threating phone calls - legal mediation practice

Legal Mediation [mal]Practice is scum of the worst variety. They and their antics are well known on this board. Go here for a lengthy thread devoted to them. A search on this site will turn up more, as will searches on budhibbs.com, ripoffreport,com, and the BBB. Best of luck, and holler if we can help.

Hello,
I got trapped up in the payday loans scam & now planning to file Chapter 13 to get them off my back. They have threatened me with all kinds of tactics to the point that I have had a nervous breakdown. I had no intention of not paying the loans back but things hit rock bottom & I never saw my check. This company(listed in subject line) keeps calling me & threatenting me.
Are they really just a bunch of hot air people making us feel like we are criminals?
KL

Yes, and they are scum. I'd just keep the phone off the hook, or turn the ringer off.

Well, KL504, the good people at Legal Mediation Practice (trying to be nice and not use any profanity) are about as close to criminals as one can get. More so than the debtors they claim are the criminals and they harass and violate the fdcpa at every turn with.

Of note, once LMP knows you are represented by an attorney (as you stated you are filing chapter 13) they are not allowed to contact you directly, they are only supposed to contact your attorney. Have your attorney contact them and remind them of this fact, and that they are violating the FDCPA.

The only thing completely ignoring them will get them to do is start calling your neighbors, family, friends, employers, 2nd grade teacher, family dog, etc. telling them your personal business (also an FDCPA violation) and trying to embarrass you. MarkOfKane, no need to leave the phone off the hook or turn off your ringer in order to avoid being harassed by these @$$clowns, just send them a debt validation/cease and desist letter. Then sue the pants off them when they violate the cease and desist request, which they most definitely will do.

They did with me and I sued them.

Do not let the idiots at Il-Legal Mediation Mal-Practice make you live in fear of your telephone! You have a useful tool at your disposal, the FDCPA, that can bring these idiots under control.

Also, very important, be sure to file all complaints of FDCPA violations with the FTC, your state's Attorney General's Office, and the Florida Attorney General's Office. It will probably be the only way to shut these idiots down, or at the very least get them to obey the FDCPA.

UR, you are probably right, but the calls will continue until they get the C&D letter, and IF they honor it. I am used to the ringer off and phone off the hook trick to have peace with those scummy telemarketer for over a decade.
but yeah, I hate it when morons USE MY PHONE against me.

MarkOfKane I was right there with you in feeling that way about a year ago, I kept the ringer on my phone turned off and cringed whenever I saw it light up from an incoming call. Now that I know more about my rights under the fdcpa, and am better physically and mentally able to handle these things, I actually enjoy answering phone calls from the CA's that call. It's become like a game to me, to see how fast the CA can violate the FDCPA in that phone call.

And believe me, it's usually pretty darn fast, like "0 to 60 MPH in 1 second" fast.

My best advice would be not to let these people make you feel like a prisoner in your own home. I do know it is very hard not to, but it is not good for you. I truly believe it affects your mental as well as physical health in very negative ways.

I am speaking from firsthand experience with this.

We here in this forum are always here to offer advice and, sometimes even more important, support to you or whoever else might need it. I am constantly amazed at how much I have learned in the short time I have been a member of this forum.

Have you already filed Chapter 13? If not, can I suggest you check out the get out of payday forum first? You might not have to file for the payday loans. Depending on your location, where you got the loans from, and how much you have already paid, you may have other options. I currenlty have defaulted on 4 payday loans, most of which I found out are illegal. So, before you file, check out that forum, and maybe make a new post stating where you are, who u have loans with, and how much you've paid and the wonderful people there will help you out.

It wasn't bill collectors, it was telemarketers. The fdcpa does not have anything to do with people trying to sell stuff, services, or ask for donations. I haven't yet been harassed at home by any bill collectors, but constant calls from idiots that I never asked to call me. A lot of times when I answered, it was dead air.
Other times it was people trying to get me to switch to AT&T long distance, by septic tank cleaner, etc, etc. The DNC list stopped most of the calls, but we still get one or 2 calls a day. Since nobody calls us that we know except once in great while, I find it more peaceful to turn the phone off. That way, I don't have to wait for the other shoe to drop. I miss the days when the only calls we got was from friends, family, and the occasional wrong number.

Ooops, I guess I misunderstood you.

Hey, I've been there with telemarketers too. I can always tell it's a telemarketer that's calling, because they never pronounce my last name right. So I know they're reading it as they go along. I usually tell them, once they have mutilated my name, they have the wrong number.

And you are absolutely correct, that DNC list does not it any way stop all the telemarketing calls. I've put my mother's phone number on it for her, via the internet, numerous times now and she still gets telemarketing calls.

The worse offender is AT&T, once they purchased BellSouth here in Florida, they call her about 4 times a day trying to sell her crap. The DNC list doesn't work on them because she already has her phone service through them, and it doesn't apply to telemarketers you are already doing business with.

It should, though. No telemarketing calls should mean no telemarketing calls.

It's that simple.

Sorry if I misunderstood you MarkOfKane.