Has anyone sued Weltman,Weinberg and Reis ?

Karen,

Who is your attorney in KY. I live in louisville and am having similar problems wiith these guys.

THX

I don't know if anyone is keeping up with this anymore but I'll post anyway.

I spoke to a man from WWR yesterday that claimed to be a lawyer and demanded full payment of my debt immediately (He refused to accept payments of any kind) or he would take everything that my mother and I have and put us on the street "where the trash belongs". He threatened to call my mother's employer and take all of her paycheck, starting immediately.

I've done my homework on debt collection laws and I know that he can't do this without suing me first, which I pointed out. He then began yelling at me, asking who I thought I was talking to.. He's a lawyer and and the laws pertaining to debt collection don't apply to him and his company because they're a law firm. I told him that I was going to contact an attorney and he laughed and said "Oh please honey, you can't even afford to pay your bills, who are you kidding about getting a lawyer?".

I hung up on him and 10 minutes later, he was speaking with my lawyer. She found out that the man that I had spoken to wasn't even a lawyer. He was a legal assistant, so not only was he violating federal law with his threats and harassment of me but he was misrepresenting himself as well. There wasn't even a lawyer around to speak to... She sent them a cease and desist letter and informed him that any and all correspondence pertaining to my debt had to go through her. By the end of the conversation, he was stammering over his words and apologizing.

We have enough against them for a valid FDCPA action (among others) and they were informed of that fact.

We'll see how it goes from here.

I was served today with a complaint from Franklin Co Municipal Court (Columbus, Oh) from WWR. It's for a Target Ntl Bank card that's balance is now at $9300 (think it was $8500 back in Jan when I stopped paying). My DH was laid off in April 2009 and has been out of work for nearly 16 months. Something had to give if we were still going to live and keep our house, so the CC bills were it (I have also not paid a GE Money Bank card since then, too).

In any event, I am worried and trying to gather info on my next best step. Both are credit reports have been damaged by the no payment on the two cards already, but I really don't want a judgment on there, too. I have been reading up on WWR all day. Tried to call them twice today, but just got VMs. Am thinking now after reading that maybe I don't want to talk to them if they are so mean... I did call Target first; they say they are out of it now that WWR has filed suit -- is this true, I wonder?

So here's the deal -- I know this debt is mine, but DH was 85% of our household income. Now he gets unemployment, but it's nowhere close to his old pay. I work, but only part-time or temp and not in a high-paying field. Bottom line was we just didn't have money to pay it anymore and still don't. I think my two best choices could be: 1) Ask WWR to settle for half and take it out of DH's IRA to pay them; or 2) think about bankruptcy for these two credit cards. I am wondering how likely option 1 is or if I should just get a lawyer or what...

I would LOVE any input folks can provide on here. I am torn on what to do and need to act within 28 days to answer complaint, etc... Any suggestions?

You can try to talk to WWR and see if they will work for you... But if you do, I recommend recording the conversation just in case they do get nasty and violate your rights. Ohio is a one party notification state, which means that you can record calls that take place between you and another party without informing them because since you're one of the parties, your consent has already been given. Also, keep any and all voice-mails that you get from WWR.
If they do get nasty (yelling, cussing, insulting, threatening, etc), I recommend going here: attorneysforconsumers.com/free-debt-case-review.aspx and filling out the information. The site provides you with a list of attorneys in your area that deal with FDCPA violations and filing suit against the companies that violate your rights.. If they lose, you're not charged, if you win.. The company has to pay for your attorney fees in addition to anything else.
Were you served with court documents or with a collection notice? If it's a collection notice, dispute the debt and request proof of it.. Send it by certifiable mail. This will stall them and give you more time... If they don't send you the information, it's also an FDCPA violation and you have grounds for a suit. From what I've learned about WWR, they rarely do (I still haven't gotten anything from them and it has almost been a month).
If you have to go to court: SHOW UP. Don't even think about skipping it. Most of the judgments that WWR wins are a result of the consumer not showing up to their scheduled court date.
Also, they can only garnish up to 25% of your disposable income (after paying federal, state, and local taxes) or anything that exceeds 30 times the current minimum wage (60 times for bi-weekly), whichever amount is less. Example: $7.25 x 30 = $217.50 for weekly or $7.25 x 60 = $435.00 for bi-weekly. If you make that amount or less, your wages cannot be garnished... If you make more than that, they can be.
Since you work part-time/temp, it would be difficult for you to make enough to be garnished, unless you get paid a pretty decent amount per-hour.
If you need anymore information, feel free to ask. :)

I received a notification/letter from WWR on July 09, 2010 which appeared to be court document. I notified them on the phone today this is a violation of my rights and I am making a complaint. He told me they filed suit on July 20, but we have not be summoned yet. I am going to call the court tomorrow. Tomorrow I am sending a debt validation letter and will contact an attorney in regards to my rights. The balance on the Capital One card was 980 when I stopped paying, and they want over $2000 now. I have to do some research on the fees they can charge but am having a hard time believing they can charge that much more than was due.

I received a complaint letter from them on September 1 and I sent a verification letter (kept the copy and sent certified mail, return receipt required). They received it on September 21 and I have not heard fro them. What do I do next?

I used to be an attorney there. Just so you guys know, the attorneys who are just associates are usually just young and need to find a place to work so they can pay back their student loans. I did nothing but foreclosures. Our bosses were horribel to us. (The owners are the ones who are multi-millionaires). The attorneys only made about $65,000. Anyway, we had zero control of how we were allowed to do things, and I personally was assigned 1800 foreclosures at a time. So, we had to depend on legal assistants to draft most things and just hope we would catch their screw ups. Go get em! I hate Weltman, Weinberg and Reis.

I meant "horrible." lol

Oh, PS, I used to have to work for those assholes, and now I enjoy suing them.

Quote:

I am currently dealing with them an sending out my DV, I will not put up with their dirty ways. If anyone here has information that can help please post. I am thinking this company needs a reality check.

Just got a letter in the mail from these guys stating that they have been retained by a junk debt buyer (Atlantic Credit and Finance) to collect a debt for a charged off HSBC card and I'm not entirely sure what to do.

When the junk debt buyer (Atlantic Credit & Finance) bought the debt, they never sent anything to me in the mail - I only got something from The Law Offices of John P. Frye (which apparently is connected to Atlantic Credit) stating that they were informing me that the debt was purchased by Atlantic and that John P. Frye was "introducing" me to them and that they wanted me to contact them to resolve the matter. Fast forward a few months later and I get a letter from Nations Recovery Center on the debt along with numerous calls from their offices including a message on my answering machine from a woman stating that she was "hereby notifying me of a legal claim filed in their office against me". I immediately shot off a DV letter detailing that I was disputing the debt as I didn't recognize it and notified them that I have been the victim of identity theft/confusion as another immediate family member and I have the same name and I've ended up with numerous collections and mistakes (addresses, etc.) on my credit report that weren't ever mine, but my step-daughter's and her mother's. Nation's Recovery Center backed off and I finally got my first piece of mail from Atlantic Credit and Finance which was just the basic info on the original creditor (HSBC) on Atlantic Credit's letterhead. Considering my situation, there's no way that basic info like that is valid proof when you're advising the collection agency that you've had problems in the past with your identity and you've had to maintain pretty much constant fraud alerts on all 3 of your credit reports. Since I had advised the collection agency of the identity issues, I thought (probably erroneously) that they would legally have to provide something a little more substantial like a credit application, signature or something along those lines to continue collection activity.

Now, Atlantic has apparently "retained" Weltman, Weinberg & Reis according to the letter that I have received. The letter does allow me to dispute the debt (which I will certainly send off my DV letter again advising of the identity issues). I have been checking online on my county's database and there currently has been no judgement against me, but it doesn't state as to whether or not a case has been filed yet.

Since I've had all sorts of problems with the identity issues on my credit in the past, I have used an attorney to help with one of the nastier collection agencies and actually won a settlement. I'm wondering if someone can advise as to whether I should send out the DV letter and immediately contact my attorney or if I should just send the DV letter and wait for a response. (I'm kind of leary about these guys doing things by the book because of all of stuff that I've read online about them). Sorry for the long post, but any advice would be helpful at this point...

to reply to question regarding class action status, that depends on the state. I am a business owner, and I was a target of a frivolous lawsuit. The other side claimed to have receive one unsolicited fax, so the bottom feeder attorney sued my company for $5 million or more, claiming damages. They wanted a trial by jury and in the summons they said something about finding out about other "victims" which had to at least be 41 people, that is the law in Ohio for class action status. BTW, the lawsuit never went anywhere. Because I was corporation, and the corporation was being sued, I was required to retain an attorney, but because the summons was over 50 pages, and the other side was suing me for every telephonic law under the sun, (just a fishing expedition in the case that something stuck), it was very expensive for me. Attorneys wanted more for the retainer then what I make in a year. The case got watered down to an arbitration, and I think the other side ended up getting $500, (which is the violation for sending a fax I guess). He should've gotten NOTHING, but I was not there to defend myself. So now there is a $500 judgement on the company, but the judge called me at home, told me not show up, and how the $500 was toilet paper.

But anyway, its pretty easy to file a class action lawsuit. You peition the defendant, and then you include language in the petition to include other people that were hurt as well, and how that fact will be proved during discovery.

I am considering doing that with WWR. Not sure yet, would have to find an attorney who would want to take something like that on.

Yes, a lot of people have sued them, in fact, here is a link to a class action lawsuit against them.

http://www.edcombs.com/CM/Notices/notices113.asp

Here is another class action against WWR in MI,

http://www.warnerlawllc.com/uploads/Housenkamp_v._Weltman_Weinberg___Reis_-_Class_Notice.pdf

There is also one against them in Indiana.

I just had a process servor come to my door last week. He tried to break down my door, which I thought was odd. It did not occur to me until recently, that he was not a thug trying to break into my house, but a process servor probably hired by a scum bag JDB. So I called my county clerk, and found out there was suit against me, they were siting as the original "creditor",(which they are not, totally misrespresenting themselves) Then, like you guys, did some digging, (hence all the class action posts) and found out that they are complete and total criminals.

They are not following the law at all, and they are the ones hauling me into court? Wow.. This is a new one. This is like a rapist suing the victim for THEIR OWN raping!!!

I would be mad, but its just funny to me. Of course I am going to fight them.

I first heard of these people when I went to the bank and it was frozen, i could not access my account at all. they gave me the number to wwr, when i called them i tried to find out what was going on and they wouldn't tell me anything. i kept asking who the debt was owed to because I've never had anything in my name and she wouldn't tell me. i said how can there be a court order to garnish my bank account when I've never been to court or even been notified of a court date and she got an attitude telling me I most certainly was notified and should have shown up to court. I explained that I moved a few months ago and asked her to send me any paperwork she has on it because there may have been an address mix up. They sent me the strangest paperwork I'd ever seen, it looks absolutely fake, it requested I show up to court in a random county in the state of Indiana a week after the actual court date that I had to find myself by calling the courthouse in the county I live in and asking them about all of this. I talked to wwr again to try to settle the matter and offered a payment plan to resolve it and was refused, she said no they want me to sign paperwork releasing the funds in my bank to them and they said that they plan to also keep anything else that enters that account and to find any other account that i try to open ! this is when i stopped calling and talking to them and started looking for a lawyer. I have 4 children and bills to pay and they froze my only means of living and refuse to work something out, she told me when I tried to explain that to her that shes not a health care provider, maybe I should contact a church if i can't feed my kids. I am planning to sue these people for the past 2 months that I've have no money and have had to borrow from family to feed my kids because my bank deposit only paycheck is on hold from them.

If your were sued and never received any notice from the court. Then go to the court that issued the judgement ask to see the case file and see where, when and how they supposedly served you and then file a motion to have it dismissed due to improper service, do this first. Then from here on out have your paycheck deposited on a prepaid debit card-no bank accounts that way they can not get into any of your money. If you were sued in a county you do not live in then it will be set aside IF you file the motion for improper service.

i just got a letter from these people yesterday and they claim i owe "GE Capital" which is a JOKE because GE Capital doesnt exist (or ive never heard of it) and if it DOES exist i sure as hell dont owe them. all my stuff's paid off. anyway i found them (first several google search results were complaints) i found them on ripoffreport.com and people had posted this link for help: http://www.budhibbs.com/bh/
so check them out. i just sent an email tonight so im waiting to hear back. lots of luck and keep us posted and DONT tell them anything honey they are FAKE:mad: