Last night I received a call from a collection company. I swear thie guy was retarted but thats besides the point. Anyway, he told me that I have this outstanding balance that I have ignored for 2 years now and BOA wants to get paid. For starters I haven't ignored it I just can't pay it. We seriously have no money to pay on it and its been a struggle just to live. Then he tells me that he only has 4 months to work with me on this and then they will sell it to a law firm who will then take me to court blah blah blah. And he says well take my number and call me on Thursday. So I ask him why and his response is that BOA wants to get paid. Well nothing is going to change between Tues and Thurs so I said no. And he keeps repeating these same things over and over and over until I finally hung up on him. He says that legally he can pull my credit report once a day every day. Is that so? So anyway, what the hell can I do about this? Its not that I don't want to pay it but I seriously can't. Please, anyone, any advice would be greatly appreciated! and if it would be easier you can email me at goldylocks_0206@hotmail.com Thanks!
Legally he can pull your credit report but I don't know if the once a day is true. What I do know is that you need to IMMEDIATELY send them a letter of validation along with a clause to contact you in writing ONLY. Let them validate the debt FIRST. Doubful that they can - look under the sample letters here: http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25 Feel free to edit them to your personal need.
i will try to answer some questions. i am not an expert but have been where u are, and so have many others on this board so calm down and take a breath....my responses are followed by a -- Last night I received a call from a collection company. I swear thie guy was retarted but thats besides the point. Anyway, he told me that I have this outstanding balance that I have ignored for 2 years now and BOA wants to get paid. --I doubt that BofA still owns this account. I am sure the call was from a 3rd party debt collector who now owns the debt. most collection depts from major banks don't act like this guy did. MOST don't, besides it's 2 yrs old; most banks sell past due accounts once they hit 4-12 mos old; --he may be just collecting on behalf of BofA, but I doubt that too as he sounds pretty cocky to me, and most debt collectors I have dealt with are pretty much SOB's....) For starters I haven't ignored it I just can't pay it. We seriously have no money to pay on it and its been a struggle just to live. Then he tells me that he only has 4 months to work with me on this and then they will sell it to a law firm who will then take me to court blah blah blah. --the 4mos thing is just a scare tactic to get money out of u. and I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AGREE TO ANYTHING ORALLY OR IN WRITING AND DO NOT MAKE ANY PMTS TO THEM YET BEFORE CONSULTING THIS BOARD SOME MORE --if this IS a debt collector and NOT BofA then u have certain rights and he has certain laws he CANNOT BREAK..... --a debt collector CANNOT threaten you with legal threats unless they plan to follow thru with the threat. it is against the law. And he says well take my number and call me on Thursday. So I ask him why and his response is that BOA wants to get paid. --u just need to find out if BofA still owns this debt...I doubt it but call them and give them your account info only, if it's still thiers, they will tell u and then hang up. If not hang up still but, BINGO the dips**t calling u is a DEBT COLLECTOR and must abide by the FDCPA...look it up on here or Google it...and read it. --if he calls back, and he is a debt collector and u if ask him to stop calling, he must. ask him to put the collection info in writing. record the call if u can. DO NOT ADMIT TO ANYTHING, EVEN OWING THE AMOUNT AND DO NOT AGREE TO ANYTHING. he needs to put it in writing --he MUST identify himself as to his name, company he works for, and give u a toll free # to call him back at per the FDCPA; --find out what ur state's statute of limitations is on an open account like this. a charge card is an open account. if it's past 2 yrs, u don't have much to worry about. if not, there is a plan of attack but don't worry about it now...we'll get there and with a lot of help from this board. trust me. u can also find out if this debt collector is licensed and bonded to collect debts in your state by contacting your state attorney general's office. they have to be licensed and bonded in most states to collect debts in that state Well nothing is going to change between Tues and Thurs so I said no. And he keeps repeating these same things over and over and over until I finally hung up on him. --that's good u hung up on him....do it again after u tell him to put it all in writing. he must validate the debt in writing if you ask him to, and has a certain length of time to do so by law if you request validation. search this board for what it considered validation. He says that legally he can pull my credit report once a day every day. Is that so? --yes, he can but i don't think he can everyday as there is not a permissable purpose for this. it can be considered a pattern to further hurt your credit and I don't think that is legal. I am not sure about that one though but I'd bet on it. --get a copy of your credit report online and see if this debt is listed and whom is the company listing it. u can request validatiion from this information. once u request it and give him a limited cease and desist order to put all future correspondence in writing, he must honor that request. this will start your paper trail which u need. --and don't sweat it...u'll get thru it ok. keep us all posted, we are here to try to help u.
Thank you so much for you replies! This "guy" never called me back and all I had from him was his name. He did say the company he was working for but since I was in the middle of doing 5 things and watching 2 kids, I didn't get a chance to write it down and even forgot what it was when he ticked me off. Anyway, I will go ahead and copy the letter of validation and save it so if/when he calls back I can just ask him for the address and hang up on him again. Gosh I love doing that! LOL And I will find a letter around here somewhere to make him quit calling me. I'm pretty positive that he was a 3rd party collector and that part about him pulling my credit report, when he told me that I told him there was no way that was legal to do as it would automatically bring down my credit score. To which he replied that I could call any attorney in my state and be told the same thing. I haven't had a chance to do that yet because of the holidays but I will! I think MN's SOL is either 4 yrs or 6 yrs, I'm thinking closer to 6 than 4 though. Again, thank you for helping me. I know I probably sounded like an irrational crazy woman but man I was ticked off! At least I have a starting point now and I thank you very much!
I have an update on this situation. This particular @**hole called me again last night. My husband answered the phone and he said that he worked FOR BofA. I was given the phone and I let him rattle of his BS until he said that I signed a contract with BofA VISA in Aug. 2002 in MN using my current home address. I didn't live in MN in Aug. 2002 and had no idea that the house we live in now even existed. Nor is there a BofA anywhere near us in MN. He literally refused to give me his address and when I asked he only replied with "whats your address?" When I asked why he wouldn't tell me he would come back with,"you owe $$$" and "pay your bill" By this point he was literally screaming at me. Then he proceeded to tell me that he was going to call my neighbor (which I don't have one as we live in the country) and I would be given a message. When I told him that I didn't have a neighbor he told me to put my husband on the phone. I told him no and he went back to telling me he was going to call my neighbor. WTF? He's now thinks he can harrass my neighbors, the closest one lives a mile or more away? Anyway, I "think" I have his address now and he DOES NOT work for BofA. He's with a collection agency called Imperial Collection Services in Calif. So, now I send a letter of validation right? And if I've read correctly he has 30 days to respond, but is it 30 days from the day I send it or 30 days from they day they get it? And I need to get confirmation of delivery right? Should I send it to this guy (I know his name) or just the collection agency? If in 30 days he doesn't reply, what do I do next? Thanks a bunch!
Did you ever receive anything in the mail from them? When he talked to you on the phone the first time did he give you the FDCPA "mini-miranda warning" advising you of your rights to dispute the debt? If not, then he has already violated the FDCPA and you could sue them for $1000 per incident, Best bet now is let him call, and document each call with date/time/name and a summary of what is said by him and by you. Write it all down so you can document their violations next time he calls tell him you are recording the conversation and that you need the name and address of his company and/or their agent of service, and until he provides it you will have nothing more to say to him
