winning regarding FCRA/FDCPA violations?

anyone?

Well, I didn't put my situation in because it never went in front of a judge; however, we did file suit papers on them and they settled before we went to court.

But the other side to that story is: the CA I did use violated the agreement and now they've closed their doors so I have no way of going after them again.

thats a shame Ron ... can you say how much they settled for, and what your original suit was? Did they want to settle out of court to avoid court costs, or did they just not want a legal judgement against them?

I have dealt with 6 agencies and they have always settled out of court. 2 required an attorney. Taping calls always wins.

How do you tap thier calls? Is it something you buy and hook up to your phone? Curious.

I have a very old answering machine that allows me to tape incoming calls. But there is a taping thingy that you can buy at radio shack.

I have a VERY aggressive attorney that filed against UNIFUND.

Long story short...UNIFUND never responded to the Interrogatories/Discovery/Validation. Instead, they had their case against me dismissed w/o prejudice.

My attorney filed the federal charges against UNIFUND. UNIFUND asked to settle out of court. I refused.

UNIFUND sent an Offer of Judgement to my attorney. Before my attorney could answer them, UNIFUND asked that I forget about the Offer of Judgement and they would just close my account, and we'd call it even. I refused.

My attorney filed the Offer of Judgement with the courts, as per the requirement to do so, by law.

I think I'll hang my copy of the Judgement against UNIFUND, on my wall. LOL!...JUDGEMENT ENTRY...It is so ordered...Case Closed.

Besides what they paid for my old account (that I never got to find out)... they've paid hundred's of dollars in court fees for themselves. Now, they can add on the $1,000 for their FDCPA violation, my hundreds of dollars in court fees, plus the fairly hefty fees of my attorney. LOL! They should be proud, eh?

My attorney said that if they drag their feet on cuttin' the check, he'll push 'em just a little bit further. LOL! He LOVES his job. I hope to meet him, someday.

I had a settlement out of court.,.they were hot to not want to go in front of the judge. :)

Mine is pretty much the same story. They settled for the amounts of the debts they were collecting on (there were 3 of them) plus over $2,000 in attorney fees/court costs.

I really didn't do it for the money though (I know that sounds so cliched). I really did it to prove to that CA they couldn't just treat people however they please with no penalties. I was going through such a rough time with being unemployed for so long and health problem, I just felt I had to stand up for myself and get some of my self-respect back.

Of course that CA didn't learn, I kept reading post-after-post on this website regarding them and the same shenanigans long after I was through with them. An attorney's office I contacted regarding them, after they had violated our agreement, told me they had filed over 60 cases of FDCPA violations against them in 2008.

I guess that's part of the reason why they finally had to close their doors.

well I am asking because I hired an attorney to sue Palisades, they were supposed to respond by the beginning of January. They failed to respond so my attorney now is working on a "Default Motion" to file against them. I have asked and pestered my attorney about so many things so far that I hate to keep asking them questions, so does anyone here know what exactly this all means?

It means it looks like you are in for a default judgment against THEM! You win. :)

Hay..maybe you can hire a CA to collect from them.... :lol:

Default Judgment!

Yeah, the CA's really love those. Somehow, I'm sure they'll try to worm out of it.

Now make sure you set up and auto-dialer to start calling them 10 times and hour telling them contact you regarding a very urgent matter!

LOL!! :lol: :lol:

Call them at 10 am and tell them if they don't pay you by 12 noon you will send the sheriff out there to arrest them..or better yet, you will be 'downloading' them. :):)

So does it mean that my attorney's original complaint is granted without them being able to refute it? Why would they do that? Is it because they knew that they were in the wrong and had no argument so they just washed their hands of it? How can they be forced to pay? WHEN will they be forced to pay?

Your attorney should be able to help you with that...bank levi comes to mind for one.....

I am a bit surprised they are ignoring it completely..usually when you file they see you are serious and suddenly the tune changes.

that is what I thought when I made the decision to sue. For me it was the principal of the thing, this was on a debt from 6 years ago that I paid in full 2 years ago, I didn't know anything about settling or bargaining debts down, and this has been a big learning experience. They are reporting me as "settled" rather than "paid in full" and it is screwing up my credit enough that it has been keeping me from being able to refinance my mortgage due to my FICO being JUST a bit too low. I emailed my attorney Friday and they've not responded, probably because they are sick of my questions!

Yeah, since the financial penalties for fdcpa violations are currently so negligible, that is usually the only reason someone does sue if a CA violates it: for the principal. The FDCPA really needs to have more "bite" put into it so CA's will stop considering it as "the cost of doing business", and allowing their employees to behave like strong-arm thugs.

Usually, once they are served with your papers though, they do start to take you seriously. Wonder why they completely chose to ignore you?

And don't get me started on attorney's that treat their clients poorly. smo65d11, the attorney you hired to represent you works for you and you are their customer. Don't let them treat you poorly.

I'm going through the same experience with the attorney that represented me against LMP in 2007. An employee in their office started acting like an hysterical maniac when I asked her if there was someone other than her I could talk to since she didn't seem to understand a simple question I was asking regarding the settlement the attorney negotiated from 2007; she started yelling at me and slammed the phone down on me. She kept repeating for me to send a DV/C&D letter to the new CA after I told her I already did this and that wasn't why I was contacting her office.

I finally had to e-mail the attorney directly and he was rude and smarmy in his e-mail response back to me. He told me I was the problem and he stands behind his staff. I only wish I had recorded that original call with that woman from his office. If she keeps behaving like that to his clients, he will be standing behind her in the unemployment line because she is going to put him out of business.

I finally sought out a brand new attorney and filed a complaint against the one from 2007 with the Florida Bar.

I do not owe any debt.
A bank is suing me for the debt by id theft. I am a victim of an id theft.

In the state supreme court, FDVPA could be appliecd?

I want to fight the collector the tha state court.cs

I finally gave in an called, "my" attorney was not there but I spoke to the senior partner there. He knew who I was and what my case was about, I asked what the time fram was to go after them, would it be another few months? He assured me that they would be filing a motion in the next couple of weeks, they were working on it now. I explained that I was trying to refinance my house and that I couldn't until this was off my credit, so I am hoping that something will happen sooner rather than later.

Has anyone out there ever "won" in this sort of situation?

well I received a call from my attorney, and basically I won! They did not respond to the lawsuit, so something was filed last week and they finally responded and offered to settle. Of course the attorney will be paid 5x what I will receive, but it doesn't matter to me, I WON! THEY LOST! Yay me!

WooHoo Smo!!

to say I am THRILLED is an understatement!

Way to go!

I just spoke with an attorney yesterday regarding going after two different CA's for FDCPA, FCRA, and FCCPA (Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act) violations.

I said I've had it with CA's doing whatever the hell they want and getting away with it, and I meant it. As I said, it's definiely only for the principal as I definitely will not get rich from it by any means. I just want to let these CA's know I'm not going to just sit quietly and take whatever they feel they can get away with doing.

it's been 2 1/2 weeks and my attorney has been waiting for something called "release of all claims" from Palisades attorney. Apparently the attorney was "out of the office" for the past 2 weeks and will "try" and get to it today. I told my attorney that if I did not receive the "release of all claims" to sign and return TODAY, then I was NOT accepting the settlement and we would move forward with the lawsuit. I am beyond pissed and frustrated that they are continuing to drag this out ... it is inevitible that they will have to pay up and remove themselves from my credit reports. Why not just get it over with? We'll see what happens by the end of the business day today.

here is what the "release of all claims" says ...

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
AND RELEASE
WHEREAS, there is now pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana an action captioned (me!) v. Palisades Collections Case No. (blah blah) in which (me!) alleges that Palisades Collections is liable for, among other things, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the ???Lawsuit???);
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Parties to resolve all disputes, asserted or unasserted, arising out of, or in any way related to any acts, failures to act, omissions, misrepresentations, facts, events, transactions, occurrences or other matters set forth, alleged, embraced by, or otherwise referred to at any time in the Lawsuit;
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the Recitals and mutual promises contained herein, and for other good and valuable consideration hereby deemed received, the Parties agree as follows:

TERMS OF AGREEMENT
1. Palisades Collections shall pay a sum total of $3,000 to (me) and her attorneys, (my lawyer) $500 under the FDCPA, $2,500 in attorneys??? fees and court costs. Palisades Collections also agrees to issue an instruction to all credit reporting agencies to whom it reports to delete the subject trade line. (me) shall promptly cause the case to be dismissed with prejudice and with no further action to be taken by Defendant.

2. Except for the rights and obligations created by this Agreement, Plaintiff for himself, his heirs, executors, administrators, and successors and assigns, hereby releases and forever discharges Palisades Collections, its agents, servants, officers, directors, employees, shareholders, from any and all claims, demands, damages, actions, causes of action or suits of any kind or nature, known or unknown, now existing which are based directly or indirectly upon facts, events, transactions or occurrences related to, alleged, embraced by or otherwise referred to at any time in the Lawsuit.

3. The Parties hereto further agree that this Agreement has been fully read and understood by them, and that each of them has received independent legal advice from his or its respective attorney(s) as to the effect and import of its provisions. The Parties further agree that this Agreement is being entered into for the express purpose and intention of making and entering into a full and final compromise, adjustment and settlement of all claims which were or could have been asserted in the Lawsuit, whether or not referred to therein.

4. The Parties agree that this Agreement constitutes a good faith settlement of the Lawsuit and acknowledge that it is entered into freely and voluntarily.

5. This Agreement constitutes the sole and entire agreement between Plaintiff and Defendant, and supersedes all prior agreements, negotiations, and discussions between the Parties, with respect to the subject matter covered hereby.

6. This Agreement may be executed in counterparts.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Agreement is executed as of the date and year first above indicated.

WOW...no Non-Disclosure clause?

nope, I specifically asked my attorney

"does this say anywhere that I can't talk about the case? I am a member of several websites where I have been posting about this matter."

this morning, and he said

"This release does not."

so I figured I'd go ahead and post it for you guys to see.

well after many moons of waiting, my attorney finally received in the Certified USPS the check and signed agreement from the Palisades attorney on Monday 3/9/09. It wasn't delivered by the mail clerk until today, 3/11/09, which doesn't make sense to me, but the attorney said it is a crappy job and he seems to accept that type of employee there. Not me, they'd be long gone if it was my company! TWO days to deliver a certified letter from the mail room to an office in the same building? Hmmmppphhhhffff! Anyway he is going to deposit the check into their account, and when it clears, will cut me a check for my funds. I'll post again when that shows up.

Good going! That's the way to push the issue on the CA's...

We are about to start another one over here....a certain CA (that I will not name because I found out that they view this website) has bugged us for months on end now. They call and call and call, and send settlement offers all the time in the mail. Funny thing---I disputed this debt with them within the first two weeks after initial communication. For this whole time, they told me one of two stories:

1--you never disputed it, because I am looking at your whole file right here and it would say so if you did...

2--ah, yes, I see where you disputed it, but you did so after the 30 day period allowed by law, so we dont have to provide you with validation and we dont have to stop collection efforts...

Of course, I have been taping the phone calls because my state is one-party. So, a couple weeks back, I noticed that the calls had started up again, several times a day. Just so happens that as I was sitting down for dinner they called....so I went into my office and hit the record button. I got the whole 40-minutes of it on tape. I received threat after threat....for a debt that was supposedly started by my wife before we were married. Well, it was funny to hear the collector threaten to have me arrested, threaten to "issue a judgment against you right now since youre refusing to pay", and so on. The guy even tried to tell me that they would simply come after my paycheck next week, since I live in a community property state. Of course, he needs a court order for that, so he's full of it there. Then again, if the debt originated before we were married then community property doesnt apply and they cannot touch my wages anyways. The guy was so full of hot air that I finally demanded to speak to someone that had better than third grade education. On comes a "manager"....and after this guy repeatedly assured me that I didnt dispute it within the 30 days, I demanded that he review the file with me right then and there. I have even received letters from this CA saying "we got your dispute, please help us resolve this quick as possible by sending us any documents you have...." so I KNEW they got my dispute in time. And lo and behold, this guy is reading through my file, and actually says, "Oh, damn.....it looks like you DID dispute this in time after all...."

So, then I ask him, does every collector have access to that same information when they call me? He said "yes, its all on the screen in your file that comes up when the system dials your number." So, now I had it on tape all these times when these other collectors said "no, you didnt dispute anything, now pay up deadbeat". And THEN, I have it in tape where he's saying "yeah, they all saw that when they were lying to you..." Imagine what a judge is gonna think when he hears those words from their own collections manager.....

At this point, this same CA now holds two supposed debts, both of which were opened around the same time, both of which we have formally disputed, and both of which they still continue to try to collect on. They actually bought the debts according to them. So, my plan is simple. They have broken laws all over the place, from more than a dozen separate violations of FDCPA to entries on all three credit reports that all have inaccurate info listed. I am going to detail every violation for them in the next letter, and then I am going to offer them a one-time settlement offer....they can pay for 75% of all the FDCPA and FCRA penalties, then they can close the matter permanently on both debts and permanently remove both entries from all credit reports. They will have to agree to never try to collect on the debts with us again, and they will also have to agree to never sell or otherwise transfer the debts to anyone else. In short, they will make these two suoopsed debts disappear. If they do not choose to do so, I will file a separate lawsuit for each FDCPA violation, and a lawsuit for the FCRA violations. The separate suits is the only way to be able to collect penalties from them for each FDCPA violation, so thats what I will do. Imagine the court costs alone for no less than 12 lawsuits???? I think when I send the letter, I will include a snippet of the last recording, where their manager clearly admits that their collectors have been lying to me and that he can see quite clearly that I did dispute it in time.

The worst part of this whole mess is the fact that the debts were opened with the wrong name....I actually have another one of their "managers" on a recording saying "look pal, it doesnt matter if the name on the account doesnt match yours, you WILL pay up if I have to go to your house and take it from your hand myself, I promise you that..." Imagine how stupid thats gonna make them look in front of a judge!!!

I wish I had the patience to spend 40 minutes on the phone with these idiots. I've tried playing "least sophisticated consumer" but I can usually only make it about 5 minutes before I bust out laughing... :twisted:

Skydiver -When you file lawsuits for FCRA violations, do they all have to be filed seperately, like FDCPA violations?

I've won several times w/help of EdCombs, a great consumer rights attorney in Chicago.

1st time was against attorney office trying to collect on a payday loan gone bad. I lost my job before the $500 loan was paid off. I explained situation to payday loan store & paid $200 over the course of 2-3 months. They wanted payment if full so turned it over to attorney who refused to give me credit on what I paid. Turns out their collection letter violated many FDCPA laws - EdCombs won me $500.

2nd time against MCC & NCO - won $2,500. They sent a letter stating they had already received a judgment on what they thought I owed, but they were willing to give me a break if I agreed to pay in full within 2 months. They had not won any judgment, so they lied & tried to use a scare tactic to get me to pay.

Just to let you all know that I received my $500 check in the mail today! Of course instead of paying on my credit cards, I am having to pay some fees towards my husbands immigration status ... I am SO glad to have that money available but am banging my head that it is always "1 step forward, 1 (or 2!) steps back"!

I checked my credit reports today though and Palisades is still showing on them. Should I wait before contacting my attorney about that again? It has been a couple of weeks since they cut the check. Shouldn't they have fixed everything with the credit bureaus at the same time???

congrats! i regret never going after collectors lol. i remember one payday loan company harrassed me (for a loan that turns out is not legal!) while i was in bankruptcy protection. my attorney urged me to go after them but sadly i said no.

smo65d, I wouldn't wait to contact attorney. You know Palisades. They don't do anything with out a legal cattle prod. I filed a motion to vacate judgement (remember me) on my Palisades case and the judge had given the attorney for plaintiff 2 days to file dismissal (I don't understand what the dismissal is all about because default judgement was already entered) of the case with the court. Well, the clerk told me that the attorney said he was going to get that taken care of (just like they kept telling me over the phone) and wala...4 days later....still nothing done. The clerk told me that the judge said that if they did not file dismissal with the court within 2 days from last Friday then he was going to set the case for hearing. I now have to wait until Thursday before I know anything because the judge won't be back until then. The attorney that you helped me find is waiting for the result of my motion before he will take on my case.

There is something very wrong with Palisades! What a pain they are. Are they just dumb? Get 'em! Don't think that if you wait they will do anything.

well I caved in and emailed my attorney last night, there was an email waiting for me this morning saying he was out of town until Monday 3/23, and that he would "check on it" when he was back in the office.

Anyone have any ideas about what I should do? Wait? Or should I copy the settlement agreement and mail it in to the credit bureaus?

I decided to call Palisades myself, I am over this whole experience. And I have to say that it was almost funny. It took me 7 (yes, seven) tries to finally get through. The phone would ring, I would dial through the prompts, sometimes get cut off right away, other times sat on hold waiting for "Peter Fish" for 5-15 minutes before being cut off. Finally the last time, someone answered who told me that he was not in "this" office, that I had to call a different number, that he works in another location. Of course it was a long distance number, not a toll free. But I bit the bullet and called anyway. The number is 201-567-5648 by the way if anyone wanted another Palisades number.

Phone directory to dial by name, so I typed in his name, got his voice mail. It said something like "This is Peter Fish, as of March 18, 2009 (coincidentally today!) I am no longer associated with Palisades (or Asta, I don't quite remember), dial 0 and speak to Shavonda who will direct you to the right person to help you." So I do that, and get her voice mail, so I think to myself "right .... I am not going to leave a message, I wonder if someone else can help me." Ha ha ha. right.

Anyway I tell the story to the very nice receptionist Denise who tells me that she will have a supervisor call me. An hour later "Jason" calls me and after re-explaining myself AGAIN (and resisting the urge to say "listen you jerk, YOUR company LOST in court, I WON, and you have to do what the settlement agreement says!"), he says he would get back to me "sometime". I asked what "sometime" means, and he says that I am NOT going to "pin him down" to promising an hour to call back ... I never asked for an hour! I just wanted an idea of whether it would be today, tomorrow, next week, 3 weeks ... not unreasonable in my opinion, especially after having to wait wait wait already! And funilly enough, he is not a supervisor, he said he would have to "verify my story" with the elusive "upper management" because "they don't do what I say they agreed to" ... Lordy Lordy, when will this be over?

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what would happen if they refuse to remove the tradeline from my credit reports as agreed in the settlement agreement? I mean, they were able to get off of the "paid in full" letter saying it was a "mistake", so could they come back and say that Peter Fish was not authorized to make the agreement, and just have it ignored? Or can the court force them? And would they be forced to pay MORE to me and my attorney?

Sis/I Poured, was the attorney you were dealing with at Palisades Peter Fish, or someone else? It would be funny if it was the same guy, and you won as well!

No. Not Peter Fish but rather an attorney that of course no longer is associated with law office. In my motion to vacated default judgement in this case, the law office working for Palisades filed a substituion of councel. I'm still waiting for them to file something else with the court. I wish I knew exactly what it was that they are supposed to file to fix this case. The clerk just told me that the judge said he was going to set a hearing if the law office didn't have the case dismissed within 2 days. The law office told the clerk that they were going to dismiss the case but still, 5 days later...nothing. I don't really understand how this case can still be "dismissed". Judgement was already entered. Can it still be dismissed?

smo65d11, you post alot of really good questions but I'm not sure either what you should do next. If they don't fix the CR isn't that another violation of the FCRA? Take notes and keep track of all communications with Palisades still. Maybe send them certified letter. Talking to them over the phone seems to do no (never does) good.

well, it does do some good ... it gets my blood pumping, so I don't have to go for a run after work :)

I called today to try and get a status from "jason". The person who answered the phone in the "legal department" said that he did not know of a Jason on that floor, but that maybe he could help me? So I said sure, lets give it a shot. I explained what was happening, that Peter Fish had signed the agreement saying that the Palisades tradeline would be removed from my credit report. I could hear him typing on a computer as I was talking, so I figured he wasn't listening to me, when he said "okay, I have sent this through to be removed from your credit reports, it should be off this weekend." Easy as that! Of course I won't believe it until I see it, but at least I have a bit of hope now!

Well good luck, how it works out. just have his number on speed dial for monday morning. LOL

I was thinking of calling him 12:01 Monday morning :P

Well now you need to extend the same courtesy that they extend us. Call at 8:01. LOL And then again at 9:01, and so on. LOL

I plan on it ... I get into my office at 8:30 normally, but my Monday alarm is already set to get up early so I can come in early, at about 7:30, so that I can run all of my credit bureau reports and see exactly what is showing. And then I'll be back on the phone!

I checked my credit reports yesterday 3/23, Palisades was still showing on my 2 reports (Equifax had deleted the old tradeline 2 years ago with the PIF letter). So I called Steve Braun who I had spoken to last week and was now using Peter Fish's extension, left him a message to call me, that it wasn't done as he had promised, but I received no response yesterday.

I checked again this morning 3/24, Palisades is still showing on my credit reports, (no surprise there), so I called again, got his voice mail again, left the same message with the addition that I guess I would have to contact my attorney about Palisades refusing to honor the settlement agreement.

It has been a month since both Peter Fish and I signed the release, and more than 3 weeks since he sent the check. I sent an email to my attorney this morning explaining what was going on and what I had done, he was on vacation last week which is why I had tried to deal with it myself. So we'll see what my attorney is able to do about this.

I will seriously dance a jig when this is all over!

Go get 'em And dont stop till you feel the last beat of their cold, black hearts. LOL

Is there a stipulation in the order that says that they need to comply by a certain date? What if they don't comply and fix the report? Does the attorney have to file suit again?

Received an email back from my attorney saying he would give them a try ... we'll see what happens. :(

Keep us posted. I can't wait to find out what it takes to get it done.