Collection Agency for AMEX

Hi

Welcome to the forums. There are some factors which need to be considered before you start making your payments.

First of all, please check out the Statute of Limitations in your state to know if the debt is still collectible or not. If the debt has gone beyond the SOL period, then the collection agency cannot legally force you to pay the said debt. You might have to appear in the court if the collector files a case against you, but the judge will have to dismiss the case considering that the debt is out of the SOL period.

Secondly, if the debt is within the SOL period, then you are required to pay this debt. Pertaining to your consumer rights, please ask the collectors to validate the debt as it is your legal right to know the details of your accounts.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/validation.html

They need to specify you the following details of your debt.

• The details of the account.
  
  
• All the calculation should be shown of the amount that is owed.
  
  
• Any copies of the papers to be furnished that shows the payment agreement.
  
  
• Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable
  
  
• The original creditor needs to be identified.
  
  
• The Statute of Limitation needs to be proven for the collection of the debt.
  
  
• The license of the collection agency applicable in the state is to be furnished along with the license numbers and Registered Agent
  
  
• Proof of the agreement that the debt collector has purchased the debt or has been hired by the creditor to collect the debt from the debtor as this is the basic contract law.
  
  
• Complete payment history showing the details of the creditors, payment history, amount of the debt, break up of fees/interest should be provided in paper.
  
  
• A copy of the original signed loan agreement between the debtor and the original creditor establishing the debt between both the parties also has to be produced.
  

[quote=mr/mrs stunned]We live in Texas and had an american express card that we closed when we found out a relative had used the card without our consent. The relative racked up $5000 in charges. We had an additional $4000 on our sign/travel that was legimately ours that we were to pay a monthy payment of approx $100.
My husband did not want to file fraud charges against the relative so he tried to work out a plan with AMEX. After 3 months of 4 different AMEX employees giving us different answers we finally gave up trying. We were told twice that we could pay $500 per month but each time we tried to make the payment the next 2 AMEX employees said we couldn't make partial payments and it was going to a collection agency. AMEX wanted the $5000 in full which we didn't have. They turned it over to a collection agency last week.
This has now made the total amount due $9000. We got our first call from the collection agency saying last Wed saying they were calling to serve us with legal papers to sue us for this money. We ask them if we could work out a payment plan and we are more than willing to pay this debt...we just couldn't pay the entire amount. The collection agent said he would give us until this Thursday (7/7/2005) to get the money or we would be served legal papers and sued. He said they couldn't mail them they needed to serve them in person. He also said AMEX handles collection differently than ANY other credit card companies.
This agent also pushed us to get a loan or credit card and transfer the balance. He said he was looking at our credit reports and that even though we had a "lot" of open credit, we had perfect payments with all our other creditors. He kept saying that we have never been late on any other creditors so we shouldn't have any problems getting a bank to loan us the money to pay this. We told him we were maxed out and could not get any new credit. We have student loans, a new home mortgage and credit cards. We had tried getting another credit card to transfer this AMEX balance last month but was denied.
This is all new and foreign to us because we have never not paid a bill or been late until this issue with AMEX.
Our questions to you are:
1. If the colleciton agency just got our file last week Wednesday can they "immediately" file a lawsuit and sue us for payment?
2. Can this collection agency refuse to work out a reasonable payment plan with us?
3. He threatened to place a lien on our home. Can they do that without making any attempt to work with us to pay this bill?
4. Can he have us served on our jobs? We work for a government agency.
5. Can we ask them not to call our place of employment and only call us at home or correspond through the mail?

thanks for any help you can offer
mr/mrs stunned[/quote]


mr/mrs stunned,

Would you mind telling us which collection agency you've been dealing with, and how late your bill is? I'm also from Texas and have recently had extensive experience with a collection agency connected to Amex sign and travel and also Amex blue and might have some advice depending on the circumstances.

Take care,

Kim

Hi Kim,
Thanks for offering to share your experience and advice.
We think they said TCR but the guy said the name so quickly. We got another call this morning with similar threats but louder and nastier. The bill is 4 months past due with a total of $9000. The collection agency just started calling last week. Even though we ask to make payments, they don't seem to want to work with us. We're not sure if this is just the initial tactics they use or if we should just go ahead and prepare for service & a court date.

Thx again!
mr/mrs stunned

Mr/Mrs stunned

You got a call from your collection agency again in the morning. Did you ask them to stop such calls as you are not willing to entertain them?

You can say to the collection agency that you will be recording all the telephonic conversation and will produce it in the court and file a case against them. You will be interested in getting the debt validation letter from them giving the details of the accounts as I have mentioned in the beginning of my post. Not producing the debt validation letter will not put much weight in their claim to file a case against you.

Did you send them your letter asking for debt validation by certified mail?

It is important that you are willing to pay your debt. So, you are not required to worry at all. Usually, the psychology behind such collection acts is that they want to recover as much money from you at the shortest time. Since they are in the business of purchasing debts or working for the creditors, they want to earn their share of profit from your payments. Validating the debt is comparably less important to them if the consumers are willing pay it fearfully.

Be assured that they won't file a lawsuit against you as you are willing to clear it. They won't get the full money anyhow even after filing a lawsuit. And moreover, there are court expenses which have to be paid by them. So, most probably, you are required to offer a perfect negotiation after validation as your credit report is showing the account in collection and it is sometimes detrimental.

Regards
Roxette

Hi Roxette,
Yes, we sent the letter requesting the debt validation. We will make sure to handle this company differently going forward.
Your words are very comforting and has made us stand a bit taller. We are willing to pay! We don't want to mislead these people with something that we know we can't do.
Before your recent post, we were frantically searching the internet for advice on how to handle this. Your advice gives us knowledge and that is powerful. Thanks!

mr/mrs stunned

[quote=Anonymous]Hi Kim,
Thanks for offering to share your experience and advice.
We think they said TCR but the guy said the name so quickly. We got another call this morning with similar threats but louder and nastier. The bill is 4 months past due with a total of $9000. The collection agency just started calling last week. Even though we ask to make payments, they don't seem to want to work with us. We're not sure if this is just the initial tactics they use or if we should just go ahead and prepare for service & a court date.

Thx again!
mr/mrs stunned[/quote]


Hi Again,

The agencies I dealt with were Collectcorp and allied interstate. I'm going to tell you what I did, though I certainly can't promise you the same results if you try it.

Allied Interstate, which was connected to my Amex green card sign and travel account, was actually easy to deal with. Somehow I was assigned to a very nice agent - of course, I was able to pay the entire amount owed. Who knows how nice she would have been if I hadn't.

On the other hand, Collectcorp, who was connected to my Amex blue card account, was a nightmare. The phone calls you're getting sound very similar to the ones I received. The agent wouldn't even hear of a payment plan, threatened legal action, and harrassed us to obtain a home equity loan(not possible). I was not about to give this jerk any of my personal banking information for payments because I didn't trust him a bit. They upset me so much I spoke to a friend who is a loan officer about what my options might be. This is what he said - and again PLEASE be aware, this MAY NOT work in all situations and I certainly don't want to get you into further trouble. He told me that Amex rarely sells their past due accounts to collections agencies unless they're SERIOUSLY past due. They usually initially hire an agency to collect it for them. This means that Amex may still "own" your debt. If so, all the agent can do is recommend that Amex sue you. The agency couldn't sue you itself if this is the case. My friend told me, because it was a revolving account, to try and make a payment (preferably of at least 20% of what is owed) directly to Amex at their online payment center and see if it is accepted. I did this and it was. He then said to check at the usual statement close date to see if my statement had been updated and if a new minimum payment was posted. I did, and it was. The account was still cancelled, but showed current status. The next month, I made a payment of twice the minimum due and it was updated again. I then checked my credit report and the account was showing as current for those two months that I had made payments.

My friend said that sometimes, if you've been a good customer and show that you are aggressively trying to handle the debt, Amex will give you a few months to see if you keep making payments and then pull the account from collections. I doubt they will tell you this if you call them. In fact, they will probably just refer you back to the collection agency and the CA will probably keep calling no matter what you do, but it seems to be working for me as far as Amex goes. However, you need to call either the CA or Amex to make sure that the debt wasn't sold to, but simply assigned to the CA. If it was sold to the CA, this definitely won't work. In that case, I would try sending a payment you can afford by certified mail with a payment plan outlined and stipulate that the depositing of your payment constitutes their agreement to the terms. Don't think for a second they won't take any money you send.

If you try making payments directly to Amex, and again, I would recommend that the first be a significant portion of the balance if you want them to take you seriously, I would also suggest that after a couple of months of on time payments you send a certified letter to Amex requesting they pull the account from collections providing all subsequent payments continue to be ontime - I did (I even offered to pay any fees incurred from them hiring the coll. agency) and they are currently considering it.

One last thing, record all conversations, send a certified letter asking them to cease all phone communications, and report all violations to the FTC (1-877-382-4357). When I told my coll. agent I would be sending all payments to Amex directly, he started calling at 7am and ran my credit report 14 times in a row to damage my score. I called the FTC and was told these were all violations and the agency would be fined if they could validate any of these things.

The initial threats are scare tactics, but they could become real if you're not able to start paying the debt.

I hope some of this helps and I hope it wasn't too confusing. If all else fails, you might try one of the consolidation programs offered here.

Kim

[color=red][size=2][email deleted as per forum rules-Mike][/size][/color]

Kim,

It all depends whether the debt collectors have purchased the account of Mrs/Mr stunned or they are working for their creditors.

I assume that looking into the suggestions offered, Mrs/Mr stunned will take the appropriate steps needed to deal with the collection agency.

Some information about allied interstate in the following thread.
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/allied-interstate.html

Regards
Roxette