Law Office of Thomas J Russell

I looked in the BBB but found similar names. Do you have any contact number? They are law office so that are bound to follow the fdcpa. Had they been one of the internal collections dept of the original creditor, they may not have been forced to follow FDCPA.

Don't make a payment arrangement now because you still don't know if they have your file. According to the laws, they are supposed to send you the info within five business days. If they say, the mail is sent, wait till you review it.

Lovely. Same old crap. I think that even if it is turned over to a law office they'll send you a letter and give you 30 days to answer...

I don't understand why these people don't want to accept money orders. I went round and round with Midland a few months back over this. They finally agreed and then told me that they had to have my bank account info just for verification purposes. Um, no.

I didn't agree to any settlement. I was trying to get more information out of him. I'm not stupid enough to give out my bank account information to them. My debt counselor said they would contact them tomorrow. I was able to call back and get their address from the receptionist without saying who I was. I wasn't able to find any info on them at the BBB with the complete information. He tried to put words in my mouth but I recorded the conversation. It is irritating especially since I have not received any debt verification from them.

I don't know if this debt was turned over or sold to them. I doubt it was sold because he said he was collecting for the creditor. I'm a little bit confused on that one. I'm not going to drag my feet on this either though.

I think these people go out of their way to try and confuse us. The first time I told Midland that I would not give them my account info, the guy says "then how about your credit card?" I said no to that, too, and he says "what! Are you an attorney?" He then proceeded to tell me that the "state" shows that I have a checking account, so they need that info. I thought that was rather odd, since I was in the middle of cleaning up the PDL mess at that time, and didn't have a checking account then and hadn't for about 2 months.

Hopefully your debt counselor will be able to work something out..Good luck.

Mishele,

That's really awful. I hope your debt settlement company can take care of these fools for you. Hang in there - just another bump in the road.

Well it seems they are based out of PA and our a legitimate law firm. I e-mailed my debt counselor to see if I am able to send them a basic debt verification letter. I know they said no contact with creditors but I'm a little concerned right now. I know my counselor will contact them today. I've just read horror stories of this happening to other people. It's not a large amount either, just three digits. This guy that represented them said he was going to recommend to the lawyer today that they file a lawsuit against me or take me to court. I guess if this is a legitimate law firm they would have to follow through with it because they do have to follow the laws of the fdcpa. I researched this last night and also contacted the FTC. I haven't filed any complaints, just gathering information. According to the FTC, they now have five days to send me something in writing. The guy said they sent me something last week but I have not received it yet. They aren't that far away so they shouldn't take too terribly long. I want to be able to send some kind of debt verification letter just to cover my butt on this. My debt counselor said this was just a scare tactic. If it is, then this could be a violation of the FDCPA laws. I'll see what she has to say when I get home. Thanks for the well wishes.

Mishele,

I know how scary that is. I would go by what your debt counselor says, though. If she doesn't seem too worried, then maybe that's all it is - a scare tactic. If it's only in the 3 digits, I can't imagine them actually going to court over it. Good luck to you.

I'm really not sure what to do now. She responded asking if I want to drop them from the program when I asked her about the debt verication letter. I e-mailed her back to see if they even contacted them today. I'm really getting irritated with this and think I might have better luck on my own. Any opinions?

Do you think they'd work with you? From your first post, the guy didn't seem to come across as being someone that would work with you. Of course, if your debt settlement company isn't contacting them, that might be your only recourse. It might be worth a try.

Well he did want to make payment arrangements with me. I could do it in two months payments and be done with it. He just wanted my banking information and I said I don't give that out. I said I could send two money orders via certified mail. His answer was that I was refusing payment. According to the FTC, the law firm has to send me written notice of the debt now since he contacted me. He said they had already done this but I haven't received anything yet.

If he doesn't want the money orders, than HE is refusing payment. I would call him and record the call...Offer him the money orders once again, and if he refuses say, "So you're refusing MY payment?"

Or send it to him in writing...offer the two money orders...See what happens...If they want their money, they can take a money order....If I were them I'd want the money order anyway..It can take up to 30 days for a bank payment to clear in their account..A money order is guaranteed funds.

I agree with Jessi. They're refusing YOUR payment, you're not refusing to pay. And if you haven't received written notice of the debt, that's suspicious, too. I would write them a letter, stating you will gladly make payments via a money order but only when you get a written notice of the debt. It's not your fault you haven't received it. If they want their money and they really did send a notice, they'll just have to send another one. I don't trust anybody anymore.

Well, they have to sent written notice after my conversation with him the other day. It's federal law so there's no way of getting around that. I'm going to type up a debt validation request and send it tomorrow. I still have not received anything from them. Talking to my debt settlement company right now is like banging my head against the wall but that's another situation. Of course, I will send it certified mail with return requested because I do have their physical address.

Do we need to put up with e-mail scams here. It would be great if a mod could delete the previous post.

the previous spammer's post has been taken care of :)