I was contacted yesterday by a debt collector who told me that if I did not make a payment before the end of the day that it would be forwared to an attorney. The account was with target so I went to the store and paid it off. I was also told that I would only be contacted this one time. This morning they called me again. They did not leave a message but I do have the record of their call on my phone and cellular bill. I later called back and talked to a supervisor, told him that it was paid and asked if they had ever intended to forward it to an atty. He said no. I do have a recording of that conversation, but not the first one. Therefore, haven't they violated federal law? If so what is my recourse? Also does anyone know the law regarding recording telephone conversations in Iowa? I know some states require you to inform the other party, some dont. Thanks!
This is a very close one, on the surface it would appear they have violated the FDCPA, by stating they were going to take a legal action that they did not intent to, or had proven they could. But...they "actually" did not say they were going to sue, or take some legal action. They said they would forward it to an attorney, they were perhaps careful not to say anything about legal action. I'm not sure what your objective is here. Are you looking for grounds for suit, and what do you hope to gain from the suit? It may be best to put this behind you, but if you feel you should pursue this, then contact your state's Bar Association for attorneys who handle these types of cases. This would be a tough case, and you should find strong representation, if you feel it is worth pursuing.
Personally I could care less about suing, I would like to use it to get the neg removed from the CRA though.
But with them paid, the only way that's gonna happen is if you sue. By paying so fast you lost all your leverage.
Yes I considered that. However, I had spoken to several ppl who said that they had had good luck with getting Target to remove negs using good will letters and PFB after they had paid it (another reason that I decided to pay). However, I was hoping that I might be able to use this violation to help that along as it where. Also FYI for anyone that is curious, Target does not blacklist according to their rep.
Well, considering that it is indeed paid, you're not disputing the underlying debt rather, the collection effort regarding it, you may have some leverage. While this would be the most dubious of claims in a judicial forum (bear in mind that these typically yield 1.5k on average nonetheless), you could still use this to facilitate deletion. The first step would be to write an officer within Target and explain the circumstances, what you've encountered, and detail what you want/intend to do absent your demand. Copy your State AG, the BBB, FTC, and a private attorney located near them or you. Dispute the tradeline through the credit reporting agenices thereafter. Target the account status, date of state/initial delinquency, account history and so and so forth. If they verify it without marking it as being in dispute, you have more leverage and at this point, a viable cause of action under federal law. My feeling is that a sternly worded letter after the verification of some data field which was inaccurate/incomplete would produce a deletion. After all, what incentive would they have to waive a carrot before you insofar as you've already paid them . . .
Are you referring to the CA tradeline, or the Target tradeline? Depending upon the timing involved here, perhaps the CA has not reported yet. What is showing (exactly) on your credit reports?
