Had a large balance with MBNA and was on a repayment program. Long story short -- made a late payment and was told the the govt required them to close my account. Many tears and phone calls later, I receive a letter from Creditors Interchange indicating that I now have to deal with them. They are calling repeatedly (e.g. 7 times in 4 minutes) and left messages indicating that they have called family members. I just sent them a debt validation letter, but need to know what to do after that. I am not disputing the debt (tho have had NO verbal contact with them in regards to that fact-it will all be in writing), but am honestly petrified of having to deal with a company that is definitely teetering on the line of harassment. A list of 'next-steps' would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
How old is this debt? If its more than 3-6 months tell them you got a copy of your report and now you want to know if they got the following: 1) a sign doc from the debtor that give them the right to come at you? Why you ask? Cause under the FTC they have to and its the law if they dont they got to stop bothering you and remove it from your report 9 times out of ten they buy your debt from other collectors that a no no... thats just one thing theres alot more you can do tell me if that helps....
1) if you sent them a request for validation, then you want them to call you. You want them to call you A LOT! because each call is a violation of the FDCPA. They aren't supposed to call you after you send a request for validation until they send you said validation. 2) Collectors (a.k.a. Junk Debt Buyers or JDBs) buy and sell bad-debt accounts all the time and it's perfectly legal. Once they get your name and number they can start calling to try and collect on it. You need to make sure they try and collect within the law and, unfortunately, you need to take them to court if they don't.
I'm sure they will be able to validate it .. I just made a pmt to the OC @ the end of May ... received the CA letter dated June 7th. Once they do though, what should my next step be? I still have a large balance to pay off and worry that because of that the CA will be more likely to sue. I'm not interested in going to court, I just don't want to make any amateur moves that will create even more stress.
You might not be interested in going to court. Nobody really is except lawyers and they really don't want to either if they can win without going to court. I think that unless you can afford to pay them off you would be well advised to learn how to deal with the debt collectors and take them to court before they take you to court. Dealing with courts and court cases is really not all that difficult and can even be fun. I'm dealing with a case right now over an auto repossession and I'm having lots of fun with it and will be having lots more as time goes on. I'll probably lose in local court. Most people do but I'm about to turn the tables on them and take them to federal court. I have a hearing set for July 1st in local court on my motion to deem admitted. I'll have to see how that goes. I'm dealing with the same thing for a friend here in OKC who is facing a foreclosure. We sent demand for admissions and they never responded. When we filed motion to deem admitted they asked for an additional 10 days to respond which the court granted them and more than 20 days have passed and still no response so now we are going for a second motion to deem admitted. The admissions we want deemed admitted will ruin their case for good if the court goes along with it and since they failed to respond even after the court ordered them to respond within 10 days I would like to think the court will nail their hide to the proverbial cross. We will just have to see about that in a few days. That still don't mean that my friend will get his home free and clear but at least they won't be able to just boot him out on the streets. It appears that you hope to accomplish something without putting up a good fight and that isn't likely to happen.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but spending time in a courtroom doesn't sound like fun, I have neither the expertise nor the free time to do so. The only thing I am hoping to accomplish is to pay off this debt in a fair and doable manner, without being harassed the whole time I am doing it. It shouldn't require a good fight from me - should it?
In a perfect world, no it shouldn't require a fight to do what you want to do. Of course, I'm sure you already know how perfect this world is. (LOL) As far as being in the minority here regarding spending time in a courtroom it is I who am in the minority here so don't feel lonely. As far as spending time in a courtroom goes, I've been involved one way or another in hundreds of cases yet have probably spent less than 8 hours in court over the last 20 years or so. Most court appearances are over in less than half an hour. The time spent is not so much in the courtroom but rather in the case preparation. I'm currently personally involved in a case and so far have spent zero time in court and probably only about 2 or 3 hours max in case preparation and all of that in spare time, evenings and weekends so that is no big deal. That don't mean I'm going to win because the odds are heavily against my winning in local court but I'm sure giving it the old college try.
