Huge mess with Sears, Citibank, LVNV, Asset Acceptance and Capital Rec
Date: Wed, 03/25/2009 - 09:48
This is not asking for advice but a story that may help others.
I had a debt with Sears for $1300 that I fell behind on. I was hospitalized last fall and my husband took a call from citibank demanding payment. He arranged 2 payments to pay it off with a settlement. (he is on the card too so they could talk to him.) About 2 months later we got a letter from LVNV saying they now "own" the debt and we must pay it ASAP. My husband called Citibank AND Sears and they both said that the debt was paid off and not to worry. LVNV harrassed us for a couple weeks and we finally got a letter from Citibank and Sears that the debt is settled with zero dollar balance. We faxed a copy to LVNV and sent a copy certified mail to prove it. They still called 6 or 7 times a day and said that Citibank and Sears were lying to us and if we did not pay it they will keep calling day and night. They were so rude and horrible. Then one day they called and told us if we pay $400 it would resolve the matter. We again told them we do not have this debt anymore. They told us we could choose to believe their lies or we could do the right thing and pay.
Finally my husband talked directly to Sears who we found out sold this debt too LVNV and informed them to clear this up or we will seek legal action. They contacted them and we never heard again from LVNV.
3 weeks later we now get a letter from Asset Acceptance collecting the same debt that we paid. Then the phone calls started all day long. We contacted them and again they insisted we owed the debt and we needed to start acting like "trailor park trash" (their phrase, not mine) and pay up. They called my husbands employer, and our relatives to scare us. Around this time my husband ran into an old friend of his from high school who he found out is a bankruptcy and debt attorney. He stepped in and sent the ceise and disist letters. They ignored them until he called them and threatened to sue them for harrassment and the man on the phone stubbled and had no come backs! Issue resolved...or so we thought.
Enter Caprital Recovery! A month or so later THIS company tries to collect on the same debt! My husbands friend the attorney contaced them and got them off our backs. He then called Sears and really had it out with them because as he found out it was Sears who kept selling a paid off debt to these companies. Knowing their backs were against the wall they stopped selling the debt.
Our credit report has it paid with zero balance so that is ok but how horrible for them to keep doing this. My point in posting is to show this side of things where the original company was to blame for our mess. I hope no one else has to deal with something like this but having an attorney sure did help. I cannot stand how these companies treat people!
I had a debt with Sears for $1300 that I fell behind on. I was hospitalized last fall and my husband took a call from citibank demanding payment. He arranged 2 payments to pay it off with a settlement. (he is on the card too so they could talk to him.) About 2 months later we got a letter from LVNV saying they now "own" the debt and we must pay it ASAP. My husband called Citibank AND Sears and they both said that the debt was paid off and not to worry. LVNV harrassed us for a couple weeks and we finally got a letter from Citibank and Sears that the debt is settled with zero dollar balance. We faxed a copy to LVNV and sent a copy certified mail to prove it. They still called 6 or 7 times a day and said that Citibank and Sears were lying to us and if we did not pay it they will keep calling day and night. They were so rude and horrible. Then one day they called and told us if we pay $400 it would resolve the matter. We again told them we do not have this debt anymore. They told us we could choose to believe their lies or we could do the right thing and pay.
Finally my husband talked directly to Sears who we found out sold this debt too LVNV and informed them to clear this up or we will seek legal action. They contacted them and we never heard again from LVNV.
3 weeks later we now get a letter from Asset Acceptance collecting the same debt that we paid. Then the phone calls started all day long. We contacted them and again they insisted we owed the debt and we needed to start acting like "trailor park trash" (their phrase, not mine) and pay up. They called my husbands employer, and our relatives to scare us. Around this time my husband ran into an old friend of his from high school who he found out is a bankruptcy and debt attorney. He stepped in and sent the ceise and disist letters. They ignored them until he called them and threatened to sue them for harrassment and the man on the phone stubbled and had no come backs! Issue resolved...or so we thought.
Enter Caprital Recovery! A month or so later THIS company tries to collect on the same debt! My husbands friend the attorney contaced them and got them off our backs. He then called Sears and really had it out with them because as he found out it was Sears who kept selling a paid off debt to these companies. Knowing their backs were against the wall they stopped selling the debt.
Our credit report has it paid with zero balance so that is ok but how horrible for them to keep doing this. My point in posting is to show this side of things where the original company was to blame for our mess. I hope no one else has to deal with something like this but having an attorney sure did help. I cannot stand how these companies treat people!
I think that you should file a complaint against Sears with the
I think that you should file a complaint against Sears with the FTC. How can they sell the debt to a CA when they have already settled the debt with you and received the payment? It means that they are trying to earn both ways - from your through settlement and from the CAs by selling them the debt.
