P. Scott Lowery

this must be CACH month!! LOL

I am issues with that idiot too..........

if he is threating you to go to court... or threating you in anyway....thats a violation on his part...

Whatever you do put everything in writing with these guys... NEVER EVER talk to them on the phone regardless...

I wouldnt have told them I was leaving the country. Now, they will be looking for a quick default judgement against you.... Make sure you have ALL your mail forwarded to a location so that you can easily access it so that they cant get that default. Make sure all of your addys that can be delated on your reports are in fact delated...

BTW.... they will send you anything and say its validation... Unless they give u an actual copy of your statements and a copy of the the app. with your signature, then in my mind anything less is not validation.... JMHO....

BOL

They finally sent me a statement but the CC company changed names and did not tell me. So thinking it was a bogus bill I did not pay it. Now, years later, I understand that is was my bill. I guess I am more concerned if they will accept my settlement offer or not. I am leaving the country because its cheaper to live else where until i can get back on my feet. I do not have $1300 to give them.

How long should I wait to hear back from them? What should I do if they do not accept?

Thanks!!!

Well, you can send them a letter asking them to validate the 200% hike in the debt. Ask them just how they came up with that particular amount. If they say it is interest, then you can demand to see the contract that you signed agreeing to that, otherwise, they can't charge you that.


Years later? How many years? Have you checked the SOL?

It has only been 2 years (feels like a long time to me). They said it was "research fees". I want this situation to go away but I do not want to pay more then I owe. This is driving me crazy. I was doing great up until now.

fdxguynzona is right, validation consists of supporting documentation from the original creditor.

Research fees? So basically they are charging you to validate the debt? I am not 100% sure, but that may be a violation. Even if it isn't a violation, they can't charge you for anything at all unless you agreed to it via a signed contract.

It's actually 325%, you should ask for a breakdown on that. Seriously why in gods name would it cost that much to get the supporting documents? Unless it was a fee for a elaborate forgery that they had to go outside their company to get from a old convict, err friend. Yeah, maybe thats it forgers fee, I'm mean umm, nevermind.

If the "Validation letter" was just a printout, or a printout on their letterhead, this is not validation at all. Proper validation is documents from the original creditor such as statements, contracts, user agreements, etc.

You should write a letter stating that what they sent was not proper validation and that they can charge no fee of any kind as you did not sign anything agreeing to such fees.

My first inclination was to write "This letter does not constitute proper validation, it was only useful for one thing and it was much too scratchy, I much prefer toilet tissue." But I suppose we all should be more professional then the 'professionals'. :D

Well bast, if you prefer the TP then just mark it return to sender and I'm sure they can use it. :p

I must say I some of your comments are amusing! Which is good cause I need a laugh. Anyway, I talked to them again last night and said that from no on all contact will be via USPS and that I had sent out a letter explaining just that.

Boy did they have a cow! I was transferred to 2 people and then to a conference call with a "manager". They said that they would now be forced to call my place of employment and inform them of the intent to sue.

Is that legal? (sounds odd to me)

Then I hung up the phone and they called 5 times (according to my caller ID) and did not leave a message. So at the crack of dawn today they called and I answered (by mistake it was early ;-) was told to expect a person to visit my place of employment today.

Can they do that? I am confused again.

What state are you in? Find out if it is one party or two party...and record the calls. They have just violated....several times.

No. They can't call your work and tell them anything, much less that they intend to sue...and it is against the law for them to even use such a threat unless they plan to go through with it, and since filing papers and serving a summons takes longer then on the same day they called you (another violation for calling at the crack of dawn) I would say that is a violation as well because they can't actually go through with that threat.

Use the threats against them. Thank them for violating your rights as now you can sue them and that you fully intend to do so if they keep up this unlawful behavior. Be firm. They are like sharks, at the fist scent of blood they go into a feeding frenzy.

Tell them not to, and that your place of employment does not allow personal calls or visitors. And no they sure as heck cannot call your place of employment to tell anyone there that they are going to sue you, you were just given grounds for a fdcpa lawsuit. The only person that they can discuss your debt with is you, an party authorized by you (such as legal council), their own legal council (if they intend to sue), another debt collection agency (if they are going to sell your account/transfer it to another branch of the same company) also since they threatened to sue you they now have 30 days to do so or they will be in violation of FDCPA yet again. Also the 5 phone calls were each violations of the FDCPA as you had given them a request for cease communication. Don't let them push you around and try to bully you.

lol, bast and I posted at almost the exact same time stating more or less the same thing. lol

JCEMT:

If I was going to stamp it return to sender...I would do so...with the one I already 'used.' just to get my point across. :lol:

Great minds think alike?

Now that's a stamp! Not to be gross, well yeah to be gross: Brown marked instead of postmarked.

oh yeah

Heh

Here is the interesting part. They are aware that I am not allowed to have visitors at work nor can I receive calls. I did it in writing almost 4 months ago.

So how is that fdcpa protect us if no one listens to it?

Seems like this law was a waste of time and money creating since it is not taken seriously by the agencies.

Well, that's where the civil provisions of the fdcpa come into play at. If a collection agency violates the FDCPA you can file a civil suit for up to $1000 dollars. If you want to maximize your damage to them you may want to speak to a attorney about filing separate suits for each violation so that you may be able to in effect gain $1000 per violation. They will end up paying you more money than you owe them. Not sure if you can file the suits separately but you can always ask.

Also make sure you include court costs and attorney fees in your suit(s).

interesting! I will have to get my documentation together and see what I can do. Thanks for all of your help you all are wonderful!! :-)

JC is absolutely right! It is up to you to make sure that the CA pays for violating yours rights...that is why the law was made that way, it gives you the right to sue the pants off that scummy CA.

As I said, I would turn the tables on them. Let them know that you are fully aware of your rights and that they have many violations that you are willing to sue them over. Then do it, drag their sorry butts to court. I bet you anything they will fold and back down...they won't want to go in front of a judge and explain why they trampled all over your rights and why they used coercion and threats illegally.

just one more note.... he is slim.... Collect america creates their own ppw.... They have a side company that is called BankCard Services... Just to throw people off.. Because there is a legit company called Card services, which handles credit card payments for legit cc..

Anyway, their "validation" was absolutely funny.. it was obvious they were using the cut and paste technique... They had addresses under my name that I never lived at. Muchless the same state..

So, if they send you something what they say is validation...look at the records closey....

Collect America is nothings but frauds.... and they love to pull the wool over peoples eyes... if they can

BOL