[JCEMT]

What state do you live in? Do you know if it is legal to record calls in your state without the other parties knowledge?

What a novel concept! None of us thought of that, I am sure!! Paying bills on time WAS the first thought, however things like hospitalization, job layoffs, family deaths, etc. do happen to some of us out here or maybe just a human mistake that rolled out of control. Maybe you have never experienced this? I used to collect local bad check debt and sometimes STUFF happens. When it finally happens to you ms commonsense you'll feel awfully sheepish!

Hey my first post was for ms commonsense on page one, Not to the great guy suggesting phone recording!! Sorry!!However, I want to ask if you guys have ever considered a class action harrasment suite?( I'm sure it has been mentioned before, but it is good to always bring up..) I mean we got a lot of intelligent sounding folks out here with some real life issues and I see on other sites that this has been an ongoing policy with AMO to treat folks like this. There are several folks with issues from the University of Wisconsin selling out their collections to AMO, so Wisconsin alone could start one I bet. Also, if Nothing else, keep a journal of what has been said to you so if somebody can get a suite started you have something documented.

[JCEMT]

Class action suits may bring heavy civil penalties to the agency being sued however the rewards to the individual victims are meager at best.

Also, no insult taken.

They called me at work, and offered me two solutions.

1. Pay $220 (that I can't afford) a month for 3 months. (I can afford $157 barely).

2. They will garnish my wages. She said it would be 25% which I cannot afford, even more.

So I called them back and arranged payments of $175 a month. Then when I told them I would be mailing a money order, the guy told me that I have to have my payment in by the end of the next day, because they have to close it by the end of the month. Doesn't make sense to me, since I only had 1 day to pay and get it to them by the end of the month.

My question is: I checked out western union, who charges an ungodly amount of $27 per transaction. I might as well be paying the $220. So I won't be sending it that way. I'm planning on mailing it, which means they won't get it until three days later. If they decide to be a pain in the butt about it, can they reject my payment and garnish my wages anyways?

[JCEMT]

They can't threaten to garnish your wages, they have to have a court order to do that, which means they would have to sue you, win, and get a judgment. Just send the money order, overnight it if you really want to meet their deadline. Don't use a wire transfer or anything with your personal account information or they may take more than what is needed.

JCEMT- She did threaten me with garnishment. In your post, it sounded like you're saying they can't threaten garnishment at all, until they have a court order. Is that correct?

[JCEMT]

Well, yes and no, they can't threaten it unless it is their intent to do so. They have 30 days to follow through with it, after that it is a violation.

I'm having a similar problem with them. I let my sister use my bank account once to pay them and they keep charging my account! After they had assured the both of us that it would no longer happen. i'm now over drafted by $155!! I've had my account for nearly 3 years and this is the first time i've ever over drafted.

[goldenbast]

LJ: Did you have this CA validate the debt? You do have the right to make sure that everything is on the up and up. Oh and if you do go through with this payment plan, get it in writing or the CA very well may say they never entered into any such agreement! The fact the CA used a threat of garnishment against you makes me think they are one of the bad CAs. Don't let them get away with this.

[JCEMT]

Hey buddy, I hate to break it to you but just because laws are in place doesn't mean that everyone is going to abide by them. There are many collection agencies out there that are just trying to earn the honest buck and conduct business according to federal/state law. There are also some really abusive ones as well.

Here, check this out

[goldenbast]

Butterfly: I find your generalizations a bit insulting honestly.

You say no one can call 3-4 times a day, but that doesn't seem to stop them, now does it? You say they do everything by law, but now that isn't quite true either now is it? They break the law constantly, it is only now how much this is coming to light because more and more consumers are learning their rights and fighting back. Heck, one big CA conglomerate was even quoted as saying that paying off FCRA violations and lawsuits was a "cost of doing business".

If you notice no one here is suggesting they not pay their bills, but let’s come back to the real world shall we? No one can generally come up with these ridiculous sums (oh and many, many times these sums are not even original balance anymore, they are ridiculous fees and interest rates so there goes your highborn theory of people buying stuff and not paying for it.

Oh and I love how you suggest that people should turn off cable...wow..ok, let’s have the debtor incur another past due bill with early disconnect fees..but who cares as long as I get my inflated interest and fees and bleed the general consumer dry.

Not to mention the little bit about the account not hitting a CA till it is past due..that is such a minor section of the whole…what about old junk debts that may not even be debts? Accounts that are illegally jacked up? Hmm? A comment about that?

I think YOU CAs need to stop crying about consumers learning their rights and fighting back..sheesh get a REAL job.

[paulmergel]

right goldenblast.don't forget threats of immediate arrest,garnishment.i was called 10 times in a day 1 month ago by a supposed law abiding ca.talk about painting with a broad brush. :roll: :roll:

[Bossy4455]

Anyone is welcome to share and post and to help others--however, all posts that are insulting, attacking, vulgar, etc., will be deleted or edited by a moderator.

Please read the Terms of Service..

My husband and I have been trying to get our credit cleaned up. We are now in a better position money wise and have been slowly paying off old bills. The first thing we did is pulled our credit reports. Then filed disputes on everything. The reason, n my husbands report alone, AMO had the same exact bill reported 6 times, same amount, same account number. So after we did this, we sat down with a tape recorder attached to our phone and called each and every debt collector. Before they could say anything we played a recording stating that we were recording the call and it could be used against them. So it was very interesting the response we got when they found out we were recording them. One guy hung up on us, another said he would not deal with us until we shut off the recorder, we got his supervisor on the phone. Anyway then we told them we wanted to know the original debt amount, and we would add about $50.00 and tell them that we would pay that to settle the debt. We were able to pay off the majority of our bills for almost the original debt that way. Te only one we are still paying is AMO Recoveries, we send them payments. I have been requesting a copy of our amount owing and they have so far refused. So I sent a letter this month stating that I would consider the debt paid in full as of this last payment since they have not proven I owe any more.
For the posters that state collectors are just doing their jobs, let me ask you, how would you feel if your son/daughter under 10, answered the phone and some foul mouthed person started yelling and cussing at them, had AMO do this on multiple occasions. Their excuse, they thought we were acting like we were just kids. DUH... how stupid can you be!!!!
It is real easy to point the finger and lump everyone in as deadbeats, but you don't know what each family is going through and the bad apples make it harder on everyone.

Hey I was just curious what steps this company can or will take if you keep putting the payment off and ignoring the calls due to the fact that you cant afford to pay it at the moment? Can they sue? Can you go to prison or anything like that? What are the consequences?