Dorsey Thornton & Associates...law firm or collection agency?

A simple search of Dorsey Thornton & Associates will give you a lot of fishy responses. Ask them to validate the debt first. As per the FDCPA, they should send you a collection letter within 5 days of initial contact.

They haven't sent me a letter yet in the mail, but they did send one in writing as a "settlement letter". No where in the correspondence does it say I have a right to dispute the letter, or have 30 days to respond or anything like that. They refuse to send me anything that states so.

In fact, here is the verbiage from the letter I received:

Lender: Loan Payday.com
Amount Due: $856.52 ***(personal note: This was apparently on a $300 PDL)***
Date of Notice 11/24/10

Dear _________________

Our Office has assumed the responsibilitiy of obtaining a final decision regarding the above mentioned account.

Per our conversation, we are authorized to accept the following terms of a one time pay-off of $856.62, good for 11/24/10 on your account. This is an opportunity for you to uphold your legal obligation in respects to your lender. If for any reason you do not take advantage of this settlement offer by 11/25/10 then the offer becomes null & void and further colleciton activities will proceed. One the account has been satisfied all collection activities will cease and your account will be considered paid in full.

To speak with Agent David Allen, please contact this office at 404-935-9349.

Thank you in advance.

Send them a debt validation letter now. As per the FDCPA, they are required to validate the debt if you ask them to. If they do not comply to your request, file cases against them with the FTC.

Will do! Thanks!!

You are welcome 'rockinkiwi'. I hope you get more replies from other members too. And do keep us posted.

Howdy! Just wanted to give everyone an update on my issues with DTA. I received the e-mail from DT&A (mentioned in a previous post), and sent out a debt validation letter to the address shown on the letterhead on 12/2/10. I did not hear from them for the next few weeks. This past Friday (Jan 21) I received a phone call on my cell phone from them. They left a message. I immediately sent them an e-mail stating that they were not to call me anymore based on my letter from 12/2/10, and that they must validate the debt per my request.

Instead, I get the following e-mail about 10 minutes ago. Can you call this harrassment? I need to get a phone number for the state of PA's office to lodge a complaint and find out my rights.

DTA INVESTIGATIONS
January 23, 2011
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY, IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW.


(((NOTE TO READERS: THERE IS A LARGE PICTURE OF A DUDE WITH HANDCUFFS PLACED HERE IN MY E-MAIL....I couldn't get it to paste in for effect)))

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!

DTA has been hired to determine your liability in a check fraud case in reference to a returned check you wrote. We are assuming your innocence regarding this matter, however we must speak with you to make a final determination. We have been authorized by your bank and original creditor to pursue all permissible means to resolve this matter. Please click on link to see your state laws pertaining to bad checks. http://www.ckfraud.org/penalties.html. Contact our office immediately at 404-935-9490 between 9am-6pm Monday-Friday and ask for the check fraud department to give your statement. We are scheduled to process 3600 claims, don't let your case be one of them. If we do not hear from you we can only assume your guilt and we will proceed forth wit. Govern yourself accordingly.


CHECK FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS
****If you live in Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Georgia, please contact you District Attorney's office. You case has already been processed through us.****
This is an attempt to collect a bad check debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This communication is from a debt collector. Bad Checks are not subject to the provisions of the FDCPA.



Dorsey Thornton and Associates
DTA INVESTIGATIONS



It does give me the option to unsubscribe from their e-mails. I don't know what to do, but i need to make some serious phone calls in the AM. If anyone can direct me on who to call I'd appreciate it. I don't have a lawyer, and I can't afford one. I live in CT, but the alleged debt was from the State of PA. They can't tell me how much I originally owe, the real name of the vendor, etc.. But I cannot deal with assumed threats of arrest and whatnot.

Quote:

I received the exact same email yesterday out of the blue. I have never received any letters from this company stating debt. Today, the company called my job! Any advice? Does anyone know the laws pertaining to this in Texas? Any help would be appreciated.

well to rockinkiwi file an immediate AG complaint.you can forward that piece of garbage email as well then you reply to that by stating this.

dear losers.
i just received that ridiculous email,and was moved to file an AG complaint and forwarded that wonderful threat.i'm done dealing with you,and all calls will be recorded,or logged.also any further stupid emails will be forwarded as well.since you want to break the law and be the true criminals here.i'll treat you like it.

sincerely.......

anyway that is how i would respond.only after really filing the AG complaint.

I submitted a complaint to the AG of PA and CT last night and said that I would be happy to forward my e-mail correspondence to them for review. I received confirmation from the BBB and the FTC this morning that they received my complaint. Hopefully I'll be hearing from the AG of either state soon. I now live in CT, but PA is where they state I took out the loan as it was done in 2006, which was my state of residence at the time.

I do know that online PDLs are illegal in CT and in PA, and I do have a number for a woman that I spoke with in December. Unfortunately that number is at my office and I'm home today. I will be giving her a call tomorrow to advise her of the status of my situation. Thanks for the feedback.

Oh, and Paul, my e-mail would be more, um, strongly worded if I could get away with it. LOL They do give me the option to unsubscribe in those e-mails, but I don't want to do that yet. I'm going to wait this out to see how it plays.... :-)

well try to be better than they are.so to speak as they do push don't they?glad you filed them complaints,and part about the calls was in case you are in a two party state as you must inform them.cover your bases,but in reality i wouldn't respond if i where you.just keep forwarding to your AG,and ignore ther sorry a$$e$.

Update:
About a month ago I filed complaints with the BBB in Atlanta, GA, the PA State Attorney General's office, and also with the FTC. The PA AG's office has been in contact with me and asked me to keep them updated with any future communications that DTA has had with me. (They have continued to call, the last call being only 3 days ago.) The BBB received a "form message" response from DTA which gramatically didn't make any sense (and they also missed the requested deadline by 2 days). However in the letter it said they would cease calling me and (insert my name here) is closed........I don't know if they meant my account or something else (as I'm not sure how one closes a person). So I responded back and said I wasn't satisfied with the form message, asked for a validation of debt once again (which they still have yet to provide), and asked them to stop calling me. They then had until February 21 to respond....and they responded on the 22 with the EXACT same form message. Still no validation of debt.

Upon responding to the second form message I advised the BBB that this company still has yet to prove I owe any money, they continue to call me and leave messages on my cell phone, and once again requested a validation of debt, an explanation as to the form letter, and once again that they do not contact me by phone and only by mail.

To be continued....

I have the same exact company calling me for the same exact thing!! They said i owed $1,020 on a $225 check from a payday loan from back in 2007. They got $500 from me by scaring me saying id get jail time. it seems to be a fraud. on the 29th they are supposed to be takin $335 off my debit card. little do they know i changed my card info. they will be getting nothing else

Dear rockinkiwi,

I am going through a similar situation with these creeps, and I was wondering if you have their mailing address. I found their company on the BBB website for Atlanta, GA and then another listing for them under Dorsey, DORTON & Associates both of which listed mailing address, so I'm not sure which address to use. I want to send a request for debt validation and then a cease and desist letter, pursuant to our rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You can find information on the FDCPA at ftc.gov. Any help you can give is gratefully appreciated.

I filed a complaint two months ago with the FTC regarding Dorsey, Thornton & Assoc. They are trying to collect on a pay day loan I took out 4 yrs. ago that was discharged in a bankruptcy. These people cannot collect on a discharged debt and I did not commit check fraud, especially on a post-dated check. They have never sent me anything via mail. They call periodically saying they are detectives, investigators, etc. regarding a fraudulent check. If they are a legitimate company, they would know that they cannot leave that type of information with a person or even on a voicemail/answering machine - it is against FDCPA rules. If the law is going to prosecute, you would definitely receive correspondence from the governing office, so don't believe them when they call and say this. Also, they could not give me a mailing address when I asked, so I could send them a decease & desist letter, which tells them they cannot call or contact me - this is also FDCPA law. I looked up one of the other "owners" of this company, Michael something, who was sued in California for wrongful collection of a debt - the plaintiff won. What does that tell you? By the way, pay day laws state that interest cannot be collected after the maximum weeks of the loan is up, so if you have 10 weeks to pay off a loan, then it rolls over to collection, the interest through the end of the loan date is all you would owe. This is true for my state, so you should check the financial rules for your state. I would suggest filing a complaint with the FTC also. These people need to be shut down, but with so much fraud these days, I'm sure it will take years. Good luck!

Dorsey Thornton and Associates

7302 Basalt Dr
Union City GA 30291
877-278-5598 770-774-3597

Best of luck to you!

I filed a complaint against DTA with the FTC last week. I spoke with an FTC customer service rep today, and she told me that the FTC did NOT handle complaints on behalf of individual consumers. All the FTC will do is file a class action lawsuit if they receive enough complaints on a specific company.

This company is NOT legit. They left a voice mail to ME when the so called debt to a payday company that does not exist when it all was supposed to be about my husband. But only said MY name and made statements which I have saved that criminal actions for check fraud could be taken, said in 2006 a loan was taken and not paid for $496 but they now want $1800!!! Would take $371.50 weekly payments, said they would send me documents 5 days later nothing. We are not falling for this scam we have turned them into GA and MI state police, FBI, Criminal Fraud Division, BBB and also spoke with Atty General they ALL say it is a scam. If this happens save all contacts, emails, voice mails, times, names everything and report them Do NOT send them any $

Thanks for posting this address these people are lying crooks and I"m bout to bust there azz's up I have made several complaints with the little info we had including ftc, attorney general, sheriffs department, fbi all over but I had not address and they wouldnt send me proof of the debt well my husband. So now I have an address!! thanks :)~
Let me add this
Cease & Desist Letter (Stop Pesty Bill Collectors from bugging the shit out of you)

Regular Mail & Certified Mail #:
(Collection Agency)
Address
City, State, Zip
April 20, 2011
RE: Account # Account Number
(Original Creditor)
Amount in Dispute: $ Amount Claimed
Dear Collection Agency,
I am in receipt of your demand for payment. However, this Notice is to confirm that I do not wish to be contacted again by you, including but not limited to, parents, divisions, subsidiaries, partners, affiliates, successors, and assigns, as well as its respective offices, directors, stockholders, employees, representatives, agents, attorneys, insurers; and that you are hereby put on Notice to Cease Communication pursuant to 15 USC Section 1692c(c). Failure to comply with said Notice, shall result in a complaint filed and submitted to the Federal Trade Commission, and possible legal remedies in an appropriate United States District Court.
In addition, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT, I am not waiving my right, to dispute the alleged debt asserted herein, but at this time I am under no obligation, to respond as a result of (Original Creditor)???s. default.
Sincerely,
___________________________________________
Your Signature Date
___________________________________________
Spouses Signature Date
_______________________________________________________________
This is not part of that letter I just wanna tell you this is what you send to stop the pesty bill collectors from harassing you night and day! If these people continue to contact you after you have sent this and received confirmation back they received it!! remember 1000.00 you can sue for each federal law they break and contacting you is breaking a federal law after receiving this above notification. Also if some debt collector/agency threaten you with warrants or jail that is breaking a federal law. Do like me and record there ass's!!! I have someone threatening jail/felony warrant for something thats not even true! GRRRRRRR damn people i wanna smack the spit out of them!! just remember to send it this letter certified and registered for your proof to sue there ass's!!! for real!!!
Just some information which i've listed in other notes!
Debt Collectors ??? Collection Agencies ??? do NOT fall under Do NOT Call registry, as they are not telemarketers. However, they do constantly violate other Federal Laws, because us American's don't know the laws to protect us. They are counting on that.
- Federal Law says you don't have an obligation to Collection Agencies or Debt Collectors; you can send them a written letter and they cannot contact you after that. This includes Attorney's in state's other than your state of residence. The only Attorney's that can sue you, have to be licensed in your resident state.
A word of caution: Some Law Firms do have Firms in other states, and Lawyers licensed in other states, so you have to do a little research before sending a Cease & Desist (Do Not Call & Go Away letter) to make sure they aren't in your resident state or you're likely to get sued by these #%#&*@!#%&@$^*.
Once a debt collector makes contact with you, they also have to contact you within 5 days after the first phone call, letter etc., and give you validation/proof or judgment of the debt. You are not required to ask for it. They never do this!!!!
This law is known as the Fair Debt Collector Practices Act. You can get it at FTC.gov; as well as other Consumer Protection Laws.
Most collection agencies, purchase your delinquent debt for pennies on the dollar. Guess what? It is no longer your debt!!! You don't have any agreement/contract with the debt collector or collection agency. Your only agreement/contract was with the original creditor.
Do NOT agree to any payment arrangements, or you'll be creating an agreement/contract, where upon initial contact by the Debt Collector, one didn't exist. The collection agencies are counting on you not knowing this little bit of information.
The best advice I can give you is, do NOT talk to these idiots - they will leave you in a frustrated heap on the floor. They lie, and will tell you whatever they need, in order to get you to commit to paying them.
The lies are illegal, but they honestly don't care, they're probably on commission for how much they collect from you and others like you.
If you do answer the phone, do NOT give out your employer, social security #, DL #, Credit Card and/or Bank information, or any personal information. Tell them to send you a written statement & you'll respond. Then hang up. When you get that statement, google, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and you'll probably find a letter you can send them Or: send the letter I???ve enclosed that I use.
Let me also add you can sue this company for $1000.00 per federal law they break so start searching internet and learn what these laws are so you can do what I plan on doing! they can pay any other debt I owe cuz I'm getting these mofo's specially now that I have an address. you have to prove it which I can I have the videos upload to youtube of them calling and still have all the messages Ok let me say this again is for my husband but its just like me to lmao :)~ I'm tired of these aholes calling my house all hours of day, but they do it randomly like nothing for 3 months then all the sudden 5 calls in one day. Gahhhh but any who if you want to know anything ask.
I hope this info helps someone!!
and the original poster of this message THIS COMPANY IS BOGUS POS THEY CANNOT GET YOU FOR FELONY DONT WORRY ABOUT!! Seriously, my husbands getting to law enforcement so eventually somethings gonna happen if they keep threatening a soon to be officer with warrants and felonies, someone will be knocking on there doors!!
Good Luck Every One!!!

It was back in February I received a call from a gentlemen who first called my brother telling him I was committing Fraud etc which in turn lead to ugly fights in my family. I got caught upa few years back in the whole payday loan thing. Expensive lesson learned!!!! They kept selling my loans to this person and that person. Soon I didn't know who was accessing my bank account and the NSF fee's were eating up my paycheck literally. I closed the account on the advice of my bank and figured any company who I truly owe can contact me and I will resolve immediately. A couple did and I paid on good terms as I knew I did in fact owe some money. However, 2nd expensive lesson learned I never got the final letter showing debt collected in full. Thus more and more agencies started to call me to collect and I finally smartened up and started documenting everything. Only 1 company sent me a settlement letter, and a final letter. I never received a call EVER again from them or any other company trying to collect on that same original loan. However, I had a loan which originated whi Husk Hawk Mgmt. I was collected by an agency King, King & Assoc's whom I paid and never received docs from. I am still in communications with them to obtain as Dorsey Thornton & Assoc's is collecting on the very same debt from me. They was $1980. I was in good faith making payments to them but stopped when they failed to provide me with documentation. 3rd time a charmer? I hope so. I was being emotinal and nervous and scared. I allowed ALL of thes people to play on that as I just started a new job when all of this came about for half the income I was previously making due to the economy. I could not afford to lose my job, or have this become a problem with harrasing calls to them. I am the provider of insurance etc in my house, and thinking of 2 kdis, keeping a job etc tried to handle this but in the end I am out too much money. DTA has been calling me and making threats etc which I have held my ground saying go ahead I am in the right. Any judge can see from phone records I have been in communications, I attempted to pay in good faith, but since this company refuses to provide me with any doc's to prove original debt owed, or give me their address info, I have REFUSED to pay any more. Reading this blog makes me feel somewhat better knowing I am not the only one dealing with these people, and yet I am still in the learning process because I feel I am owed all the money I have paid these people already back. Any thoughts out there are appreciated.

:sad:

No documents, no payments. What you are doing now is right and if required you can even consult a lawyer and file complaints against this company with the FTC. They are supposed to provide you with document against your payments. However, another thing that you can do in order to prove that you have been making payments is your payment receipts.

I also received a letter today from these WINDOW LICKERS! Exact same set up. Only thing different was the manager name (which was Ms. Brittney Hall) and the phone number. I had a problem with some other scammers last year, threatening to put me in jail for fraud. They stated I had money deposited in an account, only problem is the account they stated had been closed for several years and the date they stated it was deposited was after the account was closed. Now, this company is stating the same thing for the same account. Also, the other problem is, I never even took out a payday loan. They told me before that I would go to jail unless I paid a certain amount. They told it was under some law. i called my lawyer and he stated there was no such law and it was a scam. I called the guy back and he got mad and stated my lawyer was stupid and that they would see me in court. These J***OFFS are stupid.