Imperial Recovery

Maybe you should call wells fargo and confirm they placed the account there. wells can be quite aggressive and they will sue.

As Soaplady advised, yes, call Well Fargo and confirm they placed the account with Imperial before you pay them anything. Also, did Imperial send you anything in writing, if they contacted you by telephone, they are required to send you a writen notice of the following, and I seriously doubt they did this after your telephone call:
?? 809. Validation of debts
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3](a) Within five days after the initial communication with a [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing???
[SIZE=3](1) the amount of the debt; [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3](2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed; [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3](3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector; [/SIZE]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3](4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt col[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]lector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt col[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]lector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]by the debt collector; and
[SIZE=3](5) a statement that, upon the consumer???s written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor. [/SIZE]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3](b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original credi[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]tor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]of such verification or judgment, or name and address of [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector. Collection activities and communications that do not otherwise violate this title may continue during the 30-day period referred to in subsection (a) unless the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]consumer has notified the debt collector in writing that the [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][SIZE=3]debt, or any portion of the debt, is disputed or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor. Any collection activities and communication during the 30-day period may not overshadow or be inconsistent with the disclosure of the consumer???s right to dispute the debt or request the name and address of the original creditor.
[SIZE=3](c) The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3](d) A communication in the form of a formal pleading in a civil action shall not be treated as an initial communication for purposes of subsection (a).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3](e) The sending or delivery of any form or notice which does not relate to the collection of a debt and is expressly required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, title V of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, or any provision of Federal or State law relating to notice of data security breach or privacy, or any regulation prescribed under any such provision of law, shall not be treated as an initial communication in connection with debt collection for purposes of this section.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=3]And yes, Wells Fargo is very aggressive, so make sure you owe the money, and the make sure you owe the amount they say you do. Always demand proof and an itemization of what you owe, even if you know them money. Soaplady always seems to says, oh, yeah, call them or they will sue you. Best of luck to you.[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][/FONT]

Not sure if it was meant this way but I am going to drop in and comment on something....

Recently, we are seeing a bit of commenting against some of the moderators here. I am going to ask that if anyone has something to say to a moderator about the way that moderator conducts themselves on the forums, that you take it private and discuss the issue in PMs. I am getting, to be honest, really tired of seeing people insult certain mods here--we do not get paid to moderate this forum. We are volunteers. And it takes a fair amount of effort and time from each of us to run this place. Soaplady has contributed a ton of support and advice to the members here. She definitely deserves the respect of a private conversation if someone has a problem with her actions. If your goal is to debate or discuss the advice given or the topic of the thread, thats fine, but more and more we are seeing people making specific comments about certain moderators. This is not going to be allowed to continue here. PMs exist for this purpose. Please use them accordingly.

As I have said before and will say again, my experience comes from 10 years inside a collection agency. First hand experience how a major collection agency operates...we handled all the major credit cards and student loans. I WILL NOT sugar coat the facts. I am not pro collection agency....but I am not pro debtor either. I come from a third party type agency....we were not a junk debt buyer. If a CA does their job properly and you havent paid a bill and are run off crying "harassment" or "they are treating me unethically", I am sorry , but I have no sympathy for you. You got into debt and the CA is simply doing their job....collectors jobs are to collect a debt...they have to meet the demands of their agency and of their client. However if they violate the FDCPA, then I get pissed. There is no reason to break the law to collect a debt. It is called negotiation. Alas there will always be violators out there...on both sides. Even I had complaints filed against me.....I remember one case where the debtor made ridiculous claims as to what I had said. Luckily at the time we were recording calls.....I remember the mediation conference when the tape was played. The debtor was made to look like the horses behind and his attorney was pissed. Our agency got a letter of appolgy from the attorney

Debt should never be paid to anyone unless you have determined that they have assigned collection authority from the party who owns the debt, or they in fact are the owner of the debt.

That is one purpose of a debt validation (DV) letter. It at least requires the debt collector to state, in writing, that they have verified the debt with the party who owns it. Did this party ever send you a collection notice, and thus advise you of your DV rights? If they did not do so, then they are most likely in violation of FDCPA 809(a) for not having done so within 5-days of any intitial communication with you.

Do you know who currently owns the debt? That is something that quite often is not included in your CR, as ownership of debt is not required in order to collect on it. I would start with the OC, and verify from them that they have, in fact, assigned collection authority to this party, or have sold the debt to them. If the OC states that they still own the debt and have not assigned any collection authority to this party, then my next step would be the filing of a police report.