American Liberty Financial
Date: Thu, 09/07/2006 - 19:47
I was looking through various sites earlier this afternoon and came upon American Liberty Financial. I am about 11-12k in debt - 7k of it is current but paying minimum payments to get by - the rest is through a collection agency 'Asset Acceptance'. Asset Acceptance has been harassing me non-stop since June. Calling me @ work even when I told them to please not contact me there anymore (I was getting in trouble with the boss for personal calls) - they called last week to verify my employment and they called again this week to verify my employment as well! Guess it takes 2 times (thus far) to verify? Maybe its my voice :D I was told that because I refused to pay the amount they wanted they'd garnish my wages and take more... I offered what I could afford but they refused to accept. So now I am extremely worried - if/when they garnish me, will I still have money left over to pay my other bills?
Now, when I sent a contact letter to American Liberty Financial this afternoon I left a call back number and my email address. Few hours later while driving home a consultant from their company phoned me. He was telling me roughly what costs would be, etc.. and when I got home to check my email that he had attached the agreement form (.pdf file) and to fax it back to him tomorrow. Whilst reading through it, I noticed that it says to let all my accounts age at least 90 days.. I don't really want to do that with my current accounts (unless I must) - just the asset acceptance is the one that is hurting me (well all are technically, but that is the only one actually going 'after' me).
Some information that might be needed: I just purchased a car back in Feb. I got a credit report off freecreditreport.com to see how things were looking when I found I had the Asset Acceptance on there (along with some old library fee ^^) .. I wanted to clean my credit up with Asset, so I called them to arrange payment on the account, this is when they informed me that I had 4 more accounts with them (that somehow, for whatever reason did not appear on my credit report) - I agreed to pay them 100 per month, 20 per account.. Life happened, I had to move out of my parents home into my own place a few months later and contacted them asking if I could lower the payment to 25 for the time being to get my self settled (get a feel for what I would be forking out now that I have different living expenses) .. I didn't expect them to feel for me, for I know it was my fault that I have this debt to begin with and I was the one who wanted to clean it up - people make mistakes!! This is when the woman became very rude towards me then belittled my life, my job, my family... saying she was looking over my credit report and sees I have $$ available on different cards and that I am refusing to pay.. fact is, I didn't have the money available because they didn't update the actual $$ amount on the report, just the fact that I pay monthly. I know this because I have a membership now with freecreditreport.com since this past Feb. and frequently check myself (weekly at least). Sooo she said I refused to pay, when I just said I couldn't pay as much and now she said it was going to the legal dept. and that they'd get a garnishment going and I'd be sorry. :cry:
There is more to my situation, I will add more if needed. I would appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. I just want this nightmare/anxiety to finally end. I have considered filing BR - just.. I am not 'that' far in the hole, and I know the BR laws are a bit different now.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Crucia I always hear Asset Acceptance not a good collecti
Hi Crucia
I always hear Asset Acceptance not a good collection agency to work with. You will find numerous complaints against them in this forum as well as other online websites. Have you verified if they have your file before you send them any money? I think you should first check if they are authorized to collect the debt from you. If your file is not with them and you send your money out of fear, it will go into wrong hands. Make sure that they have fully followed the debt validation laws and give you the proper account info. If you haven't got anything in your mail, send a debt validation letter from your side requesting the info. They will be forced by laws to provide you the details of your request. Mention in the letter not to contact you by phone until the debt is properly given to you in writing. You will get a legal stand against them if they break the laws by contacting you before the validation request is complete.
I stand against filing for bankruptcy especially because of a collection agency like Asset Acceptance. This is no proof indeed that confirms their legitimate collections on you. Stand strong with your legal rights and get confirmed in writing whether their collection practice on you is genuine.
Do you want to read more about Asset Acceptance? Read the several posts in these links. It will arm you on how to deal with Asset Acceptance.
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about3349.html
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/unknown-acc.html
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about3349.html
Americain Liberty Financial
Please. Please do not sign up with this company. Learn from my mistake. They are a rip off company who screwed me out of more than 2300.00. I have currently filed a law suit against them. It is a nightmare and they will quickly fraud you. Please if you would like to know details of exactly what financial damage they have created for me and the lies they ask you to tell your creditors is unbelieveable you can contact me at email address removed - Jason. I hope i'm not too late in keeping you from making the biggest mistake of your life. I'm here to help.
Don't Be FOOLED
I am currently working with ALF and I am VERY UNHAPPY with the company!!! I started my account with them in September of 07' and they told me that I would be paid off in 18 months which at the time sounded really good and I thought I would save a lot of money by doing this.
I recently received a phone call from them telling me that if I would pay an extra $100 for the next three months I would be done making payments. Keep in mind it is now May 09', two months after when I was quoted as being done with the program. They faxed me a sheet today for my sigature that now says I will pay the extra $100 for 4 month and not the three months they initally told me over the phone.
So I called and wanted to discuss this with them at which point they told me I would have an additional two payments after that to pay off some constingency fee. Putting me at a total of 26 monts rather than the quoted 18 months. I AM PISSED OFF.
Already filed a complaint with FTC. Nothing came of it.
Already filed a complaint with FTC. Nothing came of it.
Excellent. Also with your state Attorney General? How's the
Excellent. Also with your state Attorney General?
How's the lawsuit going?
I was actually responding to the post right before mine (the new one). It's good to see you back, though. I look forward to an update on your case.
I too was working with American Liberty Financial but cancelled.
I too was working with American Liberty Financial but cancelled. They have no idea what they are doing. Very unprofessional, dodge phone calls constantly and never have any substantial answers when you have problems. I would never recommend this company.
American Liberty Financial
I question the veracity of posts criticising American Libery Financial. It's all too easy to be a collection agency who creates a posting account to criticise ALF. Credit collection agencies have direct reason to oppose and critisize ALF, because ALF works directly with lenders (and their agencies, if necessary) to negotiate a settlement for less than the full amount of the debt. This directly reduces the revenue of debt collection agencies because a collection agency receives more money from a lender if more money is collected on the debt. Accordingly, the lower a settlement amount that can be negotiated, the less the collection agency gets.
I've been working with ALF for more than two years. While they are not inexpensive, they have been taking care of business thus far. My wife and I chose not to declare bankruptcy, and have been working our way out of difficult financial circumstances, and ALF has been a part of our path.