OK, I have been reading a lot here and still feel a little lost. Here is my situation: I had a BOA credit card for a few years. I lost my job and ran it up to over the credit limit ($16.5k on a $15k limit). It got much worse and I simply stopped paying. I spoke to BOA through the whole thing. They eventually moved me to a program where I was to pay $10.8k in payments over 4 years. I did it OK for six months but I simply was not making enough. I stopped paying on it and they stopped calling. It now shows I owe $21.5k on my credit report. It says that it is charged off as bad debt / written off. I got a few calls from a collection agency about it but never was able to speak to them (robo calls on my cell). I have not heard from them since. My CR shows it was last reported on 3/2009. Now, I was clueless as how to handle this until I found this site and I am committed to getting this debt resolved once and for all. I have no paper trails, no letters from collection companies, essentially nothing. I am at a loss of where to start. I was going to send them an offer to settle (to BOA) but if it is charged off doesn't that mean I will be dealing with a CA? I am worried that since I am know where near the SOL they may file a civil suit against me to collect. I feel like I should call them and figure it out before it gets to that but need some guidance. Any advice would be appreciated! PS: The CA that recently contacted me said they were a law firm and I found that this is true. They do not have a website and never sent me mail. Thanks
Well then they must have contacted you by phone. I hope you have a written record of their call saved from your cellphone. It would be better if you also had a voice recording of the call. That's why I always carry an Olympus WS-311M digital voice recorder with me wherever I go. I have two of them. They now have models available at Wal-mart and other places that do a bit over 500 hours of recording for about $90. It is simple to record conversations with those because all you have to do is turn it on and hold the end up to your ear and then the phone on top of it. Records beautifully. Since they contacted you by phone they have 5 days from the date of that call to have a written demand in your hands. If that don't happen you have your first violation to sue them with. Keep a written record of whether they did that or not. Next step is to keep close track of your public record at the court house and do it on line if possible to see whether or not their next contact with you will be by serving you with a summons. If you can't do it on line then you will just have to check by phone or you might even have to go to the courthouse at least once a week to do your checking. That's a pain but you certainly don't want them to get the drop on you with discovery. If that happens you are in bad shape indeed. Sometimes you can avoid the process server the first time s/he comes by simply not answering the door. If you can do that then you will still be able to get the drop on them by responding to the summons before you are served. Just go down to the courthouse and pull the file on the complaint and get your response prepared, filed and sent to the plaintiff's attorney immediately. Same day if possible. You will want to study your state and local rules of civil procedure and FDCPA to see what other violations you might be able to rack up on the attorney. It usually isn't hard to come up with a couple more in the course of litigation. Then about the time the attorney thinks the case is all wrapped up and files motion for summary judgment I'd file the federal case against him/her and see how they like the feel of the rubber meeting the road.
Thanks for the awesome advice. I have a record from my cell phone bills. Should I not be sending them a 30 day validation letter as well? I will purchase a recorder tomorrow and use it if they call again. If they do I will just get their basic info and then tell them further contact over the phone is inconvenient and everything else should be done via mail. If they call again I will keep detailed records, record the call and remind them each time I have already advised them not to call me as it is inconvenient. Thanks Phil
How long has it been since they first called you? Do you have a mailing address for them? If not you might have to wait until they do send you a demand letter or if you can find an address for them then it might be a good idea to send them a demand for validation soon. Are they in your credit reports? If so then send in a dispute letter to the CRAs. If they haven't proven the debt then they have no permissible purpose to be there or even pull your credit reports.
It has been about 45-60 days. I have never received a letter from them though. It only shows the BOA entry on my credit report, nothing about them. I know their address as I found it online. Should I send the verification letter? Thanks
I'd say that it can't hurt any to send your demand for validation now. Although I don't normally recommend doing so sending a second demand later might be desirable if the response to your first demand produces nothing but nonsense claiming to be validation. Specifically speaking, what letter are you talking about? Where did you get it? Or are you talking about a letter you authored? What does it say? Letters that have a long list of demands or quote a any legal garbage should never be used. Keep it simple.
