Debt Collection Fraud.

someone more experienced with this will be around but it seems that since so many violations occured that you could sue.

She actually works for Simms and Associates, they are giving you the run around. Stop talking to them on the phone, stop giving them your information, demand everything in writing, and if they can't give it to you forget about them. Do you actually expect them to tell you the truth?

Actually I received an email from Simms General Counsel. Cause he was confused and wanted to settle my complaint. After all this he found that she does in fact works for another company they contract with on some accounts but my account is not tied to that arrangement and she in fact "errd" as he put it.

He gave me the contact info for her company and supervisor. That guy contacted me right away. But I told him the same thing I told her. All correspondence needs to be in writing from now on and they are not allowed to contact me by phone at all. Also, that I filed complaints with the FTC and BBB for their company now instead.

I'd be telling him about the recordings. Maybe play him some clips of the nastier parts. Then asking him how much it'd be worth to make it go away.....

You have recordings and emails that paint a coherent picture of willful abuse. You have these people cold. It's up to you whether you settle with these idiots on terms of your choosing, or sue. Either way, it looks like a slam dunk from here.

Keep us posted, won't you?

yes, she did violate the FDCPA in more than one way.

1--they cannot lie about who they are or who their comnpany is.
2--they cannot threaten you with garnishment "unless you pay today", because garnishment cannot take place without them suing you and winning in court. In short they cannot threaten any action that they cannot possibly take, and saying that they will garnish your wages after today is a load of BS.
3--they cannot refuse to give you their company's contact information--that shows that they are trying to keep you from using your rights that are guaranteed by federal law.

If I were you, I would visit [URL="http://www.naca.net/"]www.naca.net[/URL] and search for a debt 1 in your area. Play the tape for that attorney and inform them that you wish to file FDCPA lawsuit against this moron. Most attorneys will take this case on a contingency basis, because you will in fact be the plaintiff and the lawyer's fees will be paid by the debt collector when you win your case.

Because of the company I work for I am entitled to free legal counsel/advisement. Should I go through that avenue first to see if the case is worth going to court for?

Upon surfing the internet for other answers I came upon the following websites:

http://www.pennlawyer.com/fdcpa.htm

and

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/eBooks/PoorMansClassActionLawsuit.shtml

From what I can tell by reading these sites and the other things I have learned the collector violated the FDCPA (which I already knew) and that I can sue (as I was told above) and these are the violations:

1) Misrepresentation by the collector about themselves/their company. (she did this on multiple occasions and I can sue per occurance).
2) Did not validate the debt before contacting me.
3) Reported the debt to the credit bureaus before validating the debt.
4) Threatened/Harassed me by phone at my office.
5) Called my place of employment again after knowing those calls were not permitted.
5) Threatened to garnish my wages - unless I paid immediately.
6) Threatened to call my employer directly to set up garnishment of my wages - unless I paid immediately.
7) Threatened to disclose this information to a third party - unless I paid immediately.
8) Refused to provide me with mailing infomation of their company upon my request stating: ???The bottom line is you don???t need any mailing information because we don???t need any correspondence from you via mail.You???re not going to send anything through the mail. I???m going to send a letter out to you today. Everything is going to be in the letter. There is nothing US mail coming in or going out besides this letter I???m gonna send you. You understand that????

If anyone else knows of any other violations, please let me know. I am still searching for more.

hi Kitty--

Some corrections need to be made to your list.

first, you cannot sue "per occurance" for FDCPA violations, no matter what they are. FDCPA allows for a maximum of $1000 in statutory damages, no matter if they broke the FDCPA once or a hundred times. The only way around that would be to sue them multiple times, and I would recommend against doing that. Now, that doesnt mean you cannot sue them for the anguish they put you through, the harassment, and so on, as well as any real damages they may have caused. It only means that the maximum statutory penalty is $1000.

Second, it is not a violation of the FDCPA for them to:
1--report to the credit bureaus before validating the debt
2--contact you before they validate the debt

Those are simply not violations. They are entitled to report on your credit report as soon as they are assigned the debt, or as soon as they become the owner of it. They also do not need to validate the debt unless you specifically ask for validation in writing. Think about that--you would never know they were trying to collect a debt in order to ask for validation unless they first contact you in some manner, right? The law gives you 30 days from their initial contact in which to request validation. You need to send these debt collectors a written DV request by certified mail.

What distinguishes ownership? I have always wanted to completely understand that part. JDB's buy debt for pennies on the dollar but when we DV we ask them to provide every document evidencing the alledged debt as proof they have the right to collect and most of the time as we all know they cannot validate because they actually only have a few lines on a computer screen about you. When you pay for something you think its yours but in the world of collections the CA can almost never prove it.

Thanks sky. I assume the info on the other website must be incorrect then. Cause they said per occurrence. Maybe they mis-worded what they meant.

I was unable to DV them properly because she gave me the wrong company name and refused to give me an address or number. It's been a huge mess. I ended up DV'ing the wrong company because of her misrepresentation.

However, I spoke to the owner of Assigned Credit Solution and resent the DV letter to them now via certified mail with receipt. He assured me they have put my name on a DO NOT CONTACT list and wants to resolve the issues.

Quote:

When I received my last call from Assigned Credit Solutions - the Debt Collector said the only 2 types of payments I could make to them would be either a post dated check or my debt card information (I sure as heck would not give those clowns either type of payment). What types of payments should you make (if they are able to validate)? Also, what types of payments are they NOT allowed to request/require from you?

Also, once you DV them and you have confirmation they have received the DV letter - is there a time limitation on how quickly they need to have that info back to you?

I know I have 30 days to DV them from the time of initial contact - but do they have any time constraints?

i think only texas has a limit of 30 days to respond.if they can't validate then they won't respond.just sell it to another place,and it starts all over.