This company started to contact me on the 6th of December, calls to my cell phone at 8:01 am, 9:34 am, 10:16 am, calls to my home number at 8:05am, 9:41am, 10:21 am. I called them back and spoke to a 'Paul'- totally unprofessional behavior from this gentlemen. He comes out with he is from NES and they are a debt collection agency, collecting on a overdue/delinquent credit card balance I have with CitiBank in the amount of roughly $6,000. I explained to him my situation, I am currently unemployed, have many other bills, and simply couldnt afford the 700 a month payment Citi was requesting. So he says he can work this out for me, and offer me a one-time settlement opportunity 'without taking me to court' if i make an immediate payment of $3,200. I told him thats nearly impossible to come up with immediately. I am 24 and do not have that kind of money lying around. HE LOST IT- immediately started in with threats against me, 'we will take you to court, you will end up paying twice as 320, plus legal fees, plus anything else we want you to pay, we will garnish your wages, we will repossess anything you own, we will not stop until we get this money'. I asked him if he was done yet, and he started in again with the threats. After a good five minutes of him telling me how irresponsible and a bad person i was...he offers me another one time opportunity of making a $1000 payment. I told him again, I dont have $1,000 lying around. He says: '1,000 isnt alot of money nick, to most people today $1,000 is just like $1 (WHAT???), you're just not putting any effort towards helping yourself out' He says he is fed up with dealing with me, and transfers me to another associate. This fellows name was Kevin Johnson- he played to good cop routine. I told him, I want to pay this debt, but demanding I come up with 3200 dollars in a matter of minutes, I cannot do that, what can we do to make this right. He suggests that I speak with a bank to get a loan to make this payment. Me being a good-natured person, I thought this was something I should do. So Kevin tells me to do so, and then get back in contact with him. Monday morning of this week I went to a few local banks, and started the loan application process. Tuesday morning I get six calls within one hour (between 8 and 9 am, all left messages on both cell phones and home phone), all demanding I call them back immediately, none of which were Kevin. I call Kevin back and ask him whats with the calls, I'm working on this, why does your company continue to harass me? He says 'nick, we're just making sure you're taking care of this'. I told him one call is sufficient enough. I tell him the applications are being processed, and the two banks I applied at will be letting me know. Kevin turns into 'mr. helpful' all the sudden. 'nick thats great news, we're glad to hear it, you're taking the first step towards getting your life back on track' He tells me to speed up the process, he'll go ahead and schedule that payment now, but he will post date the check to today, leaving ample time for bank to contact me. Me, being such an idiot, gave them my checking account information. Luckily he did not give me any type of confirmation number for this payment, nor did he actually get my authorization to make that debt from my checking account. Wednesday Morning was a nightmare for me, received about 20 calls within a matter of hours from this company, again demanding I call them back immediately. I call them, and say I havent heard back from my banks yet. Wednesday afternoon I find out from my banks that I do not qualify (even with a co-signor, my dad). This morning the calls CONTINUED to come in at an alarming rate, I finally answer the 15th cal of the hour, and speak with anther different associate. I tell him unfortunately I wasn't able to qualify for those loans (even with a co-signor as they suggested) and asked him what other suggestions he had for me. He had no other suggestions, nor did he even answer my question. He says 'so you have no intention of repaying this debt' . I tell him well you're not leaving me with any options to pay this debt. You're demanding I pay $3200 right now, and arent offering me any type of per-month payment plan, so no, I have no options for paying this debt. I cannot produce $3200 at the drop of a hat and you're not willing to help so we're at standstill. He says 'we'll see you in court' and then hangs up.
I wish I had read this entire thread before even deciding to try and work with this company. Obviously i'm not the only person in the world with outstanding debt, nor am I the only person dealing with this company. I feel even dumber for trying to get the loans (which I realize now was just a temporary means to an end, why take out a $5,000 loan, place myself farther in debt, just to make this one company happy and stop calling me with their harassing ways) Given that this thread is over two years old, and still continuing to grow, I shouldnt have fallen for the scare tactics they are pulling. They have my checking account info, and I hope they make some type of un-authorized debt from my account. I will be keeping close tabs on my account!