I'll be filing suit in the next day or 2 against Gulf State for reaging, improper reporting, and collections on an account that is past the SOL (they bought from citibank). I've made them aware of my intent to sue. Yesterday I received an 'offer' from Capital One to open a line of credit with them & transfer the balance of the Gulf State debt. My husband (who doesn't read this board) was going to go for it. I told him I'd break his fingers! This is the first I've heard of a credit card company wanting to balance transfer a collection account. Sheesh! They must think I'm a moron.
Moron or not, I've actually been asking Capital One to do that for me, transfer my debt to a credit card I have with them. The debt is from Capital One and it accrues interest every year at 24%! I wanted them to transfer it to my 19.8% credit card and they said they couldn't. Now I see from your post what a big bunch of liars they are. I hate them! And it was Mr. Miller who told me this too.
Cap 1 has to initiate the offer. They did this with an account that I had with them a few years ago. They gave me a new card with a $600 credit limit and a $600 special transfer balance. Initially the APR was 9.9%, after 6 mos. of on time payments the reduced my bill by 10% ($120) and lowered my interest rate to 2.9%. Can't really beat that. The only problem is I can't get an increase on the card. I'll probably try that later this year after all my credit card debts are paid off.
I got one of those Capital One offers on an ancient charge off (10 years), and I'm a current card holder of theirs more than 2 years! They ought to be checking the dates to see that the 'debt' is not time-barred, otherwise they are only preying upon the ignorance of people and I really hate them for it! I doubt they paid more than 2 cents on the dollar for my old charge-off and to think I would pay 100% of it at 20% interest LOL!!! I was so pissed off at this I called them up and they apologized and increased my credit line, but I received the offer again a month later. What I think is that Cap One has as part of its 'enhanced credit scoring model' a secret ILLEGAL database of charge-offs. HOW DID they come to buy my old charge-off? That is what I'd like to know. I'm going to be dumping them because I am convinced they will never give credit where it is due based on the current credit reports.
Getting delinquent debtors to re-affirm a debt is a very common and perfectly legal in this case. However, some companies take the practice too far. Sears got in big trouble a few years ago for tricking people who had gone to through banktruptcy to re-affirm their Sears debt. Sears was fined millions by the FTC and forced to return payments. The offer is a no brainer for the creditor. If the debtor is stupid enough for fall for it, then the crediter can sue, charge outragous interest, or what ever they want to do. Don't do it.
Not that I'm being extra sensitive to the above post. However, I don't think I was stupid in accepting their offer. In my case, the debt was within the SOL timeframe, I owed the money, I wanted to pay the money. At the same time, I turned a $1200 charge-off into a paid charge-off (I know some of you think that this doesn't matter, I disagree with that), and received a new credit card with an excellent APR.
Nursie Good luck with your voyage!! Please... Keep us updated with Gulf State..!! They suck...!!!!! I am dealing with them as we speak. They bought a fraudulent account from Discover and are trying to get me to pay it!! NOT .....a chance in Hell...!!!! Everyone at Gulf State can kiss my A$$...!!!! MartysGirl