Asset Acceptance strikes again - please help

Be very careful what you do. A this point do not pay or agree to pay anything, as this could re-start your statute of limitations and this debt maybe out of the stutory period.

Depending on where you live, this account may be out of the Statute of Limitiations. If you provide your state of residence others here may be able to help find that information for you.

First and foremeost within 5 days, they are required to send you written notice including who they are collecting on behalf of and the amount the are trying to collect.

You now have 30 days to respond, request validation, or dispute the debt. Your next move should be to write them a letter requesting validation of the alleged debt. T

There are several examples on this site which you can use. This letter should be sent Certified Mail/Return Receipt Requested.

Below is the basic letter which I use which was designed based on several of the letters posted elsewhere in this website. Feel free to use it and changeit as you need to for your situation.

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Many thanks for this advice, which is extremely helpful. One last question ... Should we wait for them to send the letter (we believe that they lack our current address, and they might not even have my wife's former address - i.e. at her parents' home), hoping that they don't send out the required letter within five days? OR should we contact them again and request that the letter be sent, providing them with our current contact details?

Many thanks again! Just knowing that we have someplace to turn to is comforting.

best,
Still Worried but Somewhat Less Uncertain

PS. Unfortunately, we don't have a lawyer, nor I suspect could we afford one. I hope we'll be able to sort this out ourselves.

I'm sure that debt is out of statute. Worst case scenerio is they list it on your credit report, and you can dispute it later. Don't pay anything if the debt is out of stat, as advised above. Get that debt validated, and don't be scared of them. Also, advise them they are not to contact your parents number. They will ask you for a current number. Do not give them one. Tell them that you know your rights under the fdcpa, and the collector can only call a reference ONE TIME, unless they believe the information has changed. Advise them that no information is changing. They will not be given another number, and if they call your parents again, they clearly would be breaking the law. Then, put that in writing in a cease & desist letter. On the phone, be polite, but firm. They are trained to press you and press you some more. Sound confident, and it scares them.

Asset Acceptance has several offices, and it would be nearly impossible to know which office your are dealing with. My suggestion would be to get the letter ready to go. If you do not receive anything from them within about 7 days (allowing for mailing time) send the letter to their corporate office. If they never send the letter as required under Federal law (which I suspect they won't) you have grounds for a lawsuit for violation of the fdcpa ($1000 per violation) plus attorney's fees (which would more than pay that $600 debt). However if your debt is past the SOL paying it could actually do more harm than good to your credit score. Do you (or more importantly your wife) remember the last time a payment was made on this account? That will be the date that determines the SOL.

It is important to document everything you do (hence the need to send the initial contact via Certified mail/Return receipt) So that if things end up in court, you need to have documentation that you have attempted to contact them and address the issue.

If you do not receive the written notice as required under the law, I would document that as well.

Asset Acceptance is a publicly held corporation, and information on their company , its financial etc, should be easily obtainable under Freedom of Information Laws. Asset Acceptance is listed onthe NASDAQ.

Also if you post your state of residence, we can try and find the statute of limitation which is applicable in your state.

I am assuming your wife's parents are still at that former address. Please ask them if they receive anything from Asset Acceptance to please not open it or forward it, but return it "as no longer a this address". This will invalidate that address and buy you some time to request validation. What ever you do, at this point to not tell them the debt is yours, or discuss payment options until they have validated the debt.

I would also encourage you to become a registered member of the site. There is a wealth of information on personal finance, credit repaid, ID theft, collections, etc available, and once you register you will receive point for your points that can be cashed in for $$.

This company is a junk debt buyer, and if the debt is out of the statute of limitaions, you're not obligated to it (it sounds like your is out of the SOL). Indeed, never pay anything to a company like Asset or LVNV Funding etc. Don't send Asset a single dime. It will re-start the SOL. (This is another strategy of junk debt buyers). Asset Acceptance is also well known for illegally changing Dates of last Activity. They been sued many times, and sued by state Attorneys General. You might be able to use the contacts they make with you for a little cash of your own.

Well, we did get a letter from Asset Acceptance after all. In reply, we sent off a (*very* similar) version of the above letter (thank you!) - sent it "certified mail/return receipt requested" without including our new address, in fact - and just received confirmation that it was signed for yesterday (24 April).

Any ideas what'll happen next?

PS. Thanks again for everyone's useful advice. We couldn't navigate this thicket without you!

Worried, we had a "heckler" from Asset in here a couple of weeks ago, and I believe that we scared them into behaving better..I did receive validation from them last week for 2 accounts that they are collecting for. And they are obeying my cease and desist.

Don't take any crap from them.

Thanks for that update, Jessi. Any chance that you could point me to the discussion with the Asset heckler? I'd love to get some insight into how things look from their (twisted!) perspective ...

http://forums.debtcc.com/forums/about8538.html

Worried, you should sign up for this forum! We have a lot of useful information, and you can actually get paid for posting!

Thanks, Jessi. The exchange with Melody was very revealing in a way.

As for joining, to be honest, I'm just hoping to have to stick around long enough to see this Asset business disappear. What I don't know yet is whether my letter will be enough to make them stop harrassing us, or whether this problem will persist. If it's the latter, though, I might just have to become a full member of the forum! It's been terrifically useful so far.

Asset Acceptance is largely involved in such kind of illegal activities. You might have to hire an attorney in order to get rid of them. Be sure that you do all your correspondences in writing with the company. By chance, if the matter reaches the court, you will be able to prove your side of the story. I am sure Asset will never take the matter to the court because they are already into a lot of fdcpa violations. I will suggest you to file a case against them and if they don't appear in the court, you will win the case by default.

Hello I live in Washington State and Asset Acceptance is trying to collect on a debt of $500.00 Dollars that I may owe Ballys Holiday Health spa from 1989 in Los Angeles. Can some one please help me and point me in the right direction on how to send them a letter that explains to them the debt is passed the statue of limitations. I am afraid they are going to find away to still put it on my credit report. I would really apprecite any help. Thank you

If you haven't paid anything on the bill since 1989 tell them to go pound sand. Its way out of SOL. that account is way past 7 yrs for reporting to the CRA. If they do this then you have a case for dollars in your pocket.

Do not make a commitment or a payment towards this account if you have not paid within the SOL period of your state. This is the sample letter that you will prefer to send through certified mail with return receipt requested. You can tailor it according to your needs also.

[quote] FREE Sample Expired Statute of Limitations Notification Letter

Today's Date

Your Name
Your Address

Collector's Name
Collector's Address

RE: [insert account number or name of account or name of debt]:

Dear [insert collector's name or company name],

This letter is in response to your [letter dated xx-xx-2005] (copy enclosed) or [phone call on xx-xx-2005], concerning the collection of the above referenced [account or date].

I do not believe I owe what you say I owe therefore I dispute this debt. I am well aware of my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (fdcpa) and my state laws so I hope to save both of us a great deal of time by letting you know that not only do I dispute the validity of this debt, I have also checked with my State Attorney General and verified that the Statute of Limitations for enforcing this type of debt through the courts in (insert your state or the state in which the contract was signed) has expired. Therefore, should you decide to pursue this matter in court I intend to inform the court of my dispute of this debt and that the "statute of limitations" has expired.

This letter is your formal notification that I consider this matter closed and demand that you, or anyone affiliated with your company, stop contacting me regarding this or any other matter except to advise me that your debt collection efforts are being terminated or that you or the creditor are taking specific actions allowed by the FDCPA or my state laws.

Be advised that I consider any contact not in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act a serious violation of the law and will immediately report any violations to my State Attorney General, to the Federal Trade Commission and, if necessary, take whatever legal action is necessary to protect myself. Be advised that I tape record all phone calls and violations of the FDCPA can result in you or your company being personally fined up to $1,000 per incident.



(Sign above name)
Printed Name [/quote]

My wife has received a letter back from Asset purporting to provide validation for the debt in question. [See above for details of our case.]

Here's what they say:

???Thank you for your request for further validation of your CITIBANK account. Enclosed please find an account statement prepared with the use information provided to us by the prior creditor. Please contact me so that we can work toward resolving this matter. This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.???

The account statement includes the following information:

Principal: $5xx.xx
Interest/fees: $1xx.xx
Balance: $6xx.xx
Last transaction date: 10/07/99

The address included on the statement is my wife's previous permanent address in New Jersey. She believes it to be possible that this is an account which she held while living in New York. Obviously, she didn't know that there was/might've been an outstanding debt, and she hasn't heard from or used this account since October 1999.

Three questions ???

(1) Does anyone know whether this debt, even if legitimate, has passed the statute of limitations?

(2) Assuming it hasn't, my wife was offered an opportunity to pay something on the order of half of the outstanding balance. Frankly, assuming for the sake of argument that she really did have an outstanding debt (which apparently is possible ??? this was before we were together), I'm inclined to just pay that amount. Is there any reason why we shouldn't just do that ??? if only to get these cockroaches off our backs?

(3) And if that doesn't seem inadvisable, is there anything we should be wary of in making a payment? (E.g. Should we first get a contract which makes explicit that our payment will constitute full and final payment on this account?)

Thanks again for all of your help!

Exhausted,
Worried and Uncertain

I see the last transaction date to be 10/07/99. If there is no payment after that date and after knowing the SOL period in your state, you don't have to pay it anymore. You can escape it legally. You need to write a letter to the company mentioning the expiry of the SOL. Although the expiry of the SOL doesn't restrict them from filing a case against you, but you can escape any kind of legal actions with ease. This will be like they want to add more to their expenses in harassing you. You don't have to worry and pay the debt after the expiry of the statutes. Unless you are willing to pay and improve your credit slightly, you can't be put into troubles.

Thanks very much, andyyoung. Just to clarify: are you suggesting that it's definitely beyond the SOL, or are you saying that I'd need to find out whether or not that's the case?

Anyone else have any ideas? (Thanks again to all who've responded. The advice I've had here has been tremendously useful.)

In which state was this account opened? I will verify the SOL period in your state and confirm the information. Usually all debts go past the SOL after a period of 5-6 years. I made a general comment at the above post, you need to get the expiry of SOL confirmed in your state.

Thanks. We believe that the account was opened either in New York or in New Jersey.

To be honest, my wife can't really recall exactly what this account is. The account statement from Asset specifies that CitiBank is the "prior/original creditor", and they also provide a "prior acct number". So I suppose we can get in touch with CitiBank and inquire (a) what kind of account it is/was and (b) exactly where it was opened (in case the SOLs for NJ and NY differ). Any suggestions would be appreciated, as always.

Quote:

New York and New Jersey Both have statute of Limitation for all accounts (Open, Written,Promissory and open ended (credit Card) Accounts set at 6 years. Just to be sure do you still live in either of those states?

You can check the SOL of other states at creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statuteLimitations.shtml

Thanks very much, Clay.

No, neither my wife nor I live in NJ or NY anymore. After living for several years overseas, we now live in NC. My wife's parents (inadvisedly!) gave Asset our phone number here in NC, and they've been phoning at least once a day for over a week now. Do you really think that sending them a cease and desiste letter (stating that the debt is past the SOL) will work? Frankly, given the relatively small amount, I'm sure it'd be cheaper to pay the (alleged) debt than to hire a lawyer. The prospect of going to court is somewhat unnerving ...

Thanks as always for your help!

After sending a cease and desist letter to the collection agency, they will be forced to stop all contacts with you as per the federal laws. More effect will be put if you mention that the debt is past the SOL period. You have two legal reasons put in front of Asset Acceptance to stop contacting you. Under such circumstances, paying the debt will put you back within their reach legally.

Thanks very much, andyyoung. You've been a big help in all of this.

Does andyyoung's advice seem correct to anyone else reading this?

Once a debt is out of SOL most companies won't try to collect via a judgement because all you have to do is show up in court and state such. The judge will toss the case out.

As for trying to collect, how can they collect on a debt that is out of SOL and they are unable to contact you?

By sending this letter, you shut them down completely.

Are you even sure this is your debt?!?
Regardles of the SOL, if your wife cant remember what the account was for it may not be yours at all....
collection agencies make "mistakes" that you shouldnt be held accountable for.

Thanks to everyone. We've sent the SOL/Cease and Desist letter now, so I'm just hoping we'll never hear from them again hereafter. Stay tuned though ... ;-)

Keep us informed though. Once you have applied the federal law on the collection agency not to contact you except in writing, they must follow your written request. If this law is violated, you can take them to the court and sue for each violation according to the number of phone calls. Looking at one side, I feel that you should not receive any phone calls from Asset Acceptance. But looking at the other side that sounds funny, let Asset Acceptance break the laws and you can take them to the court and earn some money in legal terms. :wink:

Well, after sending the cease and desist letter, we haven't heard from Asset (by phone or by post) since. Can we assume, do you think, that this business is finished? And if so, does anyone know how to go about expunging this nonsense from my wife's credit report?

Dispute the item with the credit bureau reporting it. If it is put incorrectly in your file, it must be removed immediately so that your credit file displays your actual credit ratings.