth.
9. To name: What will you call the baby?
10. To consider or regard as being of a particular type or kind; characterize: Let's call the game a draw. I'd hardly call him a good manager.
11. To designate; label: Nobody calls me a liar.

And what would be a reason to "call" daily when there is no answer other than to harrass?

You can clutch at straws all you like, but you have no violation. Maybe you should pick up the phone and resolve the problem??

Ok well if you think you are right, you go right ahead and try that tactic in court...and when the judge laughs you out the courtroom, don't say we didn't warn you. Dictionary aside, a CA only has to say this to the judge, "Yes your honor, we did in fact call every day because they never answered the phone we were not able to COMMUNICATE with the individual."

I didnt take the time to read this 2+ year old post but i decided to randomly google the company ive been working for for a few years now. I always said i would NEVER be a debt collector. What a shitty job. Well i take that back. I make a good damn living for myself and im nice to every person i come in contact with and try and HELP them pay THEIR bill. I get jerks on the other end of the line all day long who want to be rude for no reason other than the fact they are mad im asking them to pay their bill that they indeed agreed to pay back. Sure people are in tough situations, hell i even owe a collection agency. But by threating legal action or cussing me out wont help your bill go away. Just work out a payment arrangement and you can go about your day.

I hope you respect people when they dispute the debt...it isn't always their debt.

will this letter work if i already went to court for this, they gave one piece of paper with and address and told me to send the check each month to the address with no way to find out if anyone received it nor a phone number to find out any information. then a year later i called and asked if i could settle and they wouldn’t help me at all nor would they give me a settlement amount was really rude and just hung up on me. will this letter work because my original total was 1400$ now it’s 3200$