I had arrangements to make payments with MRS. Then they took the remainder of the bill out of my account without my authorization. I have contacted them several times and keep getting the run-around. They need this, now they need that. What should be my next step?

I just posted a lengthy post and lost it so I will keep this short.

I'm getting calls on my mobile from MRS Mirand Response Systems and the number comes up 888.317.9490, so different than the one in New Jersey, these tools are out of Houston. This is the third round of harrassing calls I have gotten from them in 10 months for credit card debt I have never had, with banks I have NEVER done business with.

When they call they have my name right but give me a bogus address. I've cleared it up twice already so either they are completely incompetent or are phishing for personal information. Here is what I dug up on them. I have already filed a complaint with the FTC on their site FTC.gov

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_gwbwfz

MRS has called my place of employment twice - which is a law firm. They've placed numerous calls to my cell phone but fail to leave a message, but don't have any problem leaving messages at my place of employment. Additonally, they've not sent me any correspondence advising me they have the alleged debt. I've now drafted a cease & desist letter along with advising my attorney.

[unclewulf]

MRS likes to think they're tough guys. Must be the Camden, NJ street-tough mentality shining through...

Do not send these clowns a cease-and-desist letter. Not unless you're absolutely positive that this is not your account. Far better to send them a demand for validation of the account. Make them prove what they're saying.

Be advised that MRS is known to collect on accounts belonging to LVNV Funding. Been there, done that. This is not the time to buey your head in the sand. Send them a strongly-worded DV letter. And let me know what they have to say in response. I'll help you through it.

They have placed a 4th call to my place of employment today after being told 4x to NOT call my place of employment. I even sent a certified letter on 2/12/10 requesting validation of the debt and demanded they CEASE & DESIST any further oral communcations - all communications to be in writing ONLY. I advised Ms. Swain today, when she called me at work, that I sent the above letter, she said they never received it. I told her it was received by their location on 2/16/10; to which she told me she would note my account as a "refusal to pay."

What's more amusing is that I work for a law firm and that doesn't seem to deter them from violating the FDCPA.

I have submitted complaints to the AZ State AG's Office and the FTC.

[good.nelly]

Hi Guest,

You did the right thing by sending them a debt validation letter. MRS Associates does not have the right to continue with the collection activities unless they can validate the account. If they cannot validate, they cannot call you regarding collection of the account. The collection agencies do not generally want to accept the fact that they received the validation letter. This is why it is always advised that the validation letter is sent to them through certified mail with return receipt requested.

The agency is also not allowed to call you at your place of work. If they do so, they are clearly in violation of the FDCPA law and complaint must be filed against them with the State AG's Office and the FTC.

I'm getting voice mail message telling me if I don't contact them by today they are going to do something. Is this a place I should pay my bal or what. It seems like they charged be alot more interest then the bill I owned I thought I owned 700.00 now it 4,333.27

[paulmergel]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

I'm getting voice mail message telling me if I don't contact them by today they are going to do something. Is this a place I should pay my bal or what. It seems like they charged be alot more interest then the bill I owned I thought I owned 700.00 now it 4,333.27

get a DV letter out asap.send it certified mail return receipt.do not return the call as this is a bottomfeeder.make them prove that they are legally entitled to collect this debt.

I don't have a ? but let me find one: What is considered rude behavior besides what's listed: yelling, cursing or making threats?

I just got off the phone with them. the agent started very professional, answering "Good Morning". I was explaining to her how I can't borrow any more $ from people because I haven't paid back the money I owe them. I was explaining how I was having a difficult time even getting money from my fiancé.

I even let her know I'm unemployed, looking for work but need to get my vehicle fixed to continue to do so. she acknowledged that I had some serious issues, etc. Offered me a settlement, but I responded I would love to but I can't if I don't have the money.

What pissed me off & kills me was when she said "You should've thought about that before you borrowed the money. I yelled something, hung up the phone.

Called back to ask to speak to a supervisor, told them in so many words how I felt. He said she had the right to say that & in a non-chalant "I hate my job" kind of voice said he'd make a note.

I don't care how long they've had the account I still have to bust my butt to pay it. It should be some additional rules on how they speak to you. they can call you out on non-professional behavior but still be rude in how they speak to you & say it's not rude.

What is a dv letter?

[unclewulf]

A DV letter is a request or demand for validation of the claimed debt, pursuant to 15 USC 1692, et sec, better known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. There are numerous DV letter templates available on this site and elsewhere. Find one that you like, customize it to fit your situation, and mail it to them, CMRRR. That's US Postal mail, certified, return receipt requested. Emails, faxes, and the like are an utter waste of time and money.

Hello, I've been dealing with MRS/Hillco Receivables for years now. They started calling when my husband was in Iraq about some old credit card (that we never had - I'm very anal about the bills). Not only was it illegal to contact ME in regards to HIS account (my name was not on it), but all his bills are put on HOLD when he is deployed. I explained this to them, only to get harassed even more. I effectively got called a "thief" (LOL), for taking money from a credit card and never paying it back. When I started yelling back at the moron on the phone and listing all of the FDCA proceedures he was breaking, he hung up on me stating he was going to keep calling. (? real mature)

They started calling at 4am till midnight. I'm not really sure why, as they hadn't of verified the account nor sent anything in the mail. I know the original person holding my account was a jerk. Cursed at my mother (who answered the phone while visiting) and started threatening her. The yelling eventually got worse, they left screaming phone messages which I brought to the police. We filed a police report. Their number was blocked and they were informed they needed to PROVE we had this account - or at least my husband did.

We never received any paperwork, all I got in the mail was a normal bill with the account numbers and the amount owed. My husband and I decided to just pay them off, it wasn't that much. We have since been paying non-stop for over 3 years, never skipping a month and always paying $60.00. The calls never stopped. They called him at work (yes, to his work phone on a military base - also illegal), they called my house phone, they called ME at work (I worked for an attorney, and the attorney got them to stop calling there)...the list goes on. Even though we were PAYING them.

Two years later, we have a balance of about $300.00 left (we are just going to pay them off). They continue to harass. They stopped sending us paper statements in the mail. Haven't gotten one in months. They aren't counting half of the money orders I sent in (even though I have the stubs to prove it), and refuse to even cooperate with me on the phone.

At this point, we are just fed up with them. We have spoken to an attorney about their actions, and the attorney said we shouldn't have ever paid them. I agree, but I just wanted the harassment to stop.

When I called recently from a blocked number, they stated they couldn't send me the file records (aka how many payments have been made and when). They CAN and are REQUIRED to when I ask for them. So for now, we're going to pay them off and tell them to shove it. When we pay it off, we're sending it through certified mail and making a photo-copy of the money order just in case.

The thing that pisses me off the most about this is that they never verified we had an account, and even after paying them nonstop they continued to harass us in all ways. Since I am very careful with our bills (we have been waiting to buy a house this entire time and didn't want to be overrun), I have checked everywhere for an account that was behind. I even checked our credit listings, NEVER has there been a default account until now.

This will wind up never ending, even if we close the account the likelyhood of it REALLY being closed is slime to none. They probably won't even send me proof it was closed in the mail. Oh and we had to have our attorney call them to remove Hillco/MRS from our credit. They were ruining our credit with TWO accounts, instead of ONE. Since then they have listed no payments have been made, which is a total lie.

I forgot to mention. Those supervisors you are talking to, are NOT supervisors. They are regular debt collectors sitting nearby harassing other people. MRS made the mistake of putting a supervisor on the phone with me that had talked to me before about my account. He was the original caller, I made sure to write down when they called and their full name so I never made that mistake.

They do not care about how they treat people and will go to any means necessary to get you to pay your account. They offer those deals everytime you talk to them, and ask you to do shady things in order to pay them. They told me a week ago to take out a loan from the bank to pay them via Western Union. WTH. Let's not even get into the "get a prepaid cellphone so we can call you more". Um...no.

Sigh, third time is the charm. I forgot to mention that when we filed the police report they started calling my in-laws (husband's parents). They were harassed so badly that the in-laws filed a police report as well. They gave out account specific information to them (Illegal), and called sometimes over 407 times a week. The number has steadily decreased with the police reports, but they continue to try and call ANY number they have.

The first 5 months of their calls that I recorded, and still have in my filing cabinet, last time I counted was over 2,500 calls in a month at all hours of the day to my home phone. They say things like they will arrest me (which I laughed at), they will ruin our credit (which they tried to do), they will never close the account (about to find out), etc. The list really does go on.

It is a federal law that you cannot receive or call civilian phone numbers without express permission. Calling a military base phone number is wrong. They were told numerous times by my husband and others that they cannot call there. Because of this, my husband (when he returned home from his 2nd deployment) was forced to tell his superior officers who they were and what they wanted. Such a mess over an account we have been PAYING! They still try to call that number, or so we're told, and find him. Our phone number has been the same for the last 3 years - even with moving. They don't call our number as much anymore, but still try.

Omg, I wish I still had the recordings from those days. Unfortunately the police still have them. Makes me angry just thinking about everyone they harassed. The list of people they bothered is over 15 people - once again, even though we have been steadily paying them.

They say they do not take monthly payments, but that is complete bull. We send it in monthly and they cash it every month. When I speak to them to find out the account status, SOMETIMES they apply it to the bill...sometimes they act like they never got it - even though they cash it. In the end, after a lengthy argument over the phone, they stated IF I were to prove that they cashed it the money order stub would NOT count. That I'd have to contact the original money order company and PROVE that they cashed it. It is such a headache that I said forget it. Eventually I might attempt to prove it, my list of orders sent and theirs is completely different even though they cashed ALL of them. They just pick and choose which ones they want to put towards the account. THAT'S why we started sending ALL money orders via certified mail. I'd rather pay the 2 bucks to make sure they are actually counting them, then go through the headache of trying to figure out where we got these.

When MRS calls - just don't answer.
It's as simple as that.
Also - you can call them and play fart sounds over the phone