Hi, I'm sorta new here and can't get the search function to work, so maybe someone can help me. I made a BIG mistake... I made a $600 payment to CRI (Corporate Receivables Inc) as part of a settlement. I did this before i got the actual offer in writing. I have been trying to get a letter for several weeks and they won't send one (they say they can't just make up a letter to send). Finally yesterday, they said they would fax a copy to me - but I don't have a fax machine and asked why they just couldn't mail it to me - I would send them a SASE if they didn't want to pay 37 cents for a stamp. They are always really nasty to me when I call - I am am trying to PAY them money to settle - but they keep jerking me around. When I call, I keep getting sent to the same person, and he refuses to let me speak to his manager. I am so frustrated. Yesterday, they also said that they were going to void my settlement because i can't fax them so they can fax me the letter. Bottom line: I have paid $600 and was going to pay another $720 to settle, otherwise, I still owe $1320. I think that my account is now current with Rooms, so I don't know if settlement is even an option. I just don't know what to do. These mean people have gotten me so upset. I told them I would call them everyday until i could talk to the manager - they said that would be harassment. Help me.
Office Depot, lots of private mail stores, print shops have fax send/receive services. Or, check out www.k7.net and get your own fax #!!! 0
CRI - Collection Agency pitterpatt | ================== Why are you trying to settle anyway if they haven't validated the debt.??? ??? The END ************************* LB 59
lbrown59 wrote: Why are you trying to settle anyway if they haven't validated the debt.??? ??? Maybe because she knows that she owes the debt. I collected for 17 yrs. and helped many people get their credit reports fixed up - the most annoying thing which is just a stall tactic for most people who aren't going to pay anyway is debt validation. Attorney's love using this when they know that they are going to instruct their client against paying, they just want to waste the collectors time - have them produce paperwork and then they look like they did something for their client (the debtor) and take their $300-1000 they charged them...when the person could have just paid a settlement for another $720.00. I find it disgusting that attorneys do this. They don't have their clients best interests in mind - if the creditor sues that person for the money and obtains a judgment - that same attorney will often tell that person...I don't handle these types of matters. I've seen it happen thousands of times over the years. The attorney couldn't care less about their clients credit and if they get sued...they are only interested in getting paid. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of bad seed collectors/agencies out there, but for the people offering settlements and giving that person free advice on credit repair - it's very hard to put a price on that.
Stall tactic? I guess that for those who don't know how to use a debt validation letter that might be true enough. On the other hand, if the debt collector don't know who he is dealing with it just might turn out to be an invitation to the next session of federal court where s/he can have the immense pleasure of trying to explain why they violated the law. Problem is that believing that a debt validation letter is nothing more than a stall tactic is about like playing Russian Roulette. You never know when it is going to go off in your face. I'll have to agree with you that debt collection attorneys are a sorry lot. I just love throwing them under the bus and watch them come rolling out the back end wondering what hit them. That sounds about par for the course too. Those who hire lawyers to defend them have hired a fool who will always throw them under the bus instead of the opposing attorney. They seem to live in a fog of confusion. Yep! That's about the size of it. Well, not really. A state attorney general could do it pretty quickly. So could the FTC. The reason that is so is because it is illegal to give credit repair advice in most states unless you have a credit repair license to do so. Every time you gave credit repair advice to someone you probably broke the law. Of course that's nothing new for a debt collector. They do it with impunity. No problem as far as they are concerned.
