harassment from collectors.

You lost your low intrest rate when you defaulted or had a late payment or had a TOTAL past due for more than 90 days. You also could have late fee's and over limit charges. Check your statements for a full representation of fee's because until it charges off by law the origional creditor has to inform you each month they, not the collectors, charge you those monthly fee's.

Tone of voice doesn't count. There is a cell phone directory out now or someone gave them the number or its on your credit report or you signed up for the card useing that number.

If you do feel you have been harassed I suggest you write somehting in to the attny general of your state. They will notate the complaint and when they get enough then they will investigate the company.

Steelblade, what is the name of the collection agency calling you? As per the fdcpa laws, the collectors are bound to follow the Mini Miranda laws. This requires them to give their complete identity before attempting collections. Also, they must send you the details of the debt in writing so that you know the creditors for which they are doing the collections.

It is possible that the total amount of debt will go up after the account reaches the collections. But it must be clearly specified in the contract you signed with the original company. Also, it has to be within the permissible lines fixed in your state. You must check your state attorney general's office and know your legal move in dealing with this collector.

Do not get intimidated while dealing with the collectors. They might enforce aggressive collections because of your default with the original company. Check whether they are having your account details in proper shape before sending them any money. Read the FTC for some helpful information about your legal rights.

http://www.ftc.gov/

PassionHunting- So if one of the collectors calls and uses an alias of some sort, as opposed to their real name, or refuses to disclose the company they represent or who they actually work for, they are not legally attempting to collect the debt?

I got an email from Wells Fargo about the 800 line they used. I had tried several reverse phone lookiup services to see if it was legit, but none of then had it listed. HEre is a copy and paste of the email.

"I would like to apologize for the harassing phone
call you recently received. Our records indicate
the phone number you have provided is to our
Wells Fargo Card Services."

So its NOT a 3rd party service, though that doesn't necessarily rule out the 'aggressive collections' I've suffered through. Still, Wells Fargo themselves called the call 'harrassing' that should count for something.

I lost an entire post by clicking the wrong button, but to sum up:

I took my wife to the emergency room last november. If it wasn't for the card to put household expenses on, I likely would have lost my home by now since many of the procedures she needed required cash up front to the tune of 700-1000 at a time. No cards accepted, no treatment now pay later, checks were all right, though. Having an empty bank account and no groceries is no fun I can tell you, hence the food stamps applications.

Add to this me getting laid off my last job in the beginning of april. I knew full well that the card would be a problem before, but with the work I could eventually get caught up and pay it back. What else to do? Not let my wife get the tests she needed? The worst part is, her condition cleared up completely when she was told to double her effexor meds. The very same stress we mentioned on day one in Nov turned out to be true some 4000 later on needless tests. :(

My stress level was not too good, but I cant afford to do anything about it. Despite that it was lowering quite nicely, I was sleeping normally again, etc till those damn calls on thursday. Now I'm sleepless again, I get the shakes again. I have to stop and remember to breathe again. Rambling, headaches, etc. All back like before again with no ins and some 60 in the account and the car needs a repair to boot.

I can't sue the doctors. Already been there. Cant sue the last job for the layoff. I was one of about 25, etc. Lost the second car since I couldn't make payments. I had them take it back voluntarily, hopefully they will get enough so that I won't have to pay the remaining difference.

I'll stop there. I'm starting to ramble again.

As per the provisions in the Section 807(11) of the fdcpa, the debt collectors are required to give out the complete information about their attempt and the information to be used for that purpose. This must be included in the initial written communication with the consumer. The full Mini Miranda disclosure should be read during the oral communication with the person. With that said, the name of the company for which they are collecting should be clearly identified. No information should be hidden from the person during their collection practices.

steelblade. Don't lose your hope. There is still a way out. Start making partial payments towards the account and keep it current. At least, it will prove that you are not avoiding your responsibility and want to clear off the debts. Your small payments towards the accounts will keep things under control. I am so sorry to hear about your situation. Don't feel disheartened. You need to handle the things in a strong way.

were quite the joke for this guy I spoke to. He knew about them and was quite detailed on how they 'don't cut it'.

what about the email?

"I would like to apologize for the harassing phone
call you recently received. Our records indicate
the phone number you have provided is to our
Wells Fargo Card Services."

If even Wells Fargo is calling it harrassment, doesnt that count for something?

I filed this with the FTC today. Please cross your fingers for me.

Very good, you have taken the right step by lodging a formal complaint with the FTC. They must have received numerous complaints against the illegal debt collectors. They will get into action once they find many people facing problems with this company.

I followed up with another complaint today registered with the Tx state attorneys office. Come Monday my wife and I will draft a second letter to try and arrange a reasonable payment schedule, and hopefully get them to stop adding interest. Making the debt larger isn't helping me get ahead enough to pay it after all.

I sent the 'do not call' letter already, but haven't recieved the return receipt yet. It's about a day overdue.

I'm still slightly confused.. Is this from the origional creditor? The fdcpa doesn't qualify for origional creditors beyond harassment and shareing personal information.

They can call you as many times as they want to pretty much.

If Wells Fargo still has it and the payments are late you can bet there is an over the limit charge a late intrest fee along with the normal intrest fee. Based on the amount you owe you are likely being charged about 170 something a month until you bring the card current.

Keep in mind that Wells Fargo will keep it for 3 months without payment then they will send it to a collection agency and you will have an additional 3 months to pay it while all the time still recieving the extra fee's that Wells Fargo will be charging you.

You can't send a DNC letter to the origional creditor. They will disreguard it. When you signed up for the card you stated that it was ok for them to verbaly contact you as well as through the mail system. If they do honor it, and they don't have to, consider yourself lucky.

If it IS with a collections agency now be prepared to send another DNC letter to each agency that it gets forwarded to until it charges off.

It's still the original collector. I sent the DNC letter and got a response, also sent a letter to negotiate an interest free settlement (At a minimum of $100 a month interest, there is no way I can catch up on it otherwise. They may as well R9 it now. Don't bother telling me how bad the R9 is, I know. It's not a matter of avoiding it, it's a matter of which debt manages to place it on me first.)

I never got anything back about the harassing calls, and still have 'stress fits' over it. I have already made complaints to the state and feds, neither is actually doing anything to help me. What actions can I take about this harassing call on my own?

Since it's with the origional creditor the fdcpa really doesn't apply as much since there are a different set of rules.

For you not to be contacted on your cell phone you will need to prove that it is costing you money for them to call as most cell phone plans provide free incoming calls.

Customer service reps as well as debt collectors do not have to give you their real name provided it is registered with the company, the alias.

My suggestion to you would to be to get in some debt counseling program as there are many benifits from it.

Are local loan compnies allowed to come to your house to collect on loan?

I'm pretty sure that is not allowed, is somebody threatening to come to your house.

Yesterday marked the 2nd time the same company has been to my house to collect on a loan.

They actually came to your house to try and collect a payment? What state are you in, and what type of loan is it? And is it the actual lender who is trying to collect, or a collection agency?

***Since it's with the origional creditor the fdcpa really doesn't apply as much since there are a different set of rules.***

So where can I find the rules that apply here?

It depends on what type of loan it is, and what state you're in. Most states differentiate between deferred presentment transactions (aka payday loans) and regular term loans as far legal constraints on their practices.

***It depends on what type of loan it is, and what state you're in. Most states differentiate between deferred presentment transactions (aka payday loans) and regular term loans as far legal constraints on their practices.***


I live in Texas, and it's a credit card debt. Where do I find the rules that apply here?

Go to the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner for Texas at http://www.occc.state.tx.us/ Go to the section for consumer credit laws, which will bring up the Texas Finance code by chapter. Go to chapter 392, Subchapter D, and start with ??392.301 There is quite a bit of information there that you can look through that might be helpful to your situation. Hope this helps!

[color=red]Govt. link made active - Mike[/color]

Sorry, the last part of that web address was supposed to be tx(dot)us

Yes they actually came to my house. I could not believe it. The loan I have is not a loan over the inter net. It is a pay day loan but it is a local company. I live in Missouri. Does any one have any suggestions?

***Go to the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner....*

Thanks, I'm looking there now. Thank you too, Mike for fixing the link.

Looking for Answers. You would do better to start your own thread. I know you don't mean it, but this is thread hijacking, and you would get better response to your questions in your own thread anyway.

Thanks for correcting that link Mike, I never know what links I can post or not. :-)

I read it, it says pretty much the same thing as the federal one. There are definately violations in what happened to me, so after filing with the fed and state what do I do now to combat this?

the mini miranda discloses as
1
" this call may be monitored or recorded for quality compliance purposes."
2
"this is an attempt to collect a debt any information used is for that purpose only"
3
"you are communicating with a debt collector"

unfortunately for many people, harassment is not defined within the laws of the fdcpa, but collectors are prohibited frm :

use of threat of physical violence, or any means to harm the person, reputation or property of that person
use of obscene or profane language.
listing publicly consumers who allegedly refused to pay debts. ecxept to a consumer reprting agency or other such persons who meet requirements of section (603 (f)
causing a phone to ring or calling a person repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy abuse or harass any person at the called number.
but ths only covers the dierct communication with debt collectors to alleged debtors, if you want more info i have a whole heap of it.

These calls can ALL be stopped. Look for my upcoming ebook.