To Marie

for amounts this large and with all your paperwork in hand, if I were you, I'd do a one hour consultation w/an atty.

I am surprised they're not responding but I'm trying to remember if the FCPA is applicable to attys...
maybe that's why they ignored you and sent it to a lawfirm.

Honestly, this is serious enough money.. do you really just want to depend on the kindness of strangers? or do you want competent advice from someone familiar w/you state laws and the federal laws.. and who can help you from start to finish.

I'd normally tell someone to try and deal with it themselves.. but I'm wondering what's fishy w/them transferring it to an atty after not acknowledging you before.

 

Great!

Great! I love it when they pull that stupid stunt and others like it.

I do trust that your validation letter carried at least some sort of "gag order" clause, didn't it?

If not, you don't have any where to go.
Have you ever received any letter which said they were placing your account in "dispute" and would not contact you again until the matter is resolved or words to that effect?

That's the best one of all, especially if you said nothing in your original letter that would indicate you were disputing.

did you receive such a letter?

 

Re: Great!

The validation letter goes to the collection agency so it makes sense to indicate that you ARE disputing. He is exercising his FDCPA right to validate. He has to be at least specific enough that the collection agency knows what he's talking about. And of course, the FDCPA imposes a c&d during validation.. and the second letter also clarifies the debt now no longer exists... hence c&d.

Bill, go back and reread the letters so we don't confuse the issue more

I think people aren't realizing that after the 2nd (and I do use a different 3rd letter if necessary) then they're done. If there's no response and the account hasn't been recalled... you sue the collection agency. done and done.

I think the issue here is that everyone expects it to be easy and collection agencies might just not decide to rollover. If they do, great.... you're done. but if not, or if they ignore you then you have to fight.

I think most people aren't willing to do that. So if you're not willing to fight it in small claims court, then just do a negotiated settlement. that's logical, isn't it.

 

Mostly right on target

For the most part, you are right on target.
Just about the only thing I could disagree with is that I do exactly as I keep telling people I do and that they should do as well.

DON'T TELL THEM ONE STINKING THING! DON;T TELL THEM YOU ARE DISPUTING THE DEBT, LET THEM SEE IT AS A DISPUTE AND LET THEM DECIDE TO HANDLE IT AS A DISPUTE.
Then if at any future time, they claim to the CRAs that I disputed the debt and they verified it, I can holler that they are telling lies about me, spreading falsehoods and intentionally and illegally defaming my credit. I want you to make suitable amends for your intentional crimianl behavior and you better get it done before I can get my lawyer on this illegal acts of yours.

I want them to ASSU-ME (Put another - in that word, so it's divided properly.) all kinds of things, like I am disputing.
I'm not disputing, I never said a word about any silly dispute. I just asked you to validate the debt and instead of meeting my lawful demands and doing exactly what I asked you to do you go off on some lunatic credit defamation scheme, making false and derogatory statemnet.

Hey! The judge isn't gonna like that one little bit!
You better yada yada yada yada

Now that's all overblown for effect, but if you just ignore all the extra "discriptive" junk, and just boil it doen to it's lowest common denominators, and you get the picture.

I want them to make the mistakes, not me.

Other than that, yes, you are about right on target.

Bill Bauer

 

Right on target again.

Just one thing. Even though one seeks legal counsel to handle such matters as is almost always adviseable, they need to know at least some of the applicable law themselves so they at least have the ability to judge the likely competency of the legal counselor they seek.

There are those out there who do a ton of advertising and have the ability of a mouse.

After all, everybody heard of that lawyer, haven't they? So he's gotta be good.

Oh Yeah?

 

Plead insanity might work

I been thinking about this poor guy Marlon or Marion or Morgan, Whatever the name. Morgan, I think.

There has got to be lots of folks out there who have used the famous Sophistry letter or some variation of it. Just like you said, they thought it was gonna be an easy kill and nobody told them about all it's defects and that it was just the starter and to make it work, they would have to be ready to do a lot more than that if push came to shove, or how to make it actually work if it ever had a crying chance in the first place. So what are people to do who have got them selves to the point the collection agency won't even take their certified mail anymore? Obviously there are a lot of possible answers and variations of how to go about getting the mess straightened out and back on track

One tactic maybe to plead insanity for having used it in the first place. Hold the phone! It's not that simple either.
Of course, you aren't going to go turn yourself in to the local funny farm!

First off, one might think about handwriting a letter to the collection agency and say you must have been insane to listen to a bunch of people in a computer chat room. Tell them your neighbor got a computer and you go over to his house and use his or go to the local library or something. Don't admit you got one. Tell the collection agency that you now realize how stupid you have been and beg for forgiveness for all those insane letters you sent them. Tell them you were just desperate and so worried about the debt and that they might sue him and take away your 1982 pickup which is the only way you got to feed your kids, picking up cans and stuff and selling it to put food on the table.

Anyway, cry a lot and make yourself look like you are poorer than a church mouse and they had you scared out of your wits with their letters, so you got crazy enough to listen to people on this internet chat room.

Hand write it on a piece of paper out of a spiral ring notebook so the edges are all raggedy where you tore it out.
send it to them in a plain small envelope and don't put a return address on it. Don't send it certified either.
And just sign it with your first name only and put your address clear down at the bottom of the letter.

See what you get back. What you are going to try to do is to build as much sympathy as posssible, let them come back to you and see what they got to say.

Once you have their sympathy (if you do get any) you can start all over if you know what to do better next time.

If not, maybe it's just best to ignore them for a while.
He has a tough road to hoe now and he might even be better off just hoping they don't actually ever go for judgement.

Just some thoughts. I used to do all sorts of wild stuff back years ago when we didn't have the FCDPA and the FCRA.

I even got one collection agency to pay the bill and pay me cash money to send them another excuse each month why I couldn't pay the bill. When the dumbo finally realize that he not only paid the $22 bill for me but paid me $80 cash besides, he just quit and let it go. Guess he finally figured out how stupid he was.

Bill Bauer