thanks Sal.. I have a draft letter worked up, and feel like I have a little time to review it before sending it out. The template I got from this site specifies a signature.. does she have to sign the document before sending it? ( I may post my doc here for others to review... dang I love this board! ) Giving the CA her signature doesn't sound like a good thing to me.
Never sign stuff you send to a collection agency - remember they are slime, and can possibly forge her signature. Remember, it's not necessary to sign it, her rights are still protected. -Sal
ddwoske, I think you're doing just fine. You're having to learn on the run and the end result is taking care of Mom. Here's what I'd suggest. You need time and breathing room. Fax a C&D letter now and mention you are sending a validation letter tomorrow. Do so and send it CRRR. Then, get Mom to a lawyer. A bk lawyer would be best even if bk isn't an option. They seem to do a damn good job at negoiating stuff. When you find a lawyer you like inform 1stUSA or a CA that all communication goes through the lawyer. They are not to contact you or Mom. At that point, they've lost control. No intimadating phone calls. You ought to be able to settle this mess at 45-50 cents on the dollar and if bk is a viable option, a whole lot less.
30 days from July 9th. If she sends the validation letter before the 30 days, the laws aren't so ify. They can report it to the CRA's within the 30 days, but once they get the validation letter it must be REMOVED, if she sent the letter AFTER the 30 days, it doesn't need to be removed just noted as "disputed". It's easier to KNOW the violations when you respond within the 30 days. From my experience they make more istakes when you respond within the first 30 days than when you wait it out.
Sample C&D with mention of dispute... how does this sound..? Dear Sir/Madame: Thank you for your recent inquiry. This is not a refusal to pay, but an initial notice that your claim is being disputed. I will be mailing a Certified Letter tomorrow detailing this request for validation pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I would also like to request, in writing, that no further telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices continue to attempt telephone communication with me it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter.
Hi folks, I wanted to let everyone know that I decided to close out the account today for my mother and ended up with 50 cents on the dollar. Here's what happened: I planned on faxing the C&D letter and mailing a certified validation letter tomorrow. From doing more reading and research, I had a strong feeling that the best result that would come out of this situation would be one of two things: 1. somewhere along the line, we end up paying 40-50 cents on the dollar for her $8743 debt. A slim chance of paying less than that after a few CAs and lots of paperwork. 2. we end up in court and they put a lien on the house and perhaps never collect anything, but in the meantime we go through lots of letters and hassle and my Mother's stress and lawyers, consultations, etc. perhaps we'd win the judgement, but not likely. 3. we file a chapter 13 (which may not be so fruitful because she has no wages) and pay the entire debt over a long period of time with little or no interest. I didn't feel comfortable about settling for 70% they offered with the knowlege I had, so I made the decision to send the C&D and proceed with drawing things out. I did also feel strongly that 50 cents (#1 above) on the dollar was close to the best I could do in any process of events. I gave one last call to the agent before faxing the C&D. I said I didn't feel comfortable with their offer and that I would turn it down. I said I thought I would be comfortable with 50 cents on the dollar. He tried feebly to change my mind, because it was already made up. I said I would begin sending all the paperwork and validation letters, etc. in order to buy us 30 or more days so I could think about things more in depth. He pretended to not know what I'm talking about "validation letter?" I laughed at him and told him he does know what I'm talking about and that I'm sure they'd been through it before. I also told him goodbye and thanks, and that we couldn't talk on the phone anymore - I'd be sending a fax shortly and a certified letter tomorrow, I'm sure he knew what that meant. He seemed uncomfortable.. I said unless they offered me 50 cents on the dollar right now, that was my course of action. I think he finally believed me. He said, "well, wait, let me talk to my representative and present your demand of 50 cents on the dollar. " The First Bank rep signed off on it pretty quickly, I had him fax me a copy of the settlement letter and a promise to send the original settlement letter as soon as the check was cleared. I sure hope faxes are legal documents. The fax settlement letter looked fine to me (if i'd been more knowlegable about such things I could say for sure), so sent him the payment for 50 cents on the dollar with paper in hand (check routing # over the phone, also seemed sketchy, I'd like something a bit more secure than that, could I have done this differently?) As part of the agreement, they wanted payment today (which I think is their day 30, apparently month-ends mean something for them) The 50% settlement letter states that the account would be marked "settled in full" to the bank, which to me sounded weird instead of something like "settled for less than balance" or something of the sort.. but anyway. I accepted the wording: it had the original balance, the balance I would pay (half the total) and that once paid and received it would be paid in full with no further obligation to the client and a $0.00 balance owed. It listed the lender, the CA, the account number, it looked like everything was there. After looking at everything, I felt like if something goes haywire and they demand more $$, we have a legitimate and solid defense. Right or wrong, I don't feel as if I could have done much better in the long run... perhaps I could have gotten 40 cents on the dollar, or eventually have them drop the debt and forget about it, but to me, it's just not worth it. I would *really* like to thank everyone here for their advice and for the knowledge and helpfulness of everyone here. It was a little stressful, but your advice gave me some added patience and confidence. I'd appreciate you letting me know your opinions on how this turned out, and things I may have done differently (and better) given my situation.. Thanks for your support and advice... -d-
Was your father primary on the card? Are you SURE your mother actually signed for the card as "joint"? or was she just an authorized user. Did she continue to USE the card after yourfather's death, or just made payments on it?
Good job. A couple of thoughts. (1) Your mom is going to get a nice tax bill for the 50% that was waived. It will be reported as income against the 2002 tax year. Be prepared to pay income taxes on that money before April 15, 2003. The IRS is not going to be as nice. (2) Take out all the money from that checking account before except what was set aside for the CA! Do that NOW! Then once the CA takes their cut, close the account. The CA might take more money than they were intitled to. That was a serious mistake letting them do that. Bad CA's are notorious for taking what they want, versus what was agreeded to.
