Hi, I had a debt with a CA that has been sent to a attorney. They are trying to sue me for it. It was paid to the original creditor already though. I also sent a C&D letter to the CA and they signed for it before their attorney sent me the letter. I called the OC and they said they called the collection agency and told them the debt was paid. I called the attorney's office and they are getting back to me on the dates that the suit was sent to them. When I spoke to the CA today they told me they are suing for the fees that they charge. How can they sue me for fees when the debt is paid and I can prove it and the OC even says the debt is paid. Also how can they sue for their fees they charge when I sent them a C&D letter. So in this case is the Attorney acting as a debt collector here? Could I send the attorney a C&D letter? I would appreciate any help here as I only have a few days. Thank you.
When was the OC paid, relative to when the CA tried to collect? Was the account assigned, or sold, to the CA? Was the account sent to the CA by mistake, or was there a dispute with the OC on the amount due? Do you have a contract with the OC, and what does it say about collection fees?
The payment to the OC was mailed at the same time the letter to the CA was(both CRRR). The debt was assigned to the CA. No the account was not sent to CA by mistake. No dispute with OC on amount. No contract with OC.
Call the OC back and tell them their CA is trying to sue you. Tell em if they don't fix it [FAST] you'll have no choice but to subpoena them to testify. Make them fax you a letter that the account was submitted in error. .
Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! I just got off the phone with the CA's lawyer and he said the CA had them file suit on 03/04. AFTER they signed for my Cease and Desist letter. So do I have them on a FDCPA violation?? Is the lawyer acting as a collection agency in this situation? I spoke with my states Dept. of Financial Institutions and the gal there stated that they are in the wrong and what they are trying to do is illegal. I filed a complaint and she is contacting them tommorrow.
Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! I just spoke with the OC and she said she called the CA today and told them that she received my payment and they had been paid in full. I then called the CA to verify this and he said yes, I did speak with her and she stated that you had paid the principle on the amount due. Then he said, speak with our attorney and hung up. Principle???? I paid the amout the original credit said I owed!!! I am gonna SCREAMMMMMMMMMM!! Please help.
Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! They can't sue you for "fees" if the account was paid. I assume you paid the OC while the account was still with the CA. In this case, it is the OC's responsibility to pay the "fees". Take Butch's advice and subpoena the OC to have them testify. Also, subpoena the contract between the CA and OC that shows the terms. The CA needs to be going after the OC for "breach of contract" because they took payment from you while the CA still had a contract with you. I read somewhere that "while an OC has an account assigned to a CA, they may not take payment from the consumer". You need to determine if your payment was received by the OC while the CA still had rights to collect. If so, the OC breached the contract and thus are responsible for paying the fees. If your payment was received "after" the account was recalled from the CA by the OC, then you are in the clear. They are filing a frivilous lawsuit. You "NEED" to have the OC testify!
Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! The OC needs to tell them that it was submitted in error... However... Section 808(1) REQUIRES that any fees they are trying to claim are due to them MUST be in the initial contract; since you said there is no contract there is no basis for any fees. (Unless your state law EXPLICITLY allows for those fees.) THIS is why Butch said to contact the OC and tell them that they MUST tell the CA that it was submitted in error, and if the CA continues their suit against you; YOU WILL BE FORCED TO SUBPOENA THEM TO TESTIFY ON YOUR BEHALF... The thing that you will need them to testify on is the fact that there was no contract allowing for any additional fees; this is also why you also want to request validation first. BUT... This is why every one says to NOT send a complete C&D for any reason... IF you C&D, the CA has no alternative but to escalate to a suit. They are allowed only three types of contact, one to let you know that they intend to sue, sue, or to let you know that they are ceasing all collection efforts.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! I sent the payment to the OC and the C&D letter to the CA on the same day. Is there a violation of the FDCPA here by the CA?
Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! GRT, Go here: http://consumers.creditnet.com/stra...d.php?s=&threadid=55502&highlight=memorialize ... and follow that procedure, to the letter. Several! .
Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! SLOYAROLE: "The CA needs to be going after the OC for "breach of contract" because they took payment from you while the CA still had a contract with you." No consumer has any type of contract with a CA. The CA's only contract is with the OC. This is one of the reasons that consumers have been able to fight unreasonable fees for legal expenses when those fees were based on a contingent fee basis, and not reflective of the amount of work that the lawyer actually did... contingent fees are only reasonable when the person paying those fees agrees that those fees are reasonable...
Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! Once you sent them a C & D letter, filing suit was about their only option. DO NOT SEND ONE TO THE ATTORNEY unless you fully understand what asking a collector to Cease and Desist means. Its in the FDCPA.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! What I'm saying is...Since the OC assigned the account to the CA for collection, the OC isn't allowed to collect payment from you (giving that this is in their agreement). If the OC collected from you while te CA still had rights to collect on the account (for a fee), the OC has to pay the "fees", since they didn't follow the guidelines of the contract with the CA. It's up to the OC to return the payment to you if they still have the account assigned to the CA. By taking your money, they breached the deal. The OC is responsible for the fees...not you. BTW, the fees that they are probably speaking of is the percentage of what they got to keep of the amount they were hired to collect. Now they're trying to add on legal fees resulting from this frivilous lawsuit.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! Can you tell me the exact violations as you see them? Also, when I spoke with the OC they stated "Yep we got the payment, I will call the CA and let them know. I'll take care of it." Can I call the OC and tell them that it is their responsibility to recall the debt from the CA?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Help Right Away Please! Butch!! Okay now get this. I spoke with the OC this morning and they said they would called and tell the CA to recall the debt and that they were paid. The OC then called me back to notify me they had done this. I called the CA to verify and the gal the OC talked to said they never said to recall the debt. So I called the OC back and told them this. They were kinda shocked. They said they would call again and that they did indeed say to recall the debt. I am sure the CA is the one lying here. They are the ones to gain from it. So I don't know what to do now.
