LVN Nightmare

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Originally Posted by Anonymous I just received a phone message from an "Officer" Hobbs saying I need to contact him asap because I'm being served papers.

OK, PLEASE, save this message. I hope you did not delete it. To use the term "officer" is a potential 1. Also, they said that you are being served papers. It is against federal law for them to tell you that they are going to take any action that they are not actually taking.

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I called the number back and found out it was LVN demanding immediate payment of $2,784.00 on an old account. If I did not pay within 24 hours, in full, they would put a lien on my car, go after my bank account and seize any assets I may have, which are none, because I too am a victim of this recession, have not worked in over a year, have lost everything and am currently collecting unemployment and going to school at night to hopefully get a more stable career.

A few things wrong here. First, this is called "overshadowing". The law requires them to allow you 30 days in which to dispute their claim from when they first contact you. If this is the first you have ever heard from them, then they cannot say to you "pay in 24 hours or else we're taking everything you own..."

Second, they cannot put a lein on anything, or go after any of your assets, or seize any bank account, they cannot do ANY of these things without first suing you and winning their case against you. This whole threat by them is illegal.


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After I got off the phone with Anna Beth from LVN, and by the way, the number I called back is 866-572-5990 and her direct line is 951-847-3309, I did a search for LVN and there was no shortage of negative info.

I'm guessing that this is LVNV youre referring to? If so, their violations of law are basically legendary....talk about a bunch of crooks!

What state do you live in? I am hoping that you live in a one-party state, because if you do, my best advice to you is to buy yourself a microcassette recorder that you plug into your telephone. I would DEFINITELY record their calls if your state allows--if you reply with the state you live in we will check to see if you can record there without telling them. If so, I would call them back, record the call, and tell them on the phone that you want validation of this debt sent to you. Chances are good that doing this will cause them to make more threats and break the law even more. If you get it on tape, I can then help you find a consumer attorney in your area--FDCPA violation cases are often taken by attorneys on contingency basis so you likely wont need money to hire an attorney. Then, that attorney will file suit against LVNV on your behalf. If you have them on tape breaking the law numerous times, as I suspect will happen, then you should have an easy time winning your case.....and then LVNV will have to PAY YOU MONEY for their retarded behavior.

How does that sound?

EDIT--ok, so I am an idiot, lol...

I didnt notice that you were in California until after I posted this.

In your state, all parties on a call must consent to being recorded. If you call them on the 866 number that you posted above, there may be a recorded message that says "calls may be recorded". If there is, then they have already given you tacit approval to record the call. By telling you that they might record the call, they cannot later object to that same call being recorded. I tried to call that number just now to see if there was such a statement, but since it is so early the phone just rang and rang. If there is no such recording, then I would state that this call may be recorded. If they object to it, then tell them that continuing the call gives you consent, because they have been notified. They will probably hang up. But it is worth a try. I would NOT call them unless you have a tape recorded hooked to your phone. Trust me, it is well worth the cost of buying that recorder. If you sue them and win, they will have to pay you as much as $1,000 plus attorney fees and court costs, plus any actual amount of damage that you may have incurred as a result of their violations.

When you spoke to them before, did anyone say anything about the call being recorded or monitored? Was there any recorded disclosure of that or did anyone say it? Hopefully so. For this, I would not call the direct line, I would call the main number, as you are more likely to get told this by calling the main number.