Can Central Credit Services threaten to sue and garnish wages?

About a month ago, my husband's mother received a call from a Victor Valley with Central Credit Services. He told her she better have her son call back immediately or they would garnish his wages. I called them back and Victor explained they were attempting to collect a debt for Circuit City. He told me the original amount of the debt and offered a settlement, which was about half the original amount (1,700). He told me I had 24 hours to make a decision and arrange payment or they would garnish my husband's wages. I explained to him that we did not have that kind of money and that I would have to make payments. He would not accept partial payments saying we had to pay in full.
I hadnt heard anything from them since then, nor have I received anything from them in the mail, but YESTERDAY, my husband's human resource department received a fax from them stating they were attempting "to verify employment" requesting they supply them with my husbands date of hire, salary, address, phone number, position, supervisor's name and his signature. My husband called me because he didnt recognize the company name and thought I was applying for some kind of credit card or something. I told him I didnt apply for any credit card, then had him fax what they sent. I remembered the company name and called my husband's work, I told them they were a collection agency and not to send them anything. If they called to follow up, I told them to ask what the call was pertaining to and if it was an attempt to collect a debt, then they could give them my husbands current address only and nothing else (we dont have a home phone at this time).
Anyways, I looked them up on the BBB and found out they have alot of complaints relating to harassment, threats and false representation. My question is: is the fax a false representation? I mean my husband's work almost filled it out and sent it back thinking it was just an attempt to verify employment for credit. Nowhere on the fax does it say they are attempting to collect a debt. I am also worried about this wage garnishing thing. I thought the original creditor had to take you to court and get a judgment to garnish wages. If this is the case, then can they threaten to sue and wage garnishment if they are not the original creditor?

Hi Tracy

It is true that a person needs to appear in the court before a wage garnishment takes place. The court will give the orders and then only wages are garnished.

Since the collection agency is using illegal methods to recover the money from your husband's wages, you might require consultation of an attorney.

The attorney will dispute with the fact that the fax was in no way calling for a wage garnishment but it was verifying employment. Filling up a fax cannot prove that your husband has assigned wage garnishment from his employer. It must be in legal papers of the court.

Thanks Ben, I appreciate the information. I am just curious as to why they sent the fax in the first place. It just seems suspicious to me. I mean, they are asking for salary information, I didnt think that was any of their business.

Tracy, if you had not been informed of their illegal activities by now, they would have tried to scare you and get the money from you. You would have thought that fax to be the only legal document required to get wages garnished.

Now that you have been informed, you can strongly dispute with it saying that you have not received the legal papers from court about it.

I owe discover card like ten thousand dollars, the collection agency wants to settle for two thousand, if not they will garnish my wages. Can they do that really? Do they have the power to take me to court and hold my wages until I fully repay everything?

They are also harrasing me at work and wanting to speak to my supervisor. Can they do that? Please help!

Nancy

Hi Nancy

Welcome to the forums.

Please do not tense yourself. Use your federal rights before you start paying to the collection agency. Ask them to send you the debt validation which will provide you the complete picture of this account.

You can't be forced any legal actions unless the debt is validated. Send your letter through certified mail with return receipt requested so that you have a valid proof of your request made.

Regards
Roxette

Thanks a lot for your help. They are really scary and calling my job. I beleive the name of the company is Encore and searching throughout the web, I have not heard good references form them. Anyway, thanks for your help. But one more question, once I get my debt validation, what should I do? Will they still be calling me, speak to my supervisor? I heard that until they don't report it to court and I show up, they can't garnish my wages? Thanks a lot.....

Legally a debt collector CAN NOT speak to anyone other than the debtor, their spouse or their attorney regarding the details of a debt they are attempting to collect. They can however call your friends, co-workers and other family members to gain current telephone and address information only, but that is it. They can only call them once and they MUST not discuss any details regarding your debt. By them asking to speak to your supervisor is just their way of intimidating you into believing they are going to disclose the debt and embarras you in front of your boss and co-workers. However, they can not do that and if they do, it is illegal and you should report them to the BBB, your attorney genernal and even maybe seek advice from a private attorney.

To answer your other questions, since they offered you a settlement, ask them to send it in writing in addition to the debt validation information. Once you receive it and verify the debt is valid and they have the right to collect it, then contact them and work out payment arrangements that you can afford. They are going to tell you that they will need all the money at once and if you cant do that, then the settlement offer will be voided and you will be responsible for the entire amount. They will probably also tell you that they are going to garnish your wages, if they tell you this, then they are implying that they are going to take you to court and get a court order for garnishment. They can only tell you this if they actually intend to do so and have legal right to do so. The question is if they (the debt collector) have legal right or not. I always thought the original creditor only had the right to sue. If this is the case, then Discover could take you to court and you will be required to appear. You would want to appear in this case because you may have a chance at getting the debt reduced. Besides, you might get in trouble if you are served and dont answer or appear when ordered.

If you want them to stop bothering you at work, you can stop them by sending a certified letter on your company letterhead stating you are not allowed to receive personal calls at work and to immediately cease all calls to your place of employment. By law, they must cease all calls after receipt of the letter. If they dont, then again, report them to the BBB, your attorney general and even a private attorney.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Thanks a loT,,,what a relieve!

They have called again and they are giving me until the end of the month to settle for 3000. I asked them to send me the debt validation and they said they had mailed me something in writing by the beginning of October which I have not received. They refuse to send me another one. To settle for 3 thousand they faxed me my account number with the amount I owe and the amount I'm wishing to settle for. They are even going down to one thousand for now and pay the rest until the end of the month. I don't know what the deal is with them. I'm telling them by all means that I don't have the money and they keep giving me an extension. The lady has been nice and has not yet lost her nerves but she is very close to and she has even said that I've been nice that's why she is treatin me nice. The name of the company is Encore RMI, have you heard anyhting from them? I'm really thinking in consolidating my debt but to shut them up and stop calling me, should I tell them to take me to court? Also they mentioned something about Florida is a community service state and they can go after my husband as well. Please respond and thanks!!!

Nancy, understand this thing. Everyone says that you should send your letters certified with return receipt requested. Why?? So that you have a proof of it and show that you have done the required part.

Similarly, what is stopping the CA to do so? They should have sent letters to you certified. But they say that they have sent you which you have not received. Ask them to prove it if they have sent. The court will also be looking on facts and proofs. So, you don't get intimidated by their call. They want to make money from you in every possible way. They are doing it politely as of now.

Not knowing exactly if they are holding your debt in real, if you give money to them, what will prove that they will pay towards your account and your credit report will be updated as 'paid'. You have to understand their deal clearly.

Feature these points and talk to the CA very confidently.

discover card will really take action to garnish wages .Well that might not be allowed in your state /whatever your state allows some states such as MA ,TX, FL i think dont allow but they can try to get a lean on your home ,seize checking account AGAIN !!!
they only do what is allowed in your state .

You're right, states such as Texas don't allow wage garnishment except for Federal debts or child support. It depends on what state you're in. As to the fax that the original poster mentioned, that seems a bit old fashioned for the CA nowadays. Neither you or your boss have to give them any information. I remember some time back seeing a set of "pre-trial interrogatories" which were sent by a CA to a "debtor". This was just trying to get information about the "debtor", and of course illegal because no complaint had been filed. It seems to me, if they sent a "employment verification", they must not have very much information about your husband.

I have a business debt that was picked up my Encore RMI by my original creditor. Turns out they called my mother halfway across the country looking for me, when they had my numner the whole time. They were infact calling me, but because they are not willing to accept any other form of payment accept for payment in full, I refuse to talk to them. So to get my really upset, they called my mother and lied to her stating that I had put her down a referance for some vender services that they were offering me. When I call them back, they denied everything until I threatened to conference her in on the other line. That is when she explained that they had a right to do what is called Skip-Tracing. That answered my question at that point even though she didn't admit that they had lied and provider my mother with false information. I again offered to payment plan in which they refused unless I was making payment in full. I have fowarded all this to an attorney network that deals with cases against collections agencies. Do you feel that my rights have been violated here? THX

It is my understanding that they can contact another person and ask for your number as long as they communicate nothing at all about the debt, the lying is another story. I would talk to an attorney.