I sent the following intent to sue to The Credit Store some of you may be familiar with the subject from my lawsuit anxiety post. Anyway here is the letter I sent: To whom it may concern: This letter shall serve as a formal notice of my intent to file a lawsuit atgainst your compnay the Credit Store, due to your blatant and objectionable disregard of the law. On March 12, 2002, you recieved a letter of dispute and demand for validation from me. This letter was sent via certified mail (702545581636) and was accepted and signed for by S. Collector. The letter lawfully requested you send me proof of the alleged debt associated with this account. You chose to ignore my letter and as of today you have failed to provide me with the proof I have lawfully requested. As I have not heard back from you in over 60 days regarding the above notice of dispute and request for validation, and you have not provided the demanded proof of the alleged debt, under the doctrine of estoppel by silence, Englehardt v Gravens (Mo) 281 SW 715, 719 I may presume that no proof of the alledge debt and therefore any such debt, in fact exists. The FDCPA states you must cease collection activity until you have produced verification of the alleged debt if so requested. As per the Federal Trade Commission, this includes reporting the alleged debt to to the credit reporting agencies, which you obviously have done illegally. Also, when an alleged debt is disputed, a notation must be entered on the debtors credit report showing the item as "in dispute". Again in the previous five months since you received my letter of dispute this was not done. Not only did you choose to ignore the FDCPA and my requests for proof of the alleged debt , on June 2, 2002 you once again reported this alleged debt to equifax. It is quite evident that no such proof of the alleged debt exists or you would have provided it in the previous five months since it was requested. I am sure you are aware of the consequences of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well as the multiple violations your company is now responsible for. I f not let me point them out for you: (I inserted case law here no time to type it out right now) If you wish to resolve this matter this will be your last opportunity to do so. The above referenced account and its corresponding tradeline and any tradelines associated with said account must be permanently deleted from my credit files with the four major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax, Trans Union and Innovis) by August 30th 2002and you must forward a letter to me confirming that the tradeline(s) have been permanently deleted from my credit files and will not reappear by your company or another collection agency. Please be aware that if this account and the associated tradeline(s) are not deleted by August 30th 2002 5:00pm EST and a letter mailed to me confirming the permanent deletion, I will be filing a lawsuit the next business day for multiple violations of the FCRA and the FDCPA. I will be seeking civil liability in the amount of $1000 per violationas well as all court costs and attorneys fees as well as possible damages supported by document denial of credit based on the unverified and erroneous derogatory information your company has placed on my credit report. Please also be aware that I will file a formal complaint with the South Dakota State Attorney General , The New York State Attorney General, The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. Thank you and I look forward to resolving this matter most expeditiously. Robin Now Here is The Credit Store's Response to my Letter: Dear Robin: This is in response to your letter dated August 12, 2002, with regard to your dispute of the above noted Mastercard Account. This account was established for you when you agreed to settle your Perimeter Credit/Bally's Fitness Center Debt (Acct # *******) for $700 and authorized The Credit Store Inc. to transfer that settled balance to your new mastercard account. A credit card was issued to you by First National Bank Brookings along with a Credit Account Agreement and you used the card to make numerous charges. The cardholder agreement states on paragraph 1 "You understand that you are acknowledging, confirming and ratifying the debt transferred to Your account as of the Commencement date." The agreement further states "You Agree that this contract serves as your written acknowledgement of the justness and accuracy of the debt included in the balance transfer amount.. I am enclosing a copy of the Credit Account agreement that was sent to you when the card was issued. By accepting the cardholder agreement and using the Credit card, you confirmed that the Perimeter/Bally Fitness Center debt was valid. Therefore it is our contention that your Mastercard account, now charged -off is reporting correctly to the bureaus. Sincerely Idiot Collector General Counsel Enclosed in their letter is a cardholder agreement that you normally find enclosed when you receive your credit card. No contract, no signatures of any kind, no billing statements. Nothing but a stupid cardholder agreement that means nothing to me since it is my assertion that I have no idea what this account is about and I certainly have no idea how they have arrived at that amount. Please review. Point out anything that I have missed. I am filing on Friday.
Robin- Screw it file tomorrow. Print out your own "agreement" with your own "terms", bring it to court and tell the judge they owe you $xx because your agreement says so.
A mere print-out or a customer agreement is not validation, they have to provide you with a copy of the original contract bearing your signature, copies of statements, copies of correspondence demanding payment etc. Time for you to collect.
When I was in college I had a Bally's membership. I don't know anything about them transferring the remainder of the dues to this credit card. Also I don't remember applying for a card with them. Yes it is possible that I had a card and used it even. However, they have not provided me with anything no application, no billing, no notices for payment nothing to prove that i in fact signed off agreeing to this or knowingly agreed to have them transfer thia account to this card. If they had an application from me I am sure they would have sent it instead of merely sending me a cardholder agreement that I have absolutely no knowledge of ever recieving. I have had it with these people. Who is to say that I agreed to the terms of their cardholder agreement or that this cardholder agreement was not modified after I received their card. I did not sign off for anything and if I did they still have not validated by providing the documents and they still have not marked my account "in dispute". I need expert advise on this one guys. I don't even know where to begin when drafting my complaint. This is my first time in court and I want to make sure I present a clear case to the judge.
O.k I guess not. Well I also need to know if there are any sample letters around for filing complaints with the FTC and the Attorney General. Did a search but came up empty.
Robin, I do have a profound interest in your case dear. No-one is ignoring you on purpose, it just takes longer than an hour to get feedback sometimes. Hell, sometimes they ignore me completely. lol If what you're saying is correct (as I'm sure it is) you have a serious criminal issue here. Your whole case may rest upon wheather or not you made additional purchases on this card and wheather or not you agreed to these terms. If you did it over the phone there would be no signatures on a contract. But there would be a recording of the call. I am having a hard time with your lack of memory here, however. On the other hand I wouldn't put it past the CA pulling a stunt like this. I guess you need to decide wheather or not this MC is a legit card or that you specifically remember NOT participating in this transaction. But then, again, there is the issue of your using this card for other purchases. I would certainly be examining my personal records to determine wheather or not I bought something with this card. Have you no records, statements, bills in the mail or correspondence from this card co. And are you sure they've always had your correct address? Let me know. P.S. Your situation is highly unique and sample letters won't due at all. You may need to at least consult with an atty., Sorry to say.
Butch: Thanks for getting back to me. What I am saying is I very well could have had this card and made purchases. I never said I didn't use the card, I just requested validation of the account to determine what accounting method they used to come up with the balance I owed if in fact I did receive and use the card. I don't remember applying for an account with these people and had hoped that if I did I would get the signed application with the validation. In that case I would have offered to setle with them for a deletion. What I do know is that I absolutely never had any knowledge of this account being associated with another debt (bally's). No one ever mentioned anything about Bally's to me and I was quite shocked to see that mentioned in their letter. I would hate to think that they decieved me into ratifying a debt that was way past the sol and when this account was opened. Also, the cardholder agreement they said they sent to me with the card means nothing to me. I don't ever remember any such thing and more significantly that cardholder agreement has no date or any other identifying info on it that would lead me to believe it was in fact in force when this card was allegedly issued. They still have not provided me with any validation on this account no billing history no application nothing. They also have not marked the account in dispute with the credit reporting agencies and they verified the account on June 2, 2002 as being accurate with the CRA's without providing me validation. I believe this is three seperate violations and even if they came to court with bills showing that I used the card it would be too little to late because they had over 5 months to provide me with the same information and refused or couldn't. Please let me know your thoughts.
I just found this regarding New York State Law on whychats site: § 17-101. Acknowledgment or new promise must be in writing. An acknowledgment or promise contained in a writing signed by the party to be charged thereby is the only competent evidence of a new or continuing contract whereby to take an action out of the operation of the provisions of limitations of time for commencing actions under the civil practice law and rules other than an action for the recovery of real property. This section does not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest. Does this mean that I would have to have signed off on this so called credit card agreement or provided some written form of my consent to ratify this alleged debt? I am getting ready to go to court on this one and I need all the help I can get.
Hey robin..could you post the link to whychat's site and perhaps I could help you out. Hard to interpret a statute w/o context...i.e. what section of the NYLAWS is this in...what does this section pertain to...etc etc
I checked that site and there is no citation as to where that section comes from. I would have to know that to even give my opinion. That section, however, seem to deal with SOL and it seems to be talking about how you need a new signed agreement in order to extend the SOL. But again, I can't be sure b/c I don't see a citation.
can anybody offer any insight on how this NYS law will affect my lawsuit? Any advise greatly appreciated.
Robin, what is your lawsuit about specifically? Are you arguing that the SOL has expired? That section that you have quoted comes from a regulation titled "Obligations Barred by the Statute of Limitations." I don't see how you could use that in your favor. It seems to be a law delineating when the SOL does not apply and cannot be used as a defense. I could be wrong of course...
