I too was getting daily calls from 1-866-608-0400. I finally called to see what was up . They asked what my phone number was and then informed me who they were looking for. It wasn't me so I was told that my number would be removed. So if you are getting calls from them they may not really be looking for you.

They filled a suit against me in Broward County for a credit card debt that is not mine. The Judge ordered them to prove the validity of the debt and that it was mine. 6 months later, no proof, but a sudden barrage of Motions and requests for evidence to prove their claim from me. I refused to answer and they continued to file motion after motion ALL of which are granted by the court before I am given the oppurtunity to object. However, when I filed a motion to dismiss for their failure to prove my responisibility, I had to ask the court repeatedly to hear my motion. Today, the Judge dismissed my motion and told them they could go to trial if they felt they had the proof. They do not. And I was advised by the court that I must wait until they decide what they want to do and that I would either hear from them or I would'nt. I feel that this will continue to hang over me and I will have to keep on top of it to make sure I do not miss answering any of their motions to avoid a default judgement in their favor. Hardly seems right, and I was told by the Judge that the FCRA does not apply once the case has been filed. Seems the Attorney for Asset Acceptance spends most of her time in the same Judges courtroom and is freindly with both the Judge and the Clerk. Not sure what step to take next, but it appears that hiring an attorny to beat them at their game over a 5 year old debt (statute has expired, and it is not my debt) to make this go away. All over $1500.00......

[curlycarl]

Tommy, you have to hire an attorney for you. He will ask for evidence that explains that the said debt belongs to you. Did the CA try to contact you over this matter before filing the case at the very beginning? It was very necessary for you to dispute with them at that point so that you would have been able to prove your side of the story to the judge. Your letters of dispute would have definitely worked here. Your refusal to answer made them stronger like wild elephant. And now, your options to defy are becoming very tiny. Take help of your lawyer to see if situation can be turned towards your favor.

why do i keep getting a machine calling me, saying this is not a sales or solicitation call, please call (800)398-8814 ?????

[curlycarl]

The number shown in your caller ID belongs to asset acceptance llc. They are a collection agency that is trying to collect one of your past debts with the original creditor. You need to call at the given number and get more information about your debt. They collection agency is required to send you an itemized statement validating the debt. After checking each of the items, make a payment arrangement and pay off the debt.

If this debt is legitimate and is within the statute of limitations, payment of this account will improve your ratings by some additional scores.

ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC
8181 S. 48th Street #110
PHOENIX, AZ

Original Business Start Date: 01/01/62
Local Start Date: 01/01/03
Type of Entity: Limited Liability Company
Principal: Al Abano, Branch Manager
Customer Service Contact: Sandi Ostler, Legal Administrative Assistant
Phone Number: 586-939-9600
Fax Number: 586-446-7827
Membership Status: yes
Date Joined BBB: 02/20/03
Type of Business: collection agencies

ADDITIONAL BUSINESS NAMES

This company also does business as:

* ASSET ACCEPTANCE CORP;
* CFC FINANCIAL CORP (FORMER);
* CFC FINANCIAL, LLC(former);
* FINANCIAL CREDIT CORPORATION(former) and
* FINANCIAL CREDIT LLC(former).

ADDITIONAL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Additional phone numbers for this company include:
(602) 414-6900,
(800) 398-0800 and
(800) 398-8814.

ADDITIONAL ADDRESSES

Additional addresses for this company include:
P.O. Box 50700, Phoenix, AZ 85076-0700;
6985 Miller Road, Warren, MI 48092;
P O Box 2036, Warren, MI 48090-2036 and
P.O. Box 2040, Warren, MI 48090-2040.

Found this information with the Better Business Bureau. Might not be the correct directions though.

You should obtain a copy of the credit report direct from one of the major credit reporting agencies that you seen this item listed on, then in that report you will receive the correct address this company branch comes from.

Experian 888-397-3742
Equifax 800-685-1111
TransUnion 800-916-8800

I'm curious about SOLs. What states SOL applies to my "contract" with Bally Fitness that is in collections with Asset whatever at 866.608.0400? The gym was in RI, I have always been a VT resident. Is it my state, the state of the gym, or the state this collection agency is in?

[curlycarl]

I believe your contract with Bally Fitness was signed in VT. The statute in VT for legally collecting the debt is 6 years beginning from the date of last activity in your account. When did you last make a payment on this account?

I signed the contract at the gym in N. Providence RI. I was an out of state student there at the time. The only payment I ever willingly made was the initial deposit. After that, one auto payment after I cancelled was taken from my bank account or credit card that I gave them at sign up. I went into the Ballys and complained and was given a cash refund for the unauthorized debit. This was Nov 2001. I heard nothing more about the Ballys membership until June of 2005 when this Asset place started sending me letters. At that time I looked at my credit report and found Ballys had reported only on my Trans Union report, I filed for an investigation and it was subsequently removed becaues they could not verify the debt. Since then it has managed to appear on the other two credit agency reports. Asset will not accept the letter from Trans Union stating it was an unverifiable debt that was removed from my report because "they use experian".

I'm at a loss for what to do. I followed the specific instructions on the back of the contract to cancel the membership. The gym accepted this cancellation. I was in their computer as a former member when I went in and complained about the unauthorized debt (meaning I didn't come up as an active member). I literally heard nothing for years. Now I'm getting collection bills for twice the amount of the original contract and this Asset place is claiming I signed another contract. Well I say produce it! I spoke with them once, got yelled at that I was a piece of white trash who wouldn't pay bills, that I was a liar and a thief, and incapable of taking responsibility for my financial decisions etc. Then hung up on. I called back 20 minutes later after I had calmed down some and spoke with a woman who refused to transfer me to a superviser, told me I was lying about the contract, and told me she was "moving on" and hung up on me. I called back immediately and requested a branch manager. She was polite and said she would look into it and call me back. Someone else called me back to tell me today (the next day) that they had forwarded my account to legal. But no one can tell me what that means. So I called back once more and the woman said if I faxed a copy of the letter I used to cancel the membership by Monday she would hold the legal off until Wednesday.

What am I supposed to do? I have the letter and will willingly fax them a copy, but I really doubt it will do any good. I also called the club I signed up at earlier today to find that the man who sold me the membership doesn't work there any longer. I tried to call Ballys Corporate and got a bunch of changed numbers.

Someone help me please

[Not so Lucky]

I just read an article that Asset Acceptance is reporting to the IRS that they are settling accounts, and now people are receiving 1099-C forms stating that they have income from forgivin debts. Asset Acceptance I thought was a bottom feeding collection agency buying accounts for pennies on the dollar. These places will stop at nothing to make a quick buck.

[Not so Lucky]

Also in the article, it stated that now the IRS is investigating them.

[curlycarl]

Since this debt has originally occurred in RI, the statutes of that state will be taken into consideration for determining the SOL. RI has a statute of 10 years. Unfortunately, this debt is within the legal collection period for you and you can be legally asked to pay it.

You must have the clear and exact picture of the debt that Asset is bringing in front of you. After calling you up, they are required to send you the details in writing. It should be sent within 5 days after giving the first call. If you haven't received anything, write a letter to them request the debt validation. It's a federal law that legally forces the collection agency to give you all the necessary details about the accounts that you owe to your original creditors. Once the CA has received this letter, they can't make any phone calls or attempt collections till the debt details have not been given to you. After getting the itemized detail, verify it very thoroughly and see if the amount shown is correct or not. BTW, did you receive a cancellation in writing from Bally's? This will prove that the charges shown in the debt account after cancellation is baseless.

Your first move is to ask for validation of the debt from Asset Acceptance. Send this letter through certified mail with return receipt requested. This is very important because it will ensure not only its delivery to the company but also you will be able to prove your responsibility and actions taken to resolve the matter.

After the validation request is given to you, if you find the debt shown is incorrect, you can dispute with the item posted incorrectly. The CA will get it verified with Bally's before they further collect anything from you.

I don't know if I got anything in writing from Bally about the membership being cancelled. I need to look through old papers and see if I can find something. I would mail this request for validation letter to them, but it would not arrive before Wednesday when my account is being forwarded for legal action. Won't it be too late at that point? Should I just get lawyer? I don't really want this to be some long drawn out process. I'm trying to buy a home and this is the only bad thing on my credit. The fact remains that I cancelled the membership according to the contract and I will not pay any amount regardless if it drops 50% and matches up with the original price of membership. I do not feel I should have to. All you have to do it Google Bally Total Fitness and 99% of the sites that come up are dedicated to Bally doing this exact thing to other people who cancelled memberships. It's a known problem, there have been class action lawsuits against them for it. Unfortunately I can't find one open right now relating to the gym in RI. I've already found the home I want to buy and this is going to prevent me from being able to do so. This is absolutely nuts!! I can't belive that this company can buy an invalid debt that is over 5yrs old and treat innocent people this way in trying to collect it!

It doesn't say anything in the contract about recieving confirmation of cancellation of membership. It just outlines how to cancel and then states that any refunds deemed necessary will be returned within 30 days. Since my fee for joining was non refundable I didn't have any refund coming to me. Except for that unauthorized debit that they gave me cash for at the club.

[curlycarl]

Asset Acceptance won't take any legal actions with which they always threaten. They have lots of cases against them and they have fear of taking any matter to the court. They just try for someone who will pay them hurriedly.

Make your basis covered by sending the debt validation letter. Send it certified with the return receipt requested. Even if they don't pick the letter, you have your defense proving that you tried to resolve the matter but the company failed to honor your request.

This contract states the process of the cancellation. Have you sent any letter in writing to Bally's for canceling the account and they actually acknowledged the same in a written form.

The contract I signed stated that I had 10 days to cancel the membership and that to cancel I needed to provide a written letter stating that I was canceling and why to the gym at which I signed the contract. If I could not hand deliver the letter I could send it to the following address... which is the address of the club I signed up at. So I hand delivered it. The man who sold me the membership took me into his office, read the letter, made a note on it and said that everything looked to be in order and asked me several times if i would reconsider. He offered me cheaper rates, guest passes, membership upgrades etc. I said no and he said alright, I will cancell the membership. I didn't ask for anything in writing from him because I had no reason to believe he wouldn't cancel it. After the unauthorized debit came through my account I went and talked to him and he gave me my money back and apologized. He looked in the computer and showed me that I wasn't an active member and he had cancelled the membership. He was very understanding and said that because I had set up an auto debit it had gone through before the cancelation was final and that it would not happen again. And, it did not happen again. I had no reason to believe that the membership hadn't been cancelled. I had that same account until I moved back to VT in 2003 and never saw another cent given to Bally.

[curlycarl]

Ok, there has to be a solution somewhere in between. I will request you to send a letter to Bally's and explain them the situation that you are being contacted by a collection agency for this account in spite of the account being closed. You can request them to verify it in their system since it must be there even now. After they have reviewed it, request them to send a letter in writing with the date the account was cancelled. If they can send this letter with that date when the account was closed, and then you compare it with the dates sent by the collection agency, things will be clear in front of all. The dates will prove that the charges occurred irrelevantly even after the account has been closed.

Meanwhile, ask Asset to give you the details of the debt in writing. Do not make any payment agreement with them for the time being. I can understand what you are going through. Surprises come this way only never knocking at the door!