Pinnacle Financial Group

New account=new letter. I don't know much about these guys.

Have you called the bank for arranging a payment plan?

If Pinnacle is collecting for all the debts on which you asked validation, the C&D letter works for all of them. But if you have written separate validation letters for the medical bill and the bad check, you have to write a C&D letter again.

I may be wrong, but I think I saw Pinnacle posted on Bud Hibbs website as one of the more sleazy debt collectors. They've been pestering me for over a year about an account I paid off three years ago. The SOL is up in November, and I'm about to send them a validation letter. You probably need to send them individual letters for each issue with them.

i think im going to treat them like 1st credit im not paying them a cent and im going to make them validate every single debt that they claim that i owe them.. i heard bad stuff about them.. i faxed my cease and disist letter to them this morning..

Mikim-- Budd Hibbs thinks every agency is sleazy. He is inventive with adjectives (and repetative)but he turns out more to be a verbose name-caller than anything else. He is nothing more than a shamefull stereotyper basing his chatter on prejudice. If he knew me, we might even be good friends.

Perry-- If you sent a Cease and Desist but you want validation, don't be surprised if you don't get it. They may consider the Cease and Desist to override the validation requests because they aren't to contact you unless the status of your account is to change (ie. legal action) when they have received a cease and desist order. And it is best to send a cease and desist for each account seperately, and even better to do so via registered mail (not fax). Just remember, sending a cease and desist doesn't end the matter of the account; it stops the agency from contacting you, but the account is still there. Too often I see people think that the cease and desist is the end all and the answer to every problem.

Admittedly, I am in the collection industry. Pinnacle has a good reputation by and large so I would expect your problems to stop with the sending of the letters.

im not going to send a full cease and disist letter.. i just dont want any calls just writen response from them.. im going to make them validate it before i send them a dime.. guest im not refusing to pay them i heard from other people in the foarms had bad expriences with pinnacle financial

Be sure to make it clear in your letter that you are requesting "validation" of the alleged debt, not "verification" that they have your address, name, and an alleged debt with you name on it.

Perry-- I was "guest" in the previous reply, only when I completed the quick reply, it did not have a field for my name. I say this because I am in the collection business, and having said that, I don't want you to think I used "guest" in order to remain anonymous.

I can't tell if you have dealt with Pinnacle, you indicate that you have read about them...but may I suggest that you take care how much you believe about what you read? Collectors should never abuse or mistreat a consumer (I believe in a more mutual respect approach), but honestly you would be very surprised how abusive consumers are to collectors. This is something you never hear. Typically it is a misdirected emotion for the situation of owing a debt, and money is the hardest thing to give to someone. Sure, collectors may push a button and the consumer gets angry and abusive, but somehow that is overlooked. A consumer pushes a button, and the collector is expected to maintain a sense of decency, and they should, they are the negotiator and working for the creditor who is their client. I have been called many colorful names, as have my family who must be all those horrible names since they are associated with me. I even had a consumer call my home last year and talk to one of my children and they said horrible things about me. I am not a collector per se, but I started as one 15 years ago. I am in senior management now and did nothing to this consumer, until she called my home.

I understand that you want Pinnacle to hop through hoops on the debts, but if you know they are yours, and you haven't said that they aren't, it seems you just want to have them do a bunch of things first since you are not "refusing to pay them". You aren't going to tire them or wear them out with requests, the debt will sit there and wait for you to pay it. They won't get fed up and say let's just get rid of this since Perry wants so much info. Remember that the sooner you pay, the sooner it is reported to the bureaus, if this is a debt on the bureaus. You really aren't hurting them at all. However, since you have 3 accounts there, you may consider doing a settlement on the accounts whereby you pay a discounted amount in order to satisfy the debts entirely. It is a good ground for negotiation, and rather than using the hoops to tire them, you may want to use the multiple accounts to save some money and have a postive result sooner.

Pinnacle is a good company, and opinions are just that. It is important to consider that when you read of consumer complaints about agencies that those consumers usually tend to be abusive, unkind, and nasty when they interact with the agency; then they are more than happy to tell you almost everything about it. Word for word what the agency said, but very few quotes from their own mouths.

Bill T,I agree with your advice on a settlement provided agency can give a validation on all the accounts to show it is your debt and that they are entitled to legally collect it. The only thing I would add is if consumer were to settle is to get a letter on agency letterhead that the debt has been settled in full to protect yourself if another firm were to try and collect on the same debt at a later point.

Cajunbulldog, your are absolutely 100% right. Getting a letter on company letterhead is extremely important. Agencies do report payments to their clients, but sometimes and for some reason, it is not uncommon for the account to not end up in the proper status. Nothing is worse than paying a settlement and then having the creditor send the remaining portion to another agency just because there was some type of communication breakdown and the account didn't get moved properly. A letter is the true antidote to this problem. I am sure that the perception is that those greedy agencies just try to collect on the rest of the account to be sneaky-- but that is definately not the case. Attempting to collect on the remainder of a settled account is a waste of time and effort, and it is not legal.

Correct in it not being legal,but without proof of payment it is your word against some high priced lawyer.I would not bring suit for that because there is not enough meat to it to scare off that lawyer.

im not advoiding the bill i just want them to validate it.. till this date they didnt respond to the first validation letter. on mon im seding them a second request letter with the origanal account plus the ones i have with them.. when they validate and prove to me that they have those accounts i will make arrangemts

i too have had a bad experience w/Pinnacle. I am not denying the debt, however they are requesting more money a month on monthly payments, I send them money but they refuse. When I had the first phone call I listened to what they had to say as they gave me my options. I told the representative I could make small payments at this time. Then they asked me why I was in such a poor financial situatuion and told me to ask my family for help. I am 29 years old and a single mother. I don't have a problem paying they won't accept the payments I send. What do I do?