Do not call a collection agency - ever.

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by EquiFux, Mar 3, 2010.

  1. EquiFux

    EquiFux New Member

    I got a call last night from a collection agency. Actually a recorded message. The message was vague and just said it was an attempt to collect on a debt.

    I have no idea who this person is so I call the number they provide. I am told the call is in regards to a debt from 2004. I am then told that by calling them back I have "ACTIVATED" the account and just added 7.5 years to this debt.

    I called FICO to confirm and they say this is true.


    I was trapped into calling a vague number to verify information and by doing that re-activated an account from 2004.

    With that in mind they are forcing the consumer to stop all communications with Collection Agencys. DO NOT CONTACT THEM EVER. IGNORE THEM AND STORE THEIR ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT YOU FOR HARRASMENT. THERE IS NO BENEFIT FROM CONTACTING A COLLECTION AGENCY.

    I hope as many people as possible read this. I have been very dillegent in my searches and not read anything like this once. I'm glad I could bring it to the attention of the few who might see this.
     
  2. Hedwig

    Hedwig Well-Known Member

    It does NOT reset the clock. The debt can be reported for seven years based on the delinquency date.

    In some states, promising to pay can reset the statute of limitations for collecting (which is different from the reporting period). So you should always record calls if you talk to them.

    You need to send them a validation letter NOW. Certified, return receipt requested.
     
  3. apexcrsrv

    apexcrsrv Well-Known Member

    You didn't reset anything.
     
  4. peeper

    peeper Well-Known Member

    Never ever talk or call a debt collector.They lie every time they move their lips.You have nothing to gain by talking to these bottom feeders.
     
  5. EquiFux

    EquiFux New Member

    I have now heard FICO lie to me twice about seperate issues.

    Why are the people at FICO lying too? WOW!
     
  6. Hedwig

    Hedwig Well-Known Member

    Are you calling Fair Isaac or some agency that uses FICO? The FICO model is proprietary, and I'm sure that only a few people really understand it. Most of what you hear put forth as fact is really someone's perception or analysis.

    But the reporting period isn't up to FICO. It's a federal law.
     
  7. apexcrsrv

    apexcrsrv Well-Known Member

    Because Fair Isaac and the credit reporting agencies both offer debt collection tools. In other words, it behooves them both get you to pay, thereby lower your scores, and make you spend more money.
     
  8. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    I can agree with what you have said about never call a debt collector. The way I feel about it that if they want to talk to me then let them call me. After all, what are they going to tell me that I didn't already know before they ever got my debt? They have no new information that would be of any use to me.

    I also get a bang out of those who have a dialer call me and tell me that someone has important information for me but are busy with other customers at the moment and will I please wait for the next available customer service representative.

    Of course I'm not going to wait for the next fool to come on the phone and jack his/her jaws with a bunch of nonsensical verbage. Any time I get a phone call with important new information I just hang up the phone and put their number in my contacts list and the next time that number shows up I just punch the ignore key. Salesmen only get one call and that is it. They had better make it a good one because they aren't going to get a second chance.

    I'm always glad to talk to debt collectors when they call me so I can run them down my list of 18 questions for debt collectors. That's a lot of fun but after they have answered them or attempted to answer them they just seem to forget I even exist

    I've had to laugh quite a few times when one or another of them call and recognize my voice and then hang up without saying a word. They already been there and wore that dirty T-shirt too many times for their comfort. (LOL)
     
  9. danimaltex

    danimaltex Member

    Hey Bill - i would be interested in your 18 questions.... have them handy?
     
  10. bluesmap

    bluesmap Member

    check your credit report and check out the dates. if the raged it they have just violated your federally. federal law states that the statute of limitations are based on date of first delinquency which must (maybe should was the word) be in your credit report. absent date of first delinquency they cant determine when SOL will run out.

    dont let them scare you
     
  11. bluesmap

    bluesmap Member

    anyway, check out section 623(a)(5) of the FCRA and see if it applies to you

    Section 623(a)(5) of the amended FCRA, the provision that specifies exact dates to be provided by furnishers of data to CRAs, states that a party that reports "information . . . regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action" must provide the CRA with "the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the action."
     
  12. apexcrsrv

    apexcrsrv Well-Known Member

    Good cite . . . just don't reference the code in a communication to a credit reporting agency. It's over their heads.
     
  13. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    Sure! All you have to do is click on my signature line below and go to my google docs page and you will find it there.
     
  14. Dumb Bob

    Dumb Bob Well-Known Member

    But what if you don't have anyone else to talk to? Sure, Dumb Bob has plenty of irritating people who want to discuss various things with him on the phone. What if you don't? You might wish to call up a debt collector and discuss this or that. Don't be so completely convinced in your analysis.
     
  15. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    Quite an observation Dbob. While I cannot speak for others, personally I would not even dream of calling up anyone so obviously infected with a severe case of optical rectalosis to discuss anything.

    Equally obvious is the fact that most people aren't aware of that horrendous disease and the fact that it can indeed be transmitted from person to person by just about any method of human communication.

    For instance, one of my students who lives here in OKC called me up yesterday afternoon and alerted me to an article in the Dallas Observer written by reporter Kimberly Thorpe. Vance thought that it was a great article and wanted to discuss it with me. He sent me a link to the article and I went to read the article. I was amazed to see who the reporter had interviewed and written her article about and how much heated discussion had been generated by people on both sides of the issue. More than 150 people have commented on the article and what their opinions were. Since I have a great deal of experience with the person Ms. Thorpe interviewed it was easy to see that she had simply not done her investigative home work to learn more about the background of the person she interviewed and a friend that person mentioned. I was quite intrigued by the fact that the two persons even knew each other but then birds of a feather tend to flock together. Yes, the article was about debt collectors and filing federal lawsuits against them. Quite interesting and of course I'll be providing the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey used to say) on my google docs pages later today.
     

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