Hey. I'm new to the boards and honestly have really screwed up credit. I've been trying to get it fixed for a while now. One bill I've neglected, capital one, had a collections agency call me today and tell me that my case was in pre-trial, and I had until the 28th of this month to come up with a settlement of $951. The original credit line was $500 and the bill is now $2000. What should I do? I only have $570 available to pay any of this off and I don't see myself magically stumbling upon $400 this month. Think I could possibly get them to settle for ~$700 before they issue a judgement?
"One bill I've neglected, capital one, had a collections agency call me today and tell me that my case was in pre-trial, and I had until the 28th of this month to come up with a settlement of $951. The original credit line was $500 and the bill is now $2000." Was this telephone call the *first* contact you've had from this CA? If this is the first contact, don't fold. Memorialize the conversation immediately. See below: § 807. False or misleading representations [15 USC 1692e] A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section: (1) The false representation or implication that the debt collector is vouched for, bonded by, or affiliated with the United States or any State, including the use of any badge, uniform, or facsimile thereof. (2) The false representation of -- (A) the character, amount, or legal status of any debt; or
This may be a violation. This is a threat of legal action. Where does this debt stand? Is the amount correct? Is it within SOL? Is it yours? If this is your first communication with them, I'd be dropping a DV in the mail ASAP. If not, well, I'd still DV them.
Yeah, this is actually a new collection agency. I just checked my mail and got a very standard collection letter from Northstar Location Services, no letter from an attourney. The debt is in collections, I haven't made a payment since 02 because I've been too busy trying to crawl out of other debts. What happened, is when Capital One sent me to collections, I stopped paying so that I could pay more on the other cards that I had. I got duped into 3 subprime cards my freshman year of college. It's 3 years, so it's within SOL and the debt is indeed mine.
They called again. I told them I had a validation letter in the mail. They said set up a payment today or they're taking the settlement offer off the table. Is that legal?
But was that first telephone call the first collection contact from this particular CA? Did you receive any dunning letters that you ignored?
I've had one letter from this CA. It was with a different CA until 3/25. Also, when she said the settlement was off the table, she said she would be contacting my employer to verify employment after our call was done. That is definately a FDCPA violation isn't it?
Did the CA misrepresent themselves as being an attorney? If they said the debt was in "pre-trial", and no more, then you only have a CA attempting push emotional hot-buttons and a possible attempt to misrepresent the legal status of the debt. If you already sent the DV in, write another letter and simply say it is "inconvenient" for them to telephone you at home or at your place of employment." (See sec.1 below - the words used are "known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer.") If you're getting telephone calls at home, record them and let them hang themselves with their own words. Don't affirm the debt on the telephone, don't make any promise to pay, and don't make any "token payment" over the telephone. ------------------------------------------------ § 805. Communication in connection with debt collection [15 USC 1692c] (a) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY. Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt -- (1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o'clock antimeridian and before 9 o'clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer's location; (2) if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the debt collector or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or (3) at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication. *********************************** *********************************** (b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector. ******************************** ******************************** IF the CA actually does contact your employer, and if the employer/manager comes to you with information that they received a telephone call from the CA regarding an alleged debt etc. etc., ask them to memorialize the conversation for you. All you need is name/date/time and conversation in neutral "CA said/I said" format. That's at least one $1,000 violation if they follow through on contacting your employer.
