ok..i need help i am soo stressed out.. i had a credit card with associates that i opened in 99 i stopped making payments in 01 since, i was pregnant and didnt work..in late 05 i started making payments to midland credit management of 50 a month on a 1600 debt..i defaulted in one payment and then they transfered my acoount to nelson watson and associates they contacted me on dec. and they told me that i needed to make a payment for the whole amount or they would take further legal actions against me..so i agreed with them to make payment on the 20th of dec and 20th of january of 50 dollars until, i obtain my tax refund to pay them off..now the problem is that i wont have the money until the 2nd of march and NOW theres problems they want their money or else they are telling me that they will take me to court..what is the statuate of trying to collect on debt? i live in florida..they are making it seem like i dont want to make payments and being difficult..they even told me that it was my fault that i dont have the money since i should of filed my taxes diffrently....HELP WHAT SHOULD I DO???

First, calm down. The more you read here, the more you will understand many collection agencies use the same tactics to collect the debt. They try to make you feel guilty, they accuse you of "refusing to pay", and accuse you of not wanting to work with them. This is a psychological tool they use to get you to be cooperative or at the lease, harass you until you can't stand it anymore.

Once you make sure this collection agency actually does own/have authority to collect your account, get any settlement/payment agreement in writing. They are required to give you a written statement of your account balance. If they want your money, they will also give you a written agreement for repayment terms. Without a written agreement, some collectors keep coming back to the well for more money.

__________________
Leaving for a while. Need help in Texas, contact some other good attorneys at www.helpingtexas.com

the only thing that i have received from them is a reminder that they are going to withdraw the money from my bank account according to them my account was forward to them from midland credit management..i have never received a letter from them in writing about the agreement so, should i call them back and ask them for one? when i talked to them today we didnt end up on friendly terms. he keept telling me that i should try to get the money from friends and family and i told that if obviously i had that type of resources i wont be in this predictament...my only intention is to pay them but, they are being such jerks about it..they also, told me on a previous conversation that if i hadnt receive the money from my refund that it wouldnt be a problem pushing the day back for them to take the money out of my account..but now is a problem. and right now i feel like they are harrassing me when i have nothing but, the best intentions to clear my debt.

At this point, you must be confirmed about the fact that when you pay them, where is your money getting posted? Are they the ones authorized to collect on your account? Read the FDCPA laws and know your legal rights as a consumer. The debt validation law exists just to identify an authorized collector from a shady one.

Send one debt validation letter asking for the info. They can't take you to the court before they prove their authorization to collect on your account.

Check with Midland Credit Management if they have already posted your previous payment.

Nelson & Watson contacted me last week saying that I owed the $2400 for an old Captial One card that I had. They kept sending the mail to my parents house that I haven't lived at in 10 years. They were also leaving messages at my parents house. That is when I called them back. He started the same tactic, 'pay now or a judgement will be against you, this will ruin your credit for 20 years, etc'. Well if he looked at my credit he would see that really doesn't matter.

Anyways, I gave him my current address and told him that he need to send me something in writing that I owed the balance. He refused saying that they have sent me enough and sending another letter would be a waste of their time he would rather see the judgement come against me.

How should I handle this now. Funny thing is, after I gave him the correct address, 3 days later a letter came to my parents house, which live in another state, about the debt. My credit reports reflect my current address. Should I send a validation letter? And if I do how long do they have to respond to that? Should it e certified so I know they get it? BTW I'm in FL. Thanks for the help.

Lisa

You have a couple of options. First is a validation letter. Send it certified mail, return receipt requested, so you have proof that you sent it and they received it. Once they've received it, they are not permitted to take any further action against you unless and until they validate the debt. Don't be surprised if you never hear from them again. Most collection agencies don't validate even on "fresh" debts, let alone debts as old as this one. (Alternatively, you can also just send them a letter ordering them to cease all communication with you, and with anyone else, about the debt.)

More importantly, though, the collector's comments may have constituted a violation of the fdcpa. They can't threaten legal action unless it's a sincere threat, and while the FDCPA doesn't say anything specifically about threats of "your credit being ruined for twenty years", that's a total load of horse poopy. Nothing negative stays on your credit report for twenty years. Bad debts drop off after seven, and even bankruptcy comes off after ten. This comment from him might (although I'm not sure) be an FDCPA violation.

Well to add a twist to this whole thing with Nelson Watson, the guy told me that they were attorneys and they are not and also him stating the damaging my credit statement is a violation of fdcpa. Janet from Superior Debt Services said that I need to file a complaint with the BBB, which this DC has complaints already, and also with the Attorney General of MA. I just did the BBB since you can do it online but with the Att. Gen are there certin guidelines that I need to follow or anything? Also I already sent out the validation letter (certified) yesterday, will this efect all that.

Axe the comment above. I just found out that I can file the complaint online with the Att. Gen.

So as I stated before I filed a complaint with the BBB in MA regarding Nelson, Watson and Assoc. They actually responded to the complaint and this is what they responded:

What I put in bold is a crock of poop. As I put in my post above, I gave them my current address and told them they need to send me validation of the debt (which I have done now by certified mail) and I would look into it and get back with them. Since then I found this site and sent the validation letter to them. I'm assuming that I will probably received a summons to go to court now since thier client is Capital One.

Should I just sit back and wait to see if they validate the debt or contact them?

__________________
http://captswife.blogspot.com/

there are many client like cap one that DO pursue legaly if that if the case a collector like me can tell you that if you dont pay its a damn good chance you get the shyt sued out of you you can lose you home and up to 33% of wages in some states, the s.o.l can last 18 years on some states and if you ever made the inclination of payment in some debts this restarts it, so yea a negative mark can be on you credit for 50 years at this point you are not even a CONSUMER you are a DEBTOR our clients are the ones who pay us, NWA has one of the HIGHEST service records and will fire teh shyt out of you if you lie, o and did i mention 30 days after they send that letter to any f**kin address they belive to accurate that debt is secured in full there is no validation if they do validate they can tell you the full balance is due at that time and bring you to court as soon as the court is shown a bill THERE IS NO DISPUTE you will lose everything and they get paid, there not the bad guys think about it there just doin there job you would never get a call IF YOU PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE not paying on a 4 year old bill seems normal for you its not our a god damn theif and a lier and deserve to go to hell

you kiss your momma with that mouth??? And people like you wonder why no one wants to be their friend....

if you look through the cursing i think hes trying to comunicate with us

yeah, well his communication is filled with errors, cursing or not. For example, I am a licensed bail enforcement agent. CA's have skip tracing departments. Why is it that a CA cannot ever locate a persons publicly available correct address, but I can, and usually do so within five minutes? The whole "believed to be a good address" bit is garbage--many states have laws that require a "Reasonable effort to locate". Simply sending mail to an old address is not a reasonable effort. It is a copout--a way to try to get a default judgment illegally and unfairly.

Moving right along, the "THERE IS NO DISPUTE" is also crap. I dont care if the debt is 20 years old, and well past that 30 day period, when you take someone to court, you MUST prove your end. If not, any attorney worth his law degree will file motion to dismiss on the grounds that the plaintiff has not met its obligation to establish validity of the debt. Case dismissed! It happens all the time! The burden of proof does not simply go away because of a date on a calendar, people.....

And finally....you would never get a call IF YOU PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE...

Have you looked around this forum? There are more than a few people who are being hounded or have been harassed by collectors either by mistake or fraudulently! THEY DIDNT SKIP THEIR BILLS....but they still get called anyways. I would know--I am one of them. To this day, I am still trying to figure out exactly how I could have purchased a house on the east coast, in a state I never even lived in, at a time when I lived at my current address down south.....and then, when that house was foreclosed upon, they entered it on my credit report.....but gee, "if only I paid the bills on time".....right??

well im my time most CA's use credit reports and lexis nexis to find up-to-date addresses and in his defence then can and often are out of date. the 30 day period is just you agreeing to the debt if brought to court and showed the documents with your signature there no sob story the court will take besides payment.

yes, I agree....IF DOCUMENTATION IS PROPERLY PROVIDED. When people ask for validation, the request so often goes unanswered. Want proof?? Why are there so many junk buyers in collections today?? They buy the debts that other collectors could not validate!! IF THEY HAD PROPER VALIDATION, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE AN ISSUE....would it? But many of them dont....and again, that obligation falls upon the collector, regardless of whether that 30 days has passed or not! I noticed that you didnt address much of what was said, I thought you came here to answer questions and help?

As for credit reports, they arent nearly as out of date as you would like to claim here. Any time that someone makes an entry on your credit file, the new address info is included. So, you have a debt from five years ago...but you bought a car three months ago. That car loan shows up on your credit report, and the section of that report that contains your info, like addresses past and current, becomes the answer....doesnt it?

im simply stating that it happens to me DAILY but then again i deal mostly in student loans and there wouldnt be long credit historys would there and what with the moving arounf alot youll be lucky to get mom and dads addy. you hunt people who owe money and skip out you collect a percentage when you catch them no? no so different you and i