Genesee Valley Associates called from 800 392 3100 & threatened to sue

Profane post removed. Next time the user will be banned from the board without notification. - Mike

Debtee, if you updated your address with the OC a hundred times, it would not matter if the bill was already charged off. Depending ono what state you are in, the account may still be actionable even if it falls off your credit report. A collection company has the right to contact your parents, your friends and anyone else they have to in order to locate you. Unless they disclose the fact that you have a debt it is legal to do so. If we know your parents are lying to us, we have the right to call back. Accounts change hands many times after they go to collections, so assuming one collection company knows the entire account history would be incorrect. Calm down, take a breath and explain it to the collector calling and you will be a lot better off.
Hanky- if your first reaction is to report someone-YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. You don't know the whole situation. So don't give advice until you do. Ask the logical questions. Find out information, then if it is plain to see that the collection company messed up-report them by all means. But until you know the laws we have to follow, don't try to call us out on them.

Why do you find a request for (proof of a debt) humorous?




In Debtee's case, why do you assume the parents lied to the CA?

I was not the one who posted the first quote...so I can't answer that one.

As for the second quote, I just did not flesh out my idea enough. I meant we have the legal right to call your relatives back if we know that they were lying to us. I didn't mean that I assume it. I apoligize for the mistake.

I would think, if the parents tell the CA to stop calling, they should. Am I confused?

OK. CTRL-C, CTRL-V, straight from the fdcpa.

Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall --

I skipped to this part.

3) not communicate with any such person more than once unless requested to do so by such person or unless the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and that such person now has correct or complete location information;

The way this reads to me, the CA can only contact the parents once to verify location information, or if the parents ask them to call back, or if the CA think the parents might actually know the location of the debtor.

Where many CA's cross the line, though, is when they keep calling the parents and are pretty much calling them liars, and they need to tell them where the debtor is; that's harassment pure and simple. Whether or not the parents actually know, it's not up to the CA to call them liars. Or keep calling when the parents tell them to not call back. Or ask the parents to give the debtor a message; it says nothing about using the parents as a messenger service. Or divulge to the parents why the CA is calling trying to locate the debtor.

When the CA starts violating the FDCPA is when other steps need to start being taken by the debtor. Like filing complaints with the FTC, BBB, and their state's AG's office. It seems to me, if the parents are being harassed by the CA, they should do the same. Also, contact an attorney and file a lawsuit for any and all violations of the FDCPA.

The only CA's that should look down on this site and these forums are the ones violating the FDCPA. The honest "well respected" CA's really should have nothing to worry about, or be intimidated by this site.

Just my thoughts.

Wow. I can't believe that Collectorman is still trying to argue this months later...

wow it amazes me that an obvious debt collector who had their terrible comments deleted that I as an anonymous guest originally stood up for billys after they made unforgivable comments towards her-- and then those terrible comments were removed--then later collectorman said they weren't the person who made comments and I don't even care who made them--and now collector man tells me that I am "the problem?" No dude--the problem is you people in this business who think you can harass and scare and degrade and call people all kinds of names--you might have legal rights to do things but please follow the laws when legally doing so--and everyone here in this country should not trust any collection agency from what I have seen and this is only my opinion collector man--just as you have your opinions--and when you collectors start following laws that in my opinion at this point haven't been regulated sufficiently and NEED TO BE REVAMPED--I hope and pray that I and everyone else in America will be "the problem" for collection agencies that you have accused me of being--I can give advice to anyone here --no one has to follow my advice collectorman! This is a freakin forum--not rules to live by! But I am so glad a collectorman considers my opinions a problem--because from what I have learned--your power over people is the false illusion that scares people into bowing down to you!--collectorman please register as a member and show your true identity! In my opinion collection agency violations aren't reported enough and that is why they continue to operate with the bullying tactics so many of them employ --collectorman once again I AM SO FLATTERED THAT YOU CALLED ME A PROBLEM!!! your industry is a huge problem as far as I'm concerned and I love the fact that you actually think I am a problem! and Billy's I hope all is well--I was so angry when you got attacked on this sight that I stayed--and maybe I don't know the laws but by golly I do know when things are not right!!!! and as far as I'm concerned I think collector man has been the one here all along making terrible comments that were removed and is still just playing little collector games! But I am so happy that collector says I am the problem :P :P :P take care Billys!

How on earth would you "know" that they (the parents) were lying to you??

We were always trained that never to assume anything when making a collection call. Assumptions could often end up being fdcpa violations.

Ok...to clear up a few things. I am still fighting this point months later becuase it effects my job everyday. Although I collect strictly by the law, I have to deal with debtors cursing and screaming at me daily for doing nothing but simply making a phone call. The reason is the sterotype that all collectors as scum is what I set out to change by evening comeing to the board. .
Hanky-please get over yourself. I meant your way of thinking, not you specifically. As a collector I do not have the luxury of being able to mage broad generalizations, I have to deal case by case. They same way you should when dealing with collectors. Just be nice until they prove themselves otherwise.
I do agree with you on one point. Collection laws need to be re-vamped. The reason so many agencies resort to those methods is they know they can get away with it. I am actually in favor of complaining about the agencies when they break the laws. Those agencies breaking the laws makes my job harder. My only point was to know the laws before you complain about them, and to not blanket the whole industry for what a few do
Soaplady- The way we "know" they are lying is by cross-referncing the information with other relatives. I had a mother once who swore her own son was dead--3 seperate times--eventhough the rest of the family said he lived with her. They gave me the legal right to call back to her residence and question the validity of her statements as provided by the fdcpa.

Let me ask this question. Is it coming out of YOUR pocket? I mean ok, it's your job, but unless it's money that goes directly to your pocket then why get irate and belligerent with people? Sometimes people get down through no fault of their own and can't get back up. You calling and harrassing them isn't going to make it any easier. Do you get some kind of commission off of the money that you collect for other people?

Billysgirrl, yes. Most collectors do make a commission. Most collection jobs are set up like a sales postion. Very little per hour and then commission. That does not mean that people deserve to be harrassed anymore. I do not or have not ever condoned that--at my job, or on this forum. What I do condone is open communication between you and the collecotr. I in my job am more apt to help someone who is in your situation, then someone with an attitude towards me. Just let your collector know what is going on and most will try to work something out. Most.

Collectorman,

I'm sorry then, I must have been getting collected on by all the worse CA's then. I tried to explain, to everyone that called, that I am unemployed due to medical a condition, haven't been employed since February of 2007,have been unemployed for X number of months (just kept adding up the months as it progressed), don't have any income whatsoever, am on Food Stamps, have applied for social security disability, and don't know when/if I'll ever be going back to work. I would still have them ask me how much I can pay. I even had one bee-yotch tell me she didn't want to hear my excuses, started yelling over me, and said she was going going to mark me as a "refusal to pay" (Whatever!). I even had one attorney, acting as a CA, serve me with half-@$$ed papers, which an attorney at legal-aide got dismissed.

At my lowest point, I had one CA's message affect me so badly I contemplated suicide!

So, in my humble opinion, you truly are in the minority. The experience I have had with CA's over the past several months have been anything but pleasant.

Still, you might be a bright light on the horizon. If you can work from within the industry to cause a shift in the way CA's do business, while the rest of us here educate debtors to their rights and lobby for changes in the laws governing CA's, then forums like this will no longer be needed. Until that day comes, and we all live in harmony holding hands singing Kum-Ba-Yah, I am thankful it exits!

Ron believe it or not,you are dealing from a position of strength right now. You have no income or readily attachable assets so it would be pointless to threaten you with anything.

I really don't want to admit it, but Cajun is right! If you have assets and no income there is nothing to worry about. Let them know that, upfront, you have no assets, no income and are medically disabled. If after that the next question is not if you can borrow money from anyone then just hang up. You can use this to get a VERY low settlement, if you have anyone willing to help you in lump sums! Good luck

Cajun, you are right; however, that didn't stop them from trying.

Yes, I'm aware that I really have no assets to go after; however, that still didn't stop that attorney's office from attempting to sue me. I had told them repeatedly, over the phone, my situation; when I was still served the papers, I phoned them and told them the same thing. Didn't listen. It took an attorney, from legal aide, to represent me to get the case dismissed and to make them listen. Some CA's only want to hear one thing, and if it isn't that you're sending them money, then they don't listen to a thing you say. That's just been my personal experience of late.

And no, I'm not willing to ask friends, family, neighbors, or strangers in the streets for money to pay my debts. That's pretty much creating another debt in order to pay off an already existing debt; makes no sense to me. Applying for food stamps was humbling enough.

I've thought about filing bankruptcy, the only problem is you need money in order to do that. Takes money to declare that you have no money. How logical is that?

Not trying to start a heated debate, I was just trying to give my situation as an example of how some CA's push the limits of the fdcpa.

confuscious say ...collector man do good in laundry business--(very wishy washy)....