This is a slightly convoluted story, so I'm sorry in advance. (1) I had several past-due parking tickets. Some were from 2004, a few others were from 2010. They had all gone into collections. (2) I sent a check to the court to pay my past due tickets from 2010. I had no immediate intention of paying my past due tickets from 2004 because (a) I'm not 100% sure they're actually mine [this is another story] and want to investigate that question further first, and, (b) the SOL is up in less than a year. (3) On the check I listed, in the memo line, each ticket number and enclosed a copy of the court-generated request-for-payment cards referencing said ticket numbers. (4) The court received the check, cashed it and then submitted payment to the collections agency. (5) The collections agency applied this payment to the 2004 past-due tickets (again, in the memo line of my check it listed the specific citations numbers I'd intended for payment to be applied against, none of which were the 2004 citations). (6) I called the court who were very helpful and friendly. They said the collections agency just tends to apply payment to the oldest ticket first but to give them a call and tell them where I want it applied. (7) I called the CA. The CA said they won't do anything without a copy of the canceled check. (8) I faxed them a copy of the canceled check. --> At this point it bears notice that the court - prior to cashing my check - wrote my account number (a six-digit number) on the top of the check. To clarify, I did -not- write this number on the check, I only wrote the specific citation numbers to which I wanted payment applied. (9) The CA called back and said because *I* had wrote my account number on the top of the check they would apply it to whatever tickets in that account number they wanted, which were the oldest ones. (10) I told CA *I* had never written the account number on the check; the court had done that without my knowledge, permission or attention. (11) The CA said my handwriting clearly matched and it was obvious I had written the account number on the top of the check. FYI - here is a portion of the check. The account number (written by the court) is at the top. (I've blurred the last 3 digits.) The date (written by me) is representative of my handwriting. img714.imageshack.us/img714/2900/partw.jpg How would you proceed in this situation?
This is a tough one. They've got your money now, so it's going to be really difficult to get them to change how it was applied to your account. I don't know how much all of this was in total, but it may not be worth the effort in the long run to get it all fixed. That said, if the older tickets were not yours in the first place, then I would definitely keep fighting to prove your case. What kind of documentation do you have that the old tickets weren't even yours? Have you spoken with an attorney about your chances of getting those old tickets removed, or were you just planning on waiting for the SOL to run?
The total amount was just over $400 ... as for the old tickets, they're worth (with the addition of 6 years of interest and late penalties) just about as much so I don't really think I'd plan on shelling out cash for an attorney. To prove they're not mine, while possibly doable, would have been much more work than just waiting 5 months for the SOL to run out (they're not even on my credit report). (Of course, that's obviously the reason the CA wants to apply my payment for my legitimately owed, more recent, tickets to these old ones.)
In all honesty, the gall of the CA to say that the handwriting on the top of the check I scanned here and my handwriting (as shown on the dateline) is "obviously the same" when a kindergartner could tell the obvious difference in the larger font, looped 2s, etc. is so utterly beguiling that I'd be willing to just shell out the cash for an attorney and a handwriting expert to sort the matter out just to enhance my calm. I wouldn't care if I ended up in the hole as long as I was sure I had enough of a case to win, but if they can legally just apply anything they receive to anything they want then obviously that's not worth my energy.
I guess what I find really frustrating is that the court (if the CA is the agent of the court) altered my check (by the addition of my account number) and then is claiming *I* made that alteration, as a result of which I've been bound to certain actions (the debiting of funds from my bank account for services for which I have not contracted [the clearing of tickets other than those I wished and specified to be cleared]). As far as I can tell that's not even a question of mundane civil collections law anymore but criminal forgery (assuming a check is a legal instrument, can one alter a legal instrument with writing, claim the writing was made by the executor of that instrument when they were not and then hold the executor to account for that writing as a contract point). Of course, there's no such thing as private prosecution in the U.S. and, even if there were, it's not like you can file a criminal complaint against a municipal court.
I certainly understand where you're coming from. I would be really annoyed too. It's perfectly clear that the writing on the top of the check is not yours. I hate to say it, but I don't know if the fight is going to be worth it to you though. I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem logical to me that they could have the right to apply your payments to the oldest debt associated with your account. Even if your account number wasn't on the check, there's a good chance your name would have been associated with the account number in their system when they received your payment and you would have experienced the same result. And if none of this is showing up on your credit reports and damaging your credit scores in the first place, you may just want to pay up and move on.
Personally I would consider filing a small claims court suit against the collection agency for the full amount that you sent them plus court costs as they applied your payment - not to the debt that you requested it be applied to. Consider this. If Portfollio Recovery happens to own both your 1997 charged off Capital One Visa account, and your 2008 charged off Chase Visa Account, and you send them a check for a payment indicating on the front of the check that this payment is to be applied to the Chase account # 123-4567-890 - then they are defrauding you if they apply it to the old account. It almost looks to me like they are trying to apply the payment to the old debt in order to try and re-age it. It's more the principal of the thing. Anyway, the $80 or so that it will cost to file would be cheaper than re-paying the $400 for the modern tickets, and would likely garner you a little more cooperation from the CA in getting them to credit the correct debts.
Gosh I think I would have to get my bank involved because someone altered my check and see if they could do anything about it. Our bank is big on fraud.
