Little bit of history: I was pregnant with my youngest son, and had just moved and needed a couch - a co-worker sold me her couch (although the price was NOT right, I needed one .. so.. ) on payments of $50 per paycheck.. of which I gave her two payments - we wrote an informal contract of such that stated "I agree to give her $50 per paycheck until the couch is paid off ($300)". Well, shortly thereafter I ended up going on bedrest and out on disability - which I never returned to that job.. (they said they wouldn't have hired me if they had known I was pregnant, and used the fact that I was out to fire me within probationary time - another story for another board ) anyways.. I didn't make any further payments, so she subsequently submitted our little written agreement to the "Credit Bureau" for collection - and they're charging INTEREST on it! Can they do that?! Oi, I have problems with this "credit bureau" - I disputed it as not mine, of course it came back verified *rolls eyes* Also, same thing for a VERY old utility bill (not outside of 7 yrs quite yet).. I don't remember signing anything saying they could charge interest if it were a collection acct?! They just charge interest to whatever they feel like charging interest on! Can they charge interest on such a written statement that I'd pay her $50 per paycheck, which actually, since I stopped getting paychecks from work............ Anyways.. what do any of you think?
1. is this the same creditbureau listed in your other thread? 2. why didn't you start paying her when you went back to work at a different company? 3. did you return the couch? i think i take it a little more personally when someone stops paying an individual. that person may have been counting on that money. should you pay interest - i think so, whether or not it was in your "contract". i've been screwed by people the same way and i have had to "repo" a vehicle, tv's etc. and because of that i don't "help" people like that anymore. CASH UPFRONT PLEASE!
Yes, same credit bureau Sorry, in the effort of trying to be brief I did not detail everything but here is the rest of the story: I had contacted her directly about it because I wanted to figure out what to do - I offered to give her the couch back, she had said not to worry about it and that she wasn't concerned, that if I hadn't bought the couch she was going to donate it to a program - and since my family needed it she was glad that we had it, and would contact me later. I didn't return to work for a year, I contacted her a couple of times during this timeframe and left voicemails for her - never got a call back. When I did return to work my wages were quite low while I looked for a permanent position, I left her a msg about this also and wanted to make arrangements with her and inquired about her mailing address, but again, did not get a call back. And, if I knew that SHE would be paid the interest it'd be something different, but since it will be the credit bureau that collects it - well that's a whole different story. She did not contact me at all regarding this, I tried to figure things out with her but of course not knowing what to do and being in a tough financial spot didn't help. When I did decide to contact her in person I was told she no longer worked in that office. I have also had similar things happen to me and not been paid etc, but ah well.. I didn't find out about this even being in collections until I pulled a report. And still not knowing what to do about it, well, here I am
If there is no contract, or the 'contract' is mute on whether or not interest can be charged, then you would need to check with your states law as to whether or not interest can be charged. Basically, Section 808(1) works like this. If the contract PERMITS the charges... - AND - If state law doesn't PROHIBIT the charges... - OR - If state law PERMITS the charges... - AND - If the contract doesn't PROHIBIT the charges... Then the charges would be legal. So, in this case, since basically the 'contract' would be an IOU of sorts, it would be dependent on your states specific laws as to how, and when interest may, or may not be charged.
I found this in my states law, unless there is another I am missing: Amount or charges lawfully owing. It is unlawful for a collector to collect any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the principal amount of the debt) unless such amount is either: (a) expressly authorized by the agreement between the debtor and the 62 original creditor, or (b) expressly permitted by statute. Attempts to collect â??interest,â? â??service charges,â? â??collection charges,â? â??attorneyâ??s fees,â? â??legal notice feesâ? and other fees, charges or penalties, result in a violation unless the charge is expressly authorized by a statute or a valid agreement between the parties.63 It is also a violation to misrepresent a debtâ??s character, amount or legal status.64 For example, it is a violation to attempt to collect a claim that is too old to be enforceable. Honestly, if I could get this out of the CA hands, I'd pay the "OC" next month - this is something I intend to pay (if and when I can find her).
Honestly, if I could get this out of the CA hands, I'd pay the "OC" next month - 1*this is something I intend to pay (if and when I can find her). NyteAngel ================================= This is no different than any other CA situation. Send the collector the validation letter this will force them to locate her for you. 1*If the collector can't contact her to obtain the validation this will have to be deleted from your report. If the collector doesn't have any better luck contacting her than you did it's good by to reporting this on your reports. ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> Never read the fine print. There ain't no way you're going to like it.
She subsequently submitted our little written agreement to the "Credit Bureau" for collection - NyteAngel ==================== Send them the VL. I don't see how she reported this to the cra. You have to subscribe to their service and have at least 500 clients to report on before they will do business with you ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> Never read the fine print. There ain't no way you're going to like it.
SHe submitted it through our local "credit Bureau" AKA Collection agency (the one I posted about before) And I have no problem paying her (even though I think it's pretty crappy what she did - she knew how to get in touch with me, and never told me she would be turning it in to collections etc), I just want it out of the CA hands - and from what I can figure out about the state law they can't charge interest anyways since it didn't specifically permit in the agreement - seems i am finding more and more to trip them up, I am guessing no one around here either has the means or knowledge to confront them on any of the issues.
This is no different than any other CA situation. Send the collector the validation letter this will force them to locate her for you. 1*If the collector can't contact her to obtain the validation this will have to be deleted from your report. If the collector doesn't have any better luck contacting her than you did it's good by to reporting this on your reports. ><-
i'm thinking this person maybe sold the debt to the collection agency. it would cost her a lot of money to hire an agency. do you have proof of any of what happened? cancelled checks?
No, I stupidly gave her cash directly, and I didn't get receipts either *rolls eyes* Stupid, I know.. I made out a check for sending when I contacted her for contact info, but since I didn't hear back it sat in an envelope in a drawer ready to mail - but obviously never got anywhere. How would I find out if they purchased it from her or not?
http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=423462#post423462 I just did a bit of research for another thread, above, and wanted to post a link to it here. It may be slightly related to the friend debt issue. The only thing that I don't really know, yet is what type of 'debt' was the issue of the debt between friends, maybe the fact that this was a sale of a tangible item between two friends would be enough to pass the muster of this case, if it would be raised by them, but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned it to you before they did, so at least you wouldn't get blind-sided if they tried to use that case against you. The worst thing would be for them to pull it up, if you had no choice but to sue them, and you not to have ever heard of this before, and had no idea of how to respond to it.
Interesting.. I wonder if I could argue that because there was an item involved, not a money transaction that it IS a consumer debt. Although, the collection agency (AKA Credit Bureau) has the debt now, and are charging interest although it is against California State Law.. so that is just another of the things I am piling up to use against them.
Nope not yet, unfortunately. This is my next area to tackle, I am hoping to get this "credit bureau" with lots of stuff since they're local and easy to get to. Sending more stuff to them this week for information. They charge interest on EVERYTHING. I am kind of leary about asking them about ALL the accounts at once, but I probably will just to lessen my time in dealing with this. I did the dispute of the hard pull first, disputes and validation now.. waiting on their time to expire.
