Hi Im new to this trying to remove collections, ive read alot of great information on this forum, its really a great resource. i have a few basic questions that i couldnt find by searching the forum. 1) If it gets to the point that you are going to sue a CA, do you get to sue them in YOUR county? or do you have to goto and file in THEIR county? 2) my wife has a bunch of small collections, like $30-$50 range (I know, dumb, why didnt she just pay the bill).. are those CA's more likely to cave in and just not bother validating small claims like that? what has been your experience as a "cut off" amount where they dont bother. 3) NCO financial seems to be famous on our credit reports... how are they to get off of? 4) Cap One, another good one on ours, any experience with them? 5) what if you do a DV and they just send you back junk, or not all the information? what next? (cant seem to find an answer to that) 6) does this really work? is there any recommended websites with step by step directions? thanks so much
1.file where you live.2.it depends but most are like that neighbor you dread coming over.3.they can be tough but right now there having a lot of legal problems4.bulldogs 5.if it's junk send them the second letter,chances are you won't get anything,got to stay on them 6.yes i've had 10 removed in a little over a month.remember what seems impossible is not have patience takes time.remember it doesn't matter the amount they just like screwing you.
thats great you had 10 removed. if you dont mind me asking, what type of collections were they? (IE: big/small, medical/creditor etc..) just trying to get a feel, also, was it one month start to finish? also, another question i thought of, if you sue a CA that resides in another state, and you sue them in your area.. cant they claim a change of venue?
1,big/small,medical/creditor.well first i read all the things on this site.studied the posts for about a month before i did my first post,the information i got was very helpful.3.I believe they can only ask in a criminal trial/
In your own county, but check your local rules. Generally, the violations occurred where you live. The collection agency "came into" your county by contacting you. Again, check local rules. In North Carolina you can't sue them in magistrate's court (small claims) because the magistrate rules specify that you have to file suit in the defendant's county. But in Superior Court you can. When I started out, the first thing I did was to dispute every baddie on my credit report. (I was ignorant, that's not how I would do it now.) A bunch of them just went away, including some fairly large ones ($300 - 500). On the other hand, I have a Medical Collection for $19 that I finally paid. It's just not going to come off my reports for anything. The CA is a bulldog. I couldn't get them to work with me. Eventually the OC took the account back from them and agreed to PFD. But NCO was never actually on my report, the OC was reporting and NCO was trying to collect. Cap One is another that I eventually paid, and I'm sure they will be on my report for the seven year max reporting period. I send another Goodwill letter every six weeks or so, but with no response. It depends. The FDCPA is rather vague about what constitutes validation. Those "full media validation" letters that you see floating around are not based on any actual law. But the fact is that if they should actually sue you for the debt, they WILL be required to prove that you really owe the debt. If you think they can prove it, you should try to settle (unless the Statute of Limitations has expired). If you think they can't, then you have some leverage. But if they sent you the name and address of the original creditor and the amount owed, they have probably satisfied the requirements of the FDCPA. Personally, I send a DV, and when I get the green card back I dispute with the CRA's. If they verify the information with the CRA's before they send you validation, that's "continued collection activity" and an FDCPA violation (assuming that you sent the DV within 30 days of their initial contact). In the last four months my credit scores have increased by 100 points. I started with eight OC's reporting negative information, and six collection agencies. I'm down to two collection agencies and two OC's that will probably just have to age off the reports. I got as far as actually filing a lawsuit against one collection agency. I got a letter from their lawyer yesterday offering to send me $3,000 to settle out of court, but I'm going to contact them and tell them they need to add another zero on the end before I'll consider their offer (since the CA screwed up big-time). I've found lots of help on this board, but for information specifically about filing a lawsuit against a collection agency, I've gotten lots of help from http://www.debtorboards.com.
tv thanks for the reply "Personally, I send a DV, and when I get the green card back I dispute with the CRA's. If they verify the information with the CRA's before they send you validation, that's "continued collection activity" and an FDCPA violation (assuming that you sent the DV within 30 days of their initial contact)." i'm confused with that, your saying if the CRA validates the debt before the OC validates it, its a violation? what do you do then? another though on the suing.. what if you get a validation back and you dont agree with it/like it whatever. if you then sue the CA in your local small claims, i got to think they wouldnt want to defend that (especially if its a small amount) since most of them are out of state. I wonder if anyone has done that. i know in my case, im not interested in the amount, im interested in getting it off the report.
Suing in small claims is mostly fruitless. Most judges in small claims don't understand the FCRA and FDCPA. They feel like if you owe money you should pay it. The CA would most likely hire an attorney in your area to show up for them.
even for small amounts (say its like a $50 debt, and you only sue for like $50, your only doing it to get the thing removed)
Then what happens when their lawyer shows up and says "your honor, this man owes us $50 and he won't pay." If the judge looks at you and asks if you owe the $50, what do you say? If yes, he'll likely make you pay them. Small claims judges don't understand the all of the implications of the federal law, in many cases.
Small claims is very simple you have about 5 minutes to present your case.Your honor i only want to get this removed from my credit report.He asks is this a valid debt 1. yes 2.pony up the dough!we find for defendant.Is it fair?yes you owe the money.you need to settle the credit report out of court.
if you read what i asked, i said if you get the validation back and and you dont agree with it. i would say "no judge its not, here is the proof" etc.. also, i dont know how it is there, but here in florida small claims is alot different. its actually a long process to see a judge, first you go in, they run through the 100+ cases scheduled.. if a party isnt there, its "default", stamped, put in a pile. if both are there, you are required to go to mediation first. if you get that far, then 3-4 MONTHS later you come back and you might see the judge. I have sued and been sued, the courts are terrible here. And the best part here in florida. if they wish to countersue, its $250 min filing fee. so court just doesnt make alpot of financial sense here. (sueing someone for $50, costs $70 to file, for them to file countersuit, its $250) it really is a joke, its more for the principle than anything
