Valentine & Kebartas Collections - Has anybody dealt with them?

I had a $5,000 account charged off on my credit report in 2006. Now a man called me on my job this past Thursday and was told I couldn't get calls but he was very threatening to my supervisor and she gave me the call. We both were under the impression he was a lawyer or working in a law office and had me so scared that I gave him $50 on a debt card which I needed. I live with 2 grandchildren I support. This man acted like he got a phone call and told us it was the judge. I was supposed to call him back today with the rest of the money Lump Sum I told him I did not know if I could even find this money. I live from paycheck to paycheck. I don't want to lose my home but I can't afford payments either. I can't met my living needs sometimes. Do you have any suggestions? Help.

don't pay

if you dont have money to pay... they can't force you.. also tell them to send you a copy of your debt and have them validate it..

I received several calls from Valentine & Kebartas asking for someone who does not live here. I have told them each time that this person does not live at this #. The last time they called I hit 9 on the telephone to speak with them and AGAIN I told them that they had the wrong #. The very unplesant, unprofessional woman at the other end said... "Well, get this, the last time we called him he gave us a check by phone". I just laughed and said good for you but it it didn't come from this # or this address, so stop calling. She then abruptly hugn up on me in the middle of my sentence. I called her back and said "you hung up on me before I was finished". She then said, "and I'm doingit agiain"... CLICK.... How rude can some people be??? You try to help them by telling them that they have the wrong # and they treat you like crap and insist thatyou are lying. Guess it's time to make an official report!! JB from Florida

dont pay. They are bad people

Hi, my business had a 11.5K debt sent from Dell to these guys. Dell still owned the account, these scumbags are hired (3rd party) to collect. My business was bought out, and the new owners paid Dell direct the full amount. (because they felt that you should always pay your bills, even if they are 29.9% APR !!! lol Valentine was still trying to collect the debt, they told me they would settle for $7,600. I told them to fax in writing. They did!

Once we recived the fax, we then sent a demand to Dell for the difference of the amount + filing fees. Dell said no. Went to court, Dell paid the diff. which came to $4300.00 within one month!

This only worked, because they said they were "autherized agents" by dell to collect. So, any deals they made, were legally binding.

This story doesn't help you guys much, just keep in mind that these people are not nice and I would not say they play fair. Just can't prove it. Good luck, and this Debtconsoldationcare.com site is by far one of the best for credit research problems.

-Shaun

Quite frankly I dont believe the about story. Once the debt was paid in full, dell would have removed the authorization to sue because the debt no longer existed. V&K may be authorized agents but DELL can still accept payments.

As a matter of fact, i work for this company and can tell you that they record 100% of every call. If there is a shady collector, call and take him down. It is a collection agency, not a law firm, and its not as corrupt as some of these people are saying. There may be a few inexperienced collectors around...

Dell Financial is a huge ripoff... Charged 23%. Did a loan on a pc with them in 2002. First of all, they never sent me a bill!!! I had to end up calling them because I did not receive the bill. They were going to charge me a late fee and I was like.. I never received a bill to begin with. Anyway I paid the loan off way ahead of schedule. At the end, there was 35 cents on the balance and I called then to write it off and they agreed! No way was I sending 35 cents!

People do not have to pay these scum bags. They are what is known as a skip tracer in the business and they make a commission of half of what they collect. In 7 years the debt falls off your credit report anyway but not if you make a payment. You pay one thin dime and the 7 year statue of limitations starts all over again. DO NOT PAY, DO NOT TALK TO THEM, THEY CAN DO NOTHING! THEY CANT CALL YOU AT WORK. THEY CANT CALL YOU BEFORE 8:00 A.M. or 9:00 P.M. Do not give them any personal information! Tell them to go to hell. Cuss them out good. The one that is the most upset at the end of the call wins!

I am going to go one step further and publish there real names complete with their home phone numbers and address's. I have a private detective working on it now. Lets see how rude they are when you can call them back or be waiting for them on the porch step to come home.

Bottom line is you don't have to take their crap. Their are laws in this Country that protect the consumer from parasites like them.

WOW guest....you have too much time and money on your hands.

You dont know the laws....they most certain CAN call you at work...the FDCPA states that if you tell them you cannot receive calls at work, they then must stop. The onus is on the consumer to excercise their rights.

I rest my case. Stalking I believe is a criminal offense. Pulling garbage like this makes you simply worse than a debt collector.

And dont it figure...an unregistered guest. TROLL ALERT!

I told them to send all bills to the White House for payment

You have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Pratices Act and should review the document on-line so that you know your rights. I am a Collections Manager and know the laws. Any company attempting to collect a debt must follow these guidelines so you are protected from certain types of behaviors from third party collection agencies. An example is a cease and desist order which means if you send them a letter in writing to stop calling you and they do not then they are not in compliance with the laws of FDCPA. You can press charges against them for infractions under this act. Sometimes just the mention that you know what the laws are through FDCPA may change their attitude with the way they treat you. Read up and be prepared for the next time they call harassing you. They give people that do collections for a living a bad name even though some of us are actually law abiding professionals that truly want to help people pay their bills by putting them on an affordable payment plan. Nobody wants to be behind on their bills and if they are there is a reason for it. A true collections professional finds out the reason and finds a solution both parties satisfied with. There is no need to intimidate or humiliate someone because they are behind on their payments. If people are treated fairly and with dignity they will work something out if they are able to and if they can't then when they are able they will call whoever it was that treated them the best. Hopefully this will help someone out there.

Here is the link for the FDCPA information:
FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm

God Bless you for this respoonse... They have recently contacted me and harrassing me as well not even stating that they are a collection company only sying that a complaint has been filed against me ... I was like HUH? I am a good persoan and have no people thinking of placing any kinds of complaints.. it was just an odd call and very uncomfrotable I have it recorded on VM and will nto take calls from anyone like that.. THANK YOU again and God Bless you... & re: to our financial troubles. This too shall pass...

They have been calling me at work at least 10 times per day and if they continue, I will lose my job and they will not get anything from me. I have explained to them what I can do and they keep asking for the impossible (basically ignoring everything I say) and ask the same question over and over. They have now been harassing my family that live in another state. What should I do?