Are these violations? What can I do?
Date: Mon, 10/24/2011 - 09:09
Anyway, I get a phone call from my mother-in-law on the 11th. A man claiming to be "investigator Chase" called her. She said the first thing he asked her was when was the last time she saw me. She told him she wasn't giving out any information other than my phone number.
She called me to give me a heads up, and about 10 minutes later "Investigator Chase" calls me. I'm at work at the time, but let him go through his speech about me owing CashNet and that they've file check fraud charges in my state, blah blah blah. I tell him I can't talk at the moment, that I'm busy. I ask him to remove my mother-in-laws number from his call list since he obviously has my contact info. At this point, he was pleasant and hung up the phone.
About an hour later he calls me back. I'm still at work, so I let it go to voicemail. This is the message I received on 10/11/11:
"Uh, Mrs. (last name). This is William Chase. I've made several attempts to contact you concerning uhm, the few checks that we have here from the bank. For whatever reason you're neglecting to respond. What I'll do is go ahead and contact your county back, your clerk there is of course Donald Shield. What I'll go ahead and do is get a recommendation from of how to proceed concerning the checks as well as the charges for this case here. I'll be doing that within the next hour, if you want to discuss the matter before that time you can."
After that I heard nothing. Until today. Again "Investigator Chase" called me back. I put him on hold for a minute and he hung up before I got back. He immediately called my cell phone and I let it go to voicemail since once again, I'm at work.
Here's the voicemail that was left today (10/24/11):
"Mrs. (my name). This is Investigor Nathan Priest. I've made several attempts to contact you regarding arrangements you made with William Chase for uhm M&T bank. Apparently you have neglected those arrangements. We will be moving forward. Right now we have you under investigation for check fraud concerning these items. If you wish to discuss the situation before we send the documents back to the county and DA's office you can. Again ma'am, we are persuing an affidavit of fraud with the county, naming you as the principal in the charges of check fraud. You may refer to your case number for the charges when calling. Govern your actions accordingly."
I never made ANY arrangements with "William Chase". And to be honest, "Nathan Priest" sounds like "William Chase" but like he's holding his nose or something to make his voice nasal.
I just want to know what I can do here. I was almost positive its illegal for them to claim that their filing these charges and to leave detailed voicemails like that.
If anyone could help I'd appreciate it.
It is a scam. He is (might be)a collector, he is NOT an investi
It is a scam. He is (might be)a collector, he is NOT an investigator. Secondly, debts are civil, not criminal. They are not filing charges against you. Immediately file a complaint with your states AG's office and the FTC.
What state do you live in? There are a TON of violations here bu
What state do you live in? There are a TON of violations here but, I need to know your state before I can list them all :)
Soap's right. This is very likely a scam. If this is a third par
Soap's right. This is very likely a scam. If this is a third party collector, he's violated the FDCPA.
Nathan Preist and William Chase
Same exact thing happened to me!! I received a message on my home phone from an investigator William Chase. He said that if I do not call him back that he was going to proceed to press charges for check fraud. I immediately called him back. This was in regards to a payday loan that I had taken out in 2008 through cashcentral.com. This supposed "investigator" was able to give me my address at the time of the loan and my current address. He was even able to give me my social security number. Scary! He told me that in order for this to go away I could pay them, Morgan and Associates or SBM and associates, $1900. I told him that there was no way that my loan could have even reached that amount (original loan- $400). He put me on hold for a few seconds to find out if they will accept the original offer of $1292 made in 3 payments over the next 3 months or I could pay $1015 if I wire the money that day. I told him I need to investigate this situation. Turns out there is no SBM and Associates and that there was at one time a company by the name of Morgan and Associates, but there are no more. I let a week pass and then I called because I was going to file a police report about this scam. The number was disconnected, so I called the original number he called from and left a message. He called back the next day with a new number stating that if I don't pay he is going to press charges. I told him that I had already tracked down my loan and paid it and that I had also pressed charges of my own through the Olympia police. I waited a couple more weeks and called back and to my surprise William Chase's name magically changed to Nathan Priest! DO NOT PAY THESE PEOPLE ANY MONEY!!! Especially if they want you to pay via money wire or credit/debit card. These people had ALL OF MY INFORMATION, but this is a TOTAL SCAM!!! If you are unsure look up there company through the BBB website. If anyone has any questions regarding this matter or any other payday loan that has been overdue and a supposed investigator is trying to get you to pay it please feel free to contact me and I will help you get to the bottom of it!!
Thanx for reading this,
Katrina
As a collector myself, I see three violations right off the bat.
As a collector myself, I see three violations right off the bat. Firstly, you cannot be charged with a bad check for the check you gave a payday loan company. The FDCPA specifically states that payday loan companies may not criminally charge you for a bad check, because they knew ahead of time there was no cash in the account.
Second, it is illegal to identify yourself as anybody but who you are, or what your intentions are.
Thirdly, it is illegal to call you more than once unless you have reason to believe that a person now has new location information on you. They may not leave more than one message a day, and they may not call for the rest of the day once they have left a message. At least this is what my superiors have told me that the legal precedents indicate.
Find out who the company is, then sue them. They will lose by default. Even a company that is complying with the FDCPA will often lose. Remember that just because something is authorized by the FDCPA does not mean it is legal. If another law or precedent states something different than the FDCPA, whatever law is tougher is what is considered the existing law on the matter.
For this reason, I was never allowed to speak to a spouse without permission. Even though the FDCPA states that the spouse is to be considered the same as the debtor, we would lose if someone sued over third party disclosure.
In fact, they are terrified of being sued. If they get sued too many times, the clients will pull out and the company will shut down. It has happened recently.