Ok, So as like many of us are trying to do I am trying to repair my cerdit. Today was the first attempt at doing so. I studied up on my rights and felt confident in myself. When I called the credit bureau and offered them a pay to delete i was informed that "Thats not how we do things at this office" responce. As well as a "Thats never going to happen"! Yes this agent has been a nail in my side and has threatend me and my husband in the past with saying she will just call my father inlaw and inform him of the situation. (I know now that i could have taken her to court) So I proceeded with my persistance in trying to inform her of what my rights were and that i am calling to settle this oh so small debt. The debt is less than 200 and its a medical bill. She refused with many snide remarks to help in any way so i asked to speak with her supervisor who is missing in action as always.(Convieniant right?) So I guess what my question is about this situation is Can she legally say that they arent able to delete or even mark paid on my report? She says she cant do anything to change the notations on my report. Is that true? What step do i take next... I spoke with the supervisor about an hour later and offered her the same offer, wouldnt you guess she refused and fed me the same line. So I replied with I will be sending you a certified letter that is an Agreement to compromise debt. HELP!! I feel like I am at a loss here. Am I being lied to? Isnt it a fact that if they at the credit bureau can make negative notations they can just as easily clear them? Thanks in advance...I am sorry this is so long... Melanie
Truth: They can't delete an entry just because it was paid. Truth: If you pay it, they must mark it as paid. (so they were mistaken). False: They can call 3rd parties (that's an FDCPA violation) If it's a medical bill, your best bet is to try and work something out with the original creditor. I'd skip the CA and try calling the doctor or hospital. Congratulations on doing your homework, but remember that CAs respond to two things: Cash and law suits. If you're not sending one or the other, it's a waste of everyone's time.
Thanks.. ccbob, Thank You for your reply. I have had a very long day (Over 13 hours of sorting through this mess with just this one agent!) I appreciate your taking the time to help. I remained calm and persistant with my attempts at clearing the debt. I assume that I will have to settle for a "Paid" on my report. I did contact the original creditor and they were not able to work with me. I almost feel defeated. But this is after all just day one of the battle. I am determined to win. Bad news is we do have one more joint debt that is owed through this same CA. I just hope that the same agent isnt on that case. My husband and I are in a comfortable situation where we are able to completly clear our debt, we would just like for them to be just as willing to work with us and our requests. Maybe I am asking for too much? Again.. Thank you for your time.
p: I thought you said you called up the credit bureau? Which credit bureau did you call up, Equifax, Experian, Transunion? Innovis? None of those, right? So you didn't call up a credit bureau, you called a debt collector, not a credit bureau. If you had called up a credit bureau you would have been told that they don't take money and you can't settle debts with them. That's how I know for sure you didn't call up a credit bureau. And that's not how they do things? Would you like to make a little bet on that? Say a small wager of at least $350 to maybe as much as $400? That's about what it will cost you to file a federal lawsuit against them. Can you win? Well, let's see what can be found in the way of causes of action. Yes, 1st cause of action. You could have begged her to do just that and if she actually did it you would have had your second cause of action. Depending on what she actually said, that might have been a 3rd cause of action. Technically, yes. She can't do it but her superiors can and if forced to do it will. So yes, she did tell the truth there. Where did you get that idea? I never heard of such a thing until just now. So I did a google search for that term and found out about such letters. Obviously such letters are put out by people who know little or nothing about the law. If they did they would realize that what they are trying to sell is nothing more than an Accord and Satisfaction agreement. There is no need to pay money to get that. All you have to do is write one up. But why would you even think of wasting time and money sending such a thing to a collection agency? They aren't likely to sign anything. And why try that on a $200 debt? Is it because you don't have $200 or because although you do have that much it would really strain your budget to pay that much? If either is true then why pay at all? They aren't going to sue you for $200. Yes, they can but they have an agreement with the credit bureaus saying they won't do that simply because someone pays a debt. They don't want to get into problems with the credit bureaus so they don't do it unless they are forced to do it as a result of something like a federal lawsuit against them. Since we can be very confident that they aren't likely to file any lawsuits against you and you want deletion and you want to get out of paying so much money let's see what your alternatives might be. One is to just ignore them, of course. You aren't going to get a deletion so why pay them anything? Another is file a federal lawsuit against them. You already have two or more causes of action against them and it is likely that they will commit even more violations as time goes on. When you have a couple more violations you file a federal case against them, win and you can get the deletion you want plus your costs of filing the action, and a nice cash settlement in your pocket all without ever having to see the inside of a federal court room. Personally, I would take that over Accord & Satisfaction any old time.
If you are "determined to win," then it's time to go on the offensive as Cap1Sucks describes. As he points out, they've already started to dig a hole and are likely to keep digging. Use that to your advantage. If they aren't going to delete the collection entry, there's not much point in paying it so if you want it to go away, you'll have to put them in a bind with a law suit. Like I said, there are only two things that a CA will respond to...
Ok.. I did call a collection agency who is a local Credit Bureau of (Town i live in) i just didnt make that clear and specific when i posted my original post. Sorry for the confusion. Wasnt trying to come off as a liar. I am new to all of this and was not trying to get too specific with the credit bureaus name. I do have the money to answer your question if I had it or not. My husband and I are in a comfortable place in life where we are able to clear all our debts. I felt offended at first by your posting but have come to see that maybe you are just trying to help. So Thank you for taking the time to write such a lengthy post. It is appreciated. I have had this debt unfortunately for 2 years, The situation stems from my sons biological father not paying his portion of the medical bill. At the time we had an emergency and he was not available to be placed on the original paper work for my son's surgery. (as he lives 5 hours away). SO I am stuck with this mess and I honestly just would like for it to go away even if it means we just pay it. I really am not wanting to just wait it out and not pay. Although I would like to take this particular collector to the cleaners so to speak, we unfortunately have one other debt that they are also collecting on for the same situation. That debt is a higher amount. Please know that I have full intentions to pay anything I personally owe, as I only have these two debts on my report!! My fear is that since we do live in such a small town and the Credit Bureau of (where I live) is a family owned and operated business, That since the threat of calling my father in law and other family members to try to get us to pay will carry on. I do now know thanks to you that this is a harassment case. Since It wasnt recorded via phone, Only by written can it hold water in court? I had to hand over the phone to my husband cause she was so nasty, I was very shaken after all the verbal threats and hang ups and callbacks she made. But I have no other physical proof. Anyways...I did a search on the internet and found a site that offered in great detail many solutions to credit repair, clearing debt and so on. They backed up their advice with the laws. I found on that site the letter of Agreement to Compromise Debt. Do you think it is a bunch of mumbo jumbo? What I want is to get this off my report. Move on. Be done with this Credit Bureau of (My town). I thank you both for your time spent on helping me, I obviously am new to this and would like a point in the right direction.
I to live in a small town if they discuss it with anyone but you,its a violation and open to a lawsuit.If their rude and nasty that's that's harassment.They can not discuss your case with ANYONE,anywhere,anytime.You need to not upset your self this is going to pass.And since you live in a small town you know her.Throw a blanket over her in the middle of the night and rubber hose her LOL.
OK that made me smile!! Thank you... It is good to have a bit of humor thrown in..I am a very light hearted person so that was just what i needed. I will have to have a voice recorder next time i have a phone conversation with this woman! Thanks again for the laughs!!
I agree jjgross... I do believe my hours of disputing have taken ahold of me!! A laugh is always a good thing!!
If its a medical it would fall under hippa laws which im not very keen on it.You could try paying the Oc again with an re check that would mean only the oc could cash and not pass on to the ca.Wait until its cashed,then dispute the ca with the cra.
Write down the date and time of each call. Write down what they said to you on that call right after you get told off. Don't wait til later to write it down. Have your husband listen in and write things down too. When you testify in court, what will they have, they'll have their denial but nothing else. What will you have, your sworn statement and your notes you made at the time of the incidents. If you get your father in law and others that they threaten to also write down when they are threatened and what was said, you'll also have their sworn statements and their notes taken at the time of the incidents. At some point, it's going to be really hard for the CA to claim that this didn't happen. You'll bring person after person forward to testify. If it goes that far. In summary judgment, you'll have their sworn statements. But if you get all this stuff, don't do this on your own. Get a good lawyer. The FDCPA isn't designed to make you personally rich. It can, however, be very painful for those who violate it because it allows for attorney's fees. To get attorney's fees, you have to have a lawyer.
Update: May have to bring in the big wigs... So as all of you who have taken the time to read this and respond know the situation of the CA who made threats to me about spreading our name to any and all our relative and friends. Well my friends, She not only threatened but followed through. A year ago she threatened us with slamming our name around this town and letting everyone (Our friends and family) that she could contact know about our debt if we didnt settle at that time. She was angry because we were asking her to wait one more day so we could get my exes insurance to pay the remainder as per our court orders state my ex is to provide. She flew off the handle with the threats and Did in deed contact my Father in law at his place of work and filled him in on our debt and situation. Now here is a twist...My Father in law is a very well known man...He is a Fire Captian and also is very good friends with the OWNERS of the local CA that is trying to collect this debt. He instantly called my husband and was irate that she called him at his place of work. This was a year ago and my DEAR SWEET husband just let me know of this TODAY!!! I did get my Father in law to agree to write a statement saying she did call and all the details of the call. Now here is another sticky situation. We have 2 debts to be cleared with them from this medical situation, as i stated above she refused to accept our attempt at getting the debt cleared through insurance. So when we called again today to go ahead and just pay them with the agreement they will either clear the listing or mark it as paid. The agent working with us said NO! Just a plain straight out NO! Ok.. I can understand that...But we have a payment we want to make and she refused it when we asked for our report to even just say paid. She went on to say that Transunion sent them a letter stating if they were to ever accept an offer for a Pay to delete that Transunion would take their license!!! we said ok.. Thank you we will be calling you back.. We immediately called transunion and confirmed the letter situation was false, Infact we even had a supervisor tell us from transunion that the CA was misleading us and we should seek legal counsel. This CA has told us that they can not in any way change a listing on our report from a debt that we have with them to reflect a "Paid" status even if we did pay it. Now I am new to all of this but i have been doing so much research and with all of you helping I am becoming more and more knowledgable with what the CA is doing is wrong. All in all We ONLY want to PAY what is owed ...Isnt that what they want too. I guess asking them to do their job is offensive. So now we are back to square one with them. Oh and to add salt to our wounds, they are not taking our calls, hanging up on us and giving us a run around of not being able to talk to the supervisor! Mind you... The office is small and has only 12 employees including the owners!! I do believe we have a bad CA?!? HELP!! I Just Want to PAY MY BILL!!
Well, you know who you are dealing with... The SOL for FDCPA actions is 1 year so if they called your father-in-law over a year ago, you can't sue for that any more. You need to decide how you want to proceed. It seems clear that, for whatever reason, they don't want to be reasonable so you might need to abandon that approach. If you want to go on the warpath then follow DumbBob's advice and get ready to sue them. Once you've got them in court, I think that you'll find them to be a bit more malleable.
You need to call your states ag and your local bbb about these slime balls.One thing you could do is to write a letter with a settlement offer that you will pay them off.Only if after they pay when you dispute the accounts they will not verify it by not answering the dispute.And you will not disclose the settlement to anyone.If they reject it let them know you have retained legal advice.The thing is they are thumbing there nose at you and the law.Forget about the blanket I've got the pitchfork start stacking the wood.
DumbBob didn't tell us precisely how to go about getting ready to sue them in federal court. So step by step how do we go about doing that?
Good news.. I went to the OC of the second account that The CA had on me and the OC agreed to take payment and follow through with the CA. As you know i am in a small town and ironically the OC agent knows the CA agent who was giving me the run around... She called them and informed them that I was paying the collection through them and that she will remain in contact with the CA from now on. I also of course will be following up for my own records with the CA. Also I felt good and called the CA right after I got off the phone with the OC of the other account. I was placed on hold to only be told by the supervisor who came on the line with "I am working on your account" not a hello this is so and so.. or a this is so and so... It was kinda funny.. I changed her tune when i suggested she stop and listen that today was the last day I was going to offer to pay the debt on my terms before I went to seek legal counsel for the threats, follow through on threats and numerous misleading of information which in the begining prevented us from making a payment possible to them. She agreed to the terms. I will be getting a Cashiers check...And sending it Via Cert. Mail. Are there any suggestions on whether or not I should include some sort of letter enclosed with the check stating that as per our conversation via Telephone what our agreement was? Thanks...Lets just hope it goes smooth
By all means get a letter from them,you can send them a letter for them to sign.Agreeing to your settlement for and that you will keep it quit,if she keeps her big mouth shut.
If it were me, I'd get them to agree in writing to the terms before sending them a dime: The amount of $ X.XX is the full and final amount due. The account is paid in full. The account is closed. No further collection activity will be pursued. (I'm sure I'm forgetting some) And if you can. They agree to hold the terms of this settlement confidential, and will not disclose this account or the terms of this agreement to any third party. Then, a month or two after it's all settled. dispute the tradeline with the CRA and it should fall off in a month or so. If not, you'll have them in a breach of contract.
