Someone hold my hand!!

Okay, I have done a lot of reading on "do it yourself" and some research on the web, but as I have never been in this situation before, I am still confused and need some guidance to help point me in the right direction.

For those who still aren't familiar with my situation, I have:

$64,000 in private student loans ( I've paid it down to $32,000 ),

2 car loans through Wachovia ( 1 at about $15,000, the other at about $14,000, the latter of which I finally paid off just last month, so effectively, only 1 current auto loan now )

$4800 Cashcall

$1200 QuickclickLoans ( was originally $3500. Almost have this monkey paid off my back )

$1300 ThinkCash

$2500 Beneficial revolving line of credit

$2320 BofA Visa Card

$890 Chase Visa Card

$730 Bill me Later Credit Account

$340 Capital One Visa

$550 Capital One Mastercard

$267 Paypal Credit Account

All the account above I just mentioned are all current and are being paid on time with at the very least, their minimum amounts due. With the amount of debt I am carrying, I have looked into bankruptcy and I qualify. However, I am looking to that only as a desperate, last resort and am slowly, painstakingly paying these accounts down through sheer frugalness and by taking a second job that gives me a work week of 70 hours + per week. Now, the ONLY account I have delinquent is an HSBC Visa credit card. I had it paid down to about $7200 when HSBC raised the card's APR to an unpayable rate the very same month I was in a bad car accident that left me injured in a trauma center, causing me to lose my vehicle and miss plenty of time from work and lose income while racking up medical bills. I tried to work something out with HSBC prior to defaulting, warning them there was absolutely no way I could keep up with their new rate and minimums, but I basically only got "oh well, too bad, so sad" out of them. I stopped paying on the account mid-September, 2008. HSBC made a few feeble attempts to contact me, but never did anything much more than leave a few voicemails on the answering machine at my parent's home ( HSBC doesn't have my current phone number ).

A few days ago, I received a letter from the law offices of James A. West, P.C., saying that his law firm has been retained to collect on my account with HSBC, and saying that their client ( HSBC ) has aked them to negotiate with me in order to resolve this matter.

I tried looking up this law firm online, and couldn't find much. Their homepage called "Wild West Law" claimed they are BBB accredited, but when I checked the BBB, it claimed they were NOT accredited with the BBB, and it didn't have a report on them nor any complaints on file. I found an entry for the firm at RipOffReport claiming these were not actually lawyers, but a collection agency, and then I found a "Watch Blog" for this firm claiming that it's just a collector who gives up after only a few months time and then resells the accounts. Basically, the letter sent stated that my current amount owed is $8527.38

My question is- where do I go from here? I want to get this monkey off my back- all I want is to work something out on this debt like settle it and pay it back in a timeframe I can afford, but I'm not sure who I should be dealing with. Should I try contacting HSBC first? Or this law firm? Depending on which one I contact first, should I be doing it by mail or by phone? If the "law firm" isn't really working for HSBC and is just a collection agency who bought the debt, should I just wait it out a bit longer to see if they resell, and I might be able to get an even better deal? And no matter who I deal with, would threats of filing bankruptcy even work? I have a huge debt to income ratio and the amount of debt I have is bankruptcy-worthy, but all they would have to do is look at my credit report and see that all my other accounts are in good standing- it's just this one and this one alone I have stopped making payments on.

check with your state bar and the state bar that these people are out of and see if they are actually a law firm. If not advise the bar, your DA, the DA in the state they are in, and the AG for both states.

Pretending to be a lawyer tends to piss lawyers off.

well, I checked the same things you did. No info at all from the Houston, TX BBB. Incidentally, this law firm is out of Houston, TX, and the TX bar association lists him as an attorney in good standing there. So, I can guess that you are in Texas as well--the bar association did not list any other state where he is licensed to practice law. IF you are not in TX, you must immediately check with your state's bar association to see if this law firm is licensed to practice there. if they are not, then they cannot try to fall back on the "we are only debt collectors, we didnt post as lawyers" crap because they identified themselves as a law firm, not as a collection agency.

First, I can pretty much assure you that HSBC didnt sell this debt to them--it is still far too recent and too much money is owed for them to get rid of it that quickly. So at this point I can only assume that HSBC still owns it.

Second, if you are in Texas yourself, you need to review the state laws that Texas has when it comes to third party debt collection. Texas has the best laws in the country when it comes to protecting consumers like you. If you look for any post made on this forum by 'nascar devil', you will find a link in his signature, below the post, to the Texas state laws that I am talking about. Read them and learn them top to bottom.

Third, what else did this letter say? Were there any disclosures or notifications of your rights on it anywhere? If not, then they are in violation of state and federal laws there.

If you are in Texas, you can request validation of the debt and Texas gives them 30 days to get it to you, or else they must stop all collection permanently. This is not designed to help someone skip out on a legitimate debt--it is there to ensure that a debt collector has the documentation to show that they have the legal right to collect a debt. I would send them a DV letter ASAP, by certified mail. If nothing else, it will prove that they have the legal authority to collect on this debt. If I owed someone $8,000, I would make darn sure that any debt collector was legally entitled to collect that money, or else you risk paying someone who will not only steal your $$$ and run, but that money wouldnt even go to pay off the actual debt in that case.

Hi guys-

I'm on my way to my next job, so I'm making a sniper-post. I'll check back in later and post the full content of the letter I received. Actually, I am in California. I believe I heard somewhere that a collector can only collect debts from people in the same state? Or if they truly are working for HSBC as a law firm, does that rule still apply?

Where can I find bar information for the state of California?

Thanks in advance, guys.

Go here,James A. West is not an attorney in California btw.

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member.aspx

Thank you, Po_kertramp ( sorry, your nick set off the spam filter ). So if I understand that right, he cannot legally collect a debt from me because he is not licensed to practice in my state?

CA has some additonal state statutes for debt collectors. Here's a link to CA dept of consumer affairs

http://www.dca.ca.gov/

I just got a letter from them too - I'm in NY. They want me to call them to negotiate my debt on behalf of their client. Has anyone successfully negotiated with them?

I just got a call from James A. West (1800-568-4116) I live in Michigan, I was wondering is James A. West a state bar member in Michigan, I owned Capital One $1,500, i got fired from my job and have no income, I'm living with my sister. I can only pay them 20 dollar a month, but they won't accept it. they want a full payment. What can I DO? Will i get sue?