Two of my Sears accounts were purchased and placed with NAFS

Hi NDebt!!!! welcome!!!
I've not heard of this collection agency, but I'm sure there is someone else here that has and they will be along here shortly to help out if they can. I just wanted to welcome you and help push this post up to the front so others can see it. :D Shirley

I will say this much. I went and did a little research on this company and from what I have found, they are KNOWN for their harrassment!!! Hopefully someone will come along that has actually dealt with these people but from what I've read through doing a google search, they are huge harrassers in the worst way. There is a website of a law firm that represents themselves as 'consumer protection and class action lawyers' that have a list of collection agencies on their site that they are asking if anyone has any information on and your collection agency is on that list. Among many others. I take it that they've received complaints and are trying to collect up as much evidence on them as possible. This is a sign that they don't play fair. I will continue to research what I can until someone else comes along that maybe has actually dealt with these people. shirley

National Action Financial Service
3587 Pkwy Ln
Norcross, GA 30092-2827
(770) 248-9909

N A F S
(National Action Financial Services, Inc.)
165 Lawrence Bell Drive
Williamsville, NY 14221

Additional Business Names

Finance Services
N A F S
Sitel Corp..

Additional Telephone Numbers

(716) 565-1040
(716) 650-6240
(800) 695-9134
(800) 982-0484.

Additional Addresses

2877 Brandywine Rd. Ste. 300, Atlanta, GA 30341

5601 Bell Dr, Buffalo, NY 14186

7277 World Communications Dr., Omaha, NE 68122

P O Box 9027, Williamsville, NY 14231-9027

I got this info from the BBB, says they have a satisfactory record, and they are a BBB member.

NDebt,

First, collection agencies cannot bring lawsuit against you if they are not given the legal power by your creditor. Nor a collection agency, neither your creditor will be interested in settlement. It is the efficiency of your settlement company to convince them and get the settlement approved.

You can ask your settlement company to handle these accounts too. This will help you avoid the chaos. Or if you decide to do it yourself, then send them DV. This is the first step of debt validation. Once they receive your letter, they have 30 days to send all the details of the account. If you find any ambiguity in the validation, dispute it. If they cannot verify it, you need not pay them.

One more thing, have you tried talking your creditor? Inquire if you can settle the account directly with your creditor or not.

Isn't illegal for a Collections Agency to not identify theirselves?

NAFS(National Action Financial Services, Inc.)
165 Lawrence Bell Drive
Williamsville, NY 14221

CAller ID number will be 716 650 6240 and they will ask you to call......800 982 0484

?? 804. Acquisition of location information [15 USC 1692b]

Any debt collector communicating with any person other than the consumer for the purpose of acquiring location information about the consumer shall --

(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;

That's correct. You can file complaint against them with BBB, FTC and Attorney General as well. What is the purpose of the call, do you owe them?

If NAFS behaves themselves, treats you like a person, and obeys the fdcpa, you can trust them and work with them. If they do otherwise, tell them to pound sand, then go ahead and work something out with the original creditor, Sears.

Sears also contracts with LVNV who also contract with Protocol Recovery Service, both agencies are crap, so I would be leary of any collection agency in business with Sears, they don't seem especially concious of this.

i worked at nafs for years, in williamsville, ny. i can assure anyone who is being contacted by them for any reason, you need not fear a lawsuit. nafs doesn't own any of the paper placed in their office for collection. they are not authorized to initiate legal action on any account, and this is known throughout the office. therefore, for a collector to even suggest the possibility that they are going to sue you would be a direct violation of the fair debt collection practices act. be wary though, because there are many ways to insinuate a potential lawsuit, possibly by the original creditor or a law office down the road. just know that so long as the account is with nafs, there will be no legal action, whatsoever. and nafs themselves has absolutely no say or influence whatsoever when it comes to determining where the account goes once it is recalled from their office. this recall is usually done after 6 months, where no payments or arrangements have been set up.
now, although most collectors these days are, in fact, unethical when it comes to following the fdcpa, there are some collectors there who can be considered cooperative. a reduced settlement payoff is always an option, whether the collector admits to this or not, but not all clients that place their accounts at nafs for collection allow for multiple part settlements. most often, the client will require a settlement in one payment, or at least the lowest settlement quote must be made in one payment. hope this information is useful for somebody.

I have a Sears account that is now with Citibank. They arrangement they wanted to give me wasn't all that bad, but still unaffordable for me. They wouldn't budge. I contacted Sears directly and spoke with a manager who said that they could not discuss my account with me because it was now with Citibank and I needed to contact them. Sears did tell me that if I went into a Sears store, that they would accept payments from me. I have started doing this. It is not an arragement, but it is at least showing that I am making an effort to pay what I can and they are accepting it.