CA Question - they contacted at my work

Good job. --Never-- give them any bank information, or you'll be sorry. Send them a letter, return receipt, demanding validation of the debt, not that they simply have your name and address. Also. in the letter, state that you will only be dealing with them inwriting, and you are not allowed to take calls at work. Also state that all of this is your right under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and any violations will be reported to the State Attorney General, the FTC, and will result in litigation by you.

Thanks, mwtx. Being new at this, I already made a huge mistake with the first CA by giving them my bank information and then paying in full with retirement funds the inflated balance that had 8 months of overlimit and late fees added. They called me at work and caught me off balance before I had the presence of mind to try and negotiate a better settlement.

My next question: If this current CA validates the debt within the time period, what should I do next? After paying the first CA in full, I have no more spare cash to make a significant payment to CA 2. The woman that called me at first was kind and hospitable, but when I explained to her that I couldn't pay the settlement amount, she got the rude and abusive guy to call me and try to strong arm me for full payment.

Interestingly enough, CA 3 has not contacted me at all since I wrote them a letter explaining that I could not pay at this time, and I'm not sure what to do next about them (theirs is the oldest of my three charge offs, all of which are really recent).

Read up on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("fdcpa") and the kind of letter to send pursuant to the Act; it may be called "Demand for Verification" or "Demand for Validation". There's lots of stuff already written about that on this DebtConsolidationCare website.

They have five days from the date of that phone call to send you a written disclosure of your rights under the FDCPA (on the assumption that there was no prior letter) which will include the address to which you should send the demand for validation. If they don't send it to you, they can't take any further action to collect without violating the FDCPA.

There is no time limit within which they must respond to your demand for validation. However, they cannot take any further action to collect the debt without having first responded.

I can see that you are having a tough time dealing with all the 3 collection agencies. You can consider consolidation. This might be a wise decision at this stage. Your consolidator will be handling the collection calls on your behalf. And once the collectors/creditors start getting paid, probably collection calls will be stopped. You can register with this site for free counseling.

I have settled with one collection agency; now there are two - one aggressive rude one, to which I just sent a DV letter using the example on this site. The other has not contacted me at all since their initial contact with me by mail and I sent them a letter telling them that I could not make payment at that time. I am not sure what to do about them. Will debt consolidation be wise for me - and should I include the accounts in good standing that I am making regular payments on for consolidation? So far I have been able to eliminate about 25,000 in debt on my own, and have about 23,000 left on the two charged off accounts and including the ones in good standing.

myg (mgerman is my new registered name)

Good to see you as a registered member here, welcome aboard :D

It's solely your choice which of your accounts you would place in the consolidation program. You can discuss this with the counselor who will be calling you very soon for free consultation. Since the counselors are from the industry, they would be able to give effective comments.

I guess, by placing all your accounts in the consolidation program, you ensure regular payments. It is better to consolidate before the account is late or default because if a negative item enters into your credit report, it will stay there for 7 years.

Apart from debt consolidation this site offers other services for registered members -

http://forums.debtcc.com/forums/community-rewards.html

So, guess what happened next? The rude aggressive guy from CA #2 called my ex-husband yesterday and gave him the details, embellished and exaggerated somewhat, of the conversation he'd had with me earlier about settling my debt. He told him that if there was no settlement, that he'd have to have a lawyer start the process to take my ex's home (my name is still on it, since our divorce is fairly recent). Then he said, "Don't tell your ex-wife that we talked." The upshot of it is, the next day my ex decided, even though he knew he didn't have to, to pay off my debt in full, over the phone, with me listening. The CA guy was so polite to my ex, and practically kissed the inside of his ass, because he knew he was getting paid. Then he said, "That ex of yours is one stubborn woman, isn't she? I bet she was hard to live with." Doesn't that beat all? I guess the CA guy will be laughing at me when he gets my DV letter after my ex already paid him off. I know that it was really hard for me to refrain from grabbing the phone from my ex and telling the CA guy what an **** I thought he was.

One more charge off to conquer, then I'm in the clear. No more credit for me.
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[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

Simply talking to the ex was a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Did they ever send you written notice of your rights under the fdcpa?

Did you get delivery confirmation on the DV letter?

I've never received anything in writing from the CA, only phone calls. they claimed to have sent me a letter, but I didn't get one. I just sent the DV letter two days ago, so have not yet received confirmation. I sent it to the address of the CA I found on my credit report (the CA guy said he was calling from ARS and I found Ameriquest Recovery Services on my report), since the CA guy refused to give me an address, so I'm not even sure if I have the correct address of the CA that called me. I told my ex what was going on, and that he didn't need to pay them, but he insisted on "taking care of this for me". I guess we'll see what happens next. I admit I'm a little nervous about it.

*Update - the CA guy sent my ex the settlement letter for my debt (it was addressed to me at my address) by e-mail this morning, with a receipt for his over the phone payment of my account, and said a 0 balance letter would be forthcoming. I think the way the whole thing was handled was highly unethical if not illegal, but I'm glad that it seems to be over. The CA is:

Ameriquest Recovery Services (ARS)
1845 Hwy 93 S #310
Kalispell MT 59901
Bob B. Peterson, CEO

They've already violated the fdcpa half a dozen ways. Find a local lawyer who understands consumer protection and file suit. Make the debt collector liable for the whole thing plus your atty fees.

Myg, next time they call you at work, don't say a thing, just hold down one of the keys on the dialpad and let the monotonous droning of the key tone deafen them. That will teach them to continue disobeying the fdcpa. Also, get ready to draft a cease comm complete with your intentions to contact the Attorney General in their state if this stuff doesn't stop. Then, either make your payments as you see fit, ot you can contact the original creditor and work something out with them. If push comes to shove, I've heard great things about Town and Country consolidation company. You have many available avenues, Mgerman. Your financial farce is only temporary.

Jedi Mistress, the CA talked my ex-husband into paying them. He paid them the settlement amount, so it's doubtful they will call me again. I hate that things happened that way because of the CA's unethical behavior, but my ex insisted on paying them. I'm happy and pissed at the same time.

I will, however, use debt consolidation for the remainder of my debts. I have one more charge off and three more accounts in good standing. Things are really starting to look up for me. I'm really happy to have discovered this forum.

Talk about mixed feelings! While they were in the wrong to call your ex-husband without your explicit permission, it was kind of him to help. That situation could have been handled more properly on their end though, no bones about that.

It is good that you will look into consolidating the rest as opposed to popping asprins like skittles while you grit your teeth in dealing with unethical collectors. We are also glad to have you join us. Welcomet o the forums!

I would not consolidate anything that you are paying current, as long as you can stay current, and you are paying everything. Consolidation looks very bad on your credit. If you are paying okay on your own, I would definitely suggest you continue doing so.

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I have one charge off remaining. The CA has not attempted any contact whatsoever with me past the first letter I received from them. They have not answered any of my written communications, so things are still up in the air with them.

My two other charge offs have been paid in full, one by me, the other by my ex husband (too bad he wasn't as nice to me when we were married). I have also paid off in full three other accounts in good standing.

I now have four accounts in good standing, and I anticipate being able to easily make payments. My financial difficulty was due to a bout of unemployment last year (I was already overextended after my divorce and it was surprisingly easy to fall behind). I now have a great new job, and I have downsized my life (moved to a cheaper place, paid off some old obligations, reduced my living expenses).

I was considering debt consolidation for my remaining debts, but now am not so sure if that's the best thing for me to do. I am still worried about the last charge off - that is what is motivating me, because after paying the other debts I don't have a large amount of $$$ left for the last CA. My original plan was to clear up the last charge off as best I could and continue making payments to the four good accounts, and pay extra on one of them at a time until they were all paid off. Does it make sense to use debt consolidation for just the one bad debt ($7,000)?

What impression I get from you report: you have only one debt and that is charged-off right? What is the date it went charged-off? Does the SOL still live?

You should discuss the topic with the counselor and ask for their opinion. Since they are directly from the industry, you will get a more practical response from them. JMO.

Curly Carl, my last charge off is very recent - February 2006. A CA wrote me about this account, and I sent them a letter explaining my situation, and they never wrote back. They've never contacted me by telephone. Now, a different CA contacted me once by letter about this same account, and also did not respond to the letter I sent them, and has not contacted me at all since then. I have this one to deal with, and four other accounts in good standing. I owe about $20,000 between the five accounts. ($7,000 is the charge off amount). I am making about $400 a month total payments on the four good accounts, and I could afford to pay a little more than that. My main goal is to clear up this last charge off so I can live my life in peace.

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Stanley, I haven't tried to contact the OC mostly because I'm not sure of how things work and I'm kind of afraid of starting up interest on the debt again and never being able to get the damn thing paid off.

Often working with OC is easier than dealing with CA. Anyway, Stanley has a good point here. You can consolidate the charged-off account only and pay it back in a smooth way. If you wish to do it yourself, then start with regular stuff like validation. Send out request for validation through CMRRR.

I'm leaning towards debt consolidation for the one last charge off. Should I just give the debt consolidator the OC information/account number and ask them to find out who owns the debt now? I've been contacted by one out of state CA and one in state CA which may be a law office, but nothing beyond their first contacts by mail. I just want to pay this off without hassle, and I need to be able to make payments.

I was going to sign up for the debt consolidation advice offered by debt consolidation care, but felt a bit nervous about giving my bank information over the internet.

Offer whatever information you have. Your counselor will help you clear the confusions.