Hello. I've ran into some credit problems recently and want to take care of them, but I have NCO financial after me and I'm not sure how I should deal with this. The first call I had with them, they said that citibank was going to file a lawsuit against me for fraud and that I summons to appear in court. They said that I would be charged with fraud, have to pay 10,000 as opposed to the 3000 I owed and possible jail time. I asked them what I could do to start paying off my debt. I told them that right now I could probably scrounge up 200 for this month, but if they wait a month, my car will be paid up so I will be able to pay them 500 a month until it was paid off. They had me hold while they contacted citibank to see if they were willing to make a deal. Later I realized that they probably didn't contact anyone. They came back on the line and said they contacted citi and they would not make a deal with me and were going to charge me with fraud. They said the only way to take care of this was to pay around 3600 pay the 20th. Now I don't have 3600, I really don't even have the 200 I offered but was going to go without food to do it. But to avoid having a fraud charge against me I agreed and was going to borrow money from friends and family to do it because I didn't want to spend jail time. I gave them my bank account information and was told if I did not pay this by the 20th of the month I would be charged a FELONY. So being scared of this I contacted people I know and some of them suspected fraud because most credit card companies are willing to work with you to get payment. After this I investigated a little and looked up on the internet the number they called from. It was 716-636-1588. Doing a search reveals that it was NCO Financial. On the phone he didn't say specificially but kept mentioning the courthouse in my county and made it seem like he was a lawyer. He didn't mention once he was with NCO financial. If you search the net for NCO financial you will find all kinds of horror stories. I realized that maybe I could still work this out without ending up in jail or owing my friends money. So I called citibank first to see if I could make payments with them instead of NCO. They told me I could give them payments but they could not stop NCO from contacting me. I asked how NCO would know I was paying you and they never gave me an answer only that I could make payments to them. Sounded like they were telling me I could give them money if I wanted to but it wouldn't really do anything. Then I called the callback number I got from NCO. The number they gave me to call back was different. It was 1-800-379-7580. I talked to the same person as the day before, now with more knowledge. I recorded the conversation and told them it was being recorded. I told them I only wanted to work with citibank and this as I felt I was being scammed. I asked them what the lawsuit citibank had against me was again (to get it on tape). This time HE REMINDED ME that the last conversation he had with me was recorded and he said he would recommend that citibank sue me. I don't remember hearing "recommend" anywhere, I remember hearing that I ALREADY HAD a court date. I asked if I was being sued for fraud. He said that it was typical to being fraudulent for not paying my credit card. I told him I wanted to make payments and pay as much as I could to get this removed and he told me that would not be possible I could only pay in full or he would recommend that citibank sue me and he said they probably will sue me. I told him to take my bank account information off of the system and to NOT charge my bank. I made him repeat that he would not charge my bank. He did so but got angry at me telling me I was trying to "weasel" out of paying. I told him I wasn't trying to get out of paying, I just could not possibly pay the full amount right now but would work out any payment deals. I assumed that he was at a call center so I started to ask to talk to a supervisor and he hung up on me. I wanted to talk to a supervisor so I could have a second person verify that my bank account information was removed. I won't have the 3600 in my bank and if they charge I am in big trouble. After he hung up I called back. I told him I was cut off and wanted to speak to a supervisor. He told me I'm removed from their system...he will recommend to citibank that I be sued..and to not call his office again. And the first time I heard this from a credit collection place. He said if I called again I would be charged for the call. So on to my questions. First, does he have an office? Did I talk to a call center and he is lying or am I talking to someone else higher up by chance? Am I going to be sued by citibank? Do you think that he removed my bank information? Am I not allowed by law to call again? Last, what would anyone recommend I do next to try and take care of this debt. Since it "seems" both citi and NCO are not dealing with me anymore(unless I get sued by citi)? Is there anyone I could contact to work out a payment deal to remove the debt? Thanks for anyone to read through my story, I know it's long. And thanks for any help on this matter.
First of all, stay off the phone and make them do everything in writing. Depending upon your state, you may have just reset the Statute of Limitations by agreeing to pay. You have at least admitted that it was your debt, which isn't always the right thing to do. Call your bank IMMEDIATELY and tell them that you have not authorized any withdrawals by NCO. They have your account information and could conceivably clean out your account, causing any checks you've written to bounce. They have committed quite a few violations. They have threatened action that they cannot take. They can only sue you in civil court. They cannot sue you for a felony. That is a criminal offense that would have to be prosecuted by the DA. You need to do two things (after you notify your bank not to honor their withdrawal). First, memorizalize the first conversation. This means writing down everything that was said by both of you, as best you can remember it. Write it like "at 2PM on Tuesday, October 2, I received a call from Mr. Scumbag. He began by saying..." Put in whatever he said, then what you said. Back and forth, just like the conversation went. After that, write a letter, mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, and tell them that you need proof that it is your debt and an accounting of how they arrived at the balance. Tell them that it is inconvenient for you to accept phone calls at any time, and that all future correspondence should be in writing. How old is this debt? When did you last make a payment? What state are you in?
The debt is less than a year or around a year old. I was paying on it for awhile, but let it slip for some months after that. I think my last payment was around February this year. I am in Nebraska. Thanks for the help, I will follow your advice. By contacting them with a letter does that mean I will be dealing with my debt through them and not citi? Also, how should I contact Citi and see about a possible lawsuit or paying for the debt?
Right now, it appears that NCO has the right to collect. Until Citi pulls it back from them, paying Citi is not going to solve your problem. NCO will still have the account and still come after you. Right now you have a lot of violations on NCO, it appears. I wouldn't go and try to settle with Citi right now. You may end up suing or countersuing NCO. See how that goes first. You don't want the debt pulled back from them if you're going to take action against them.
Here Is What You Need To Do you need to call Michelle Lyon, of Sessions Law in Metarie, LA, she is the head counsel for NCO, mlyon@sessions-law.biz or mlh@sessions-law.biz, are her email addresses, but it can easily be found at Sessions-law.com, trust me, I have a working relationship with Michelle, and she takes care of all my friends problems with NCO related debts, wipes them out and deletes (only b/c I sued them so many times that is our relationship now, I dont sue, she looks out for me.)
