I have a question I am hoping all you â??expertsâ? can help me with. I am just starting out on this whole credit repair business so bear with me. I recently had a CA call me at work demanding payment for a VISA account they said they now own. They said it charged off in April and they now own the debt. I was late on the payments but I had received a bill the month before from the OC that had a due date of May 10. I told them I could not accept these types of calls at work, that I do not deal with CAâ??s, and that I would contact the original creditor on this account. The nasty witch (I canâ??t say what I am really thinking) then told me I couldnâ??t call the OC, they would just refer me back to them and I could not make arrangements with the OC for payment. I kept telling her I would talk with the OC and she kept telling me I had to deal with her, that the OC would not accept my payment. This little back and forth went on a couple more times until she started talking about their â??rightâ? to collect this debt and how was I going to be paying for this and get it resolved. I stated I also knew what MY rights were and that I would deal with the OC. Her response was CLICK. I was not sure about the charge off issue since I had no notice that this was going to happen and I had received a bill for the month after she said it charged off. Since I had a bill from the OC for that month and the money to pay off the balance I sent a check to the OC. They cashed it. I may have a small balance due this month due to interest. The CA is still calling me every day at work and home. I screen my calls at home but at work it is sometimes hard to do that. Since the OC cashed the check, what should I do at this point? I was thinking about sending the C&D letter and validation to the CA. Since the OC cashed the check, they should not be able to validate the account for the amount they are trying to collect, right? Is this the way to go or do I need to follow some other process. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
If the item is not on any of my credit reports, I would send the C&D letter to the CA. Write explicitly that you can NOT and WILL NOT accept any calls by phone at work or at home, but ONLY through the USMAIL at XYZ address. Then state they must cease and desist all collection activity on the referenced account. If you want to put the reason (I do not think it is necessary because they are simply in error), then put something about the OC accepting payment in full. Any further actions will result in a lawsuit for violations of the FDCPA. Then sue if they continue...keep a log of all calls they attempt, record any that you get (state upfront that you may be recording this call for training purposes LOL) and document everything. If it is on your report(s), then I would go through the validation process. -Peace, Dave
Dave- Thanks for the info. I do not have the actual info in front of me so I can't give specifics, but I also found out the collection agency does not have a permit to operate in my state. According to state code they also must maintain an office in the state which they do not. The are located in New York with no branch office or dba in my state. Naughty, naughty.
