As posted a little earlier, because of NCO, my mother now knows that I have a delinquent Citibank card being pursued by a CA, knows the dollar amount that is delinquent, and thinks I am in imminent danger of being sued. The CA has called her three times and after the 2nd time I called and told him they were not to call her again. I'm pissed off enough about this that I am going to sue them for violating the FDCPA as this is about as textbook a reason the FDCPA exists if there is one. Embarassing financial details of my life were revealed to my mother of all people in an attempt to get me to pay up. Can someone help me out and let me know what I need in order to file a suit against them in small claims court or direct me to some resources? Right now, all I have is the reps name and phone number. Thanks in advance.
Are they trying to pressure your mother to pay for you, such as by disclosing various things they claim they are about to do (possible FDCPA violations if not legal even if they were talking to you), or are they trying to pressure you to pay by continuing to call your mother? Has your mother told them to stop calling? Are they able to contact you (already have your current phone number and address)?
They haven't pressured my mom to pay, but have called her 3 times to my knowledge, with me calling them after the 2nd time to explicitly tell them to stop calling her. They called her again today and told her the amount and the creditor (again). They have my phone number because they call me all the time and when I called them after the 2nd call to my mom I told him this was the only number they can contact me at. I believe the violations are: -Calling my mother more than once -Divulging to her that they are collecting a debt (a few times, by mentioning Citibank and the dollar amount) I'm not sure if I could get them on multiple counts for continuing to disclose the creditors name and amount to her or if that would just be one violation. But, they clearly harmed my reputation with my own mother and I intend to make them pay at least something for it. NCO's corporate headquarters are apparently located in Pennsylvania, but can I use their registered address in the state I live in to file suit? Anyone know?
The problem you may have here is that you called them, and told them not to call your mother. In simple words, "your word against theirs". In short, you need to document all these activities and violations. Start backing into the dates and times of these communications (both ways) and create your case file. You also have not stated whether you have requested a validation from this CA or not. Under the FDCPA they can speak to your mother once if they say they cannot locate you. They cannot give the details as they did in your case. However these CAs get paid on results (collections), and will do whatever it takes to leverage you to pay. The first step you need to take is to write the CA and expressly tell them to NOT contact your mother. Make it clear in the letter that they have had the correct phone number to contact you with. This will point to a clear violation. As supporting evidence, pull your credit reports to see what contact information is on them. If your phone number is on them, you have a stronger case. Also it will show the date the CA pulled an inquiry into your report to get this information. Good Luck
Yes, my documentation is a little light, but I have kept a log of all the times they contacted my mother as well as when I called them. In addition, I have e-mails from my mom after each time they called in which she wrote that she just talked to so and so regarding a Citibank card in the amount of <blank>. At some levels, this is going to have to be mine and my moms word against theirs so hopefully there will be a sympathetic judge.
This is unbelievable. They just called her again and offered a lower settlement amount than what they offered her yesterday. This is my account and my account only and they are calling my mom repeatedly about settlement. These people have to be sued. DOes anyone know if you can subpoena the telephone records and recordings from a CA?
Memorialize all of their contacts with you, and with your mom, note the information they have been disclosing to your mom and when, and when they were told by you to stop calling her, and demand that they restrict all contact to you alone, indicating at what address or phone number. Send it CRRR. If they continue in FDCPA violations after they receive your notice, file suit. You have your memorialization, that they received, and your emails from your mother. Have you requested validation? If you don't put itheir violations in writing, it looks like they are acting as if your mother is your agent, as if you have authorized her to act in your interest. They are making offers to you thru her. They may even claim you "accepted" an offer, based on something they may claim she said. You want to document their contacts as FDCPA violations, not whatever they might claim they are.
I have explicitly told them (via phone...I know) that they are not to call her 3 times. I have never authorized her to act as my agent (wouldn't they need proof of that as well?) I wonder if I can subpoena their phone records and recordings in regard to my account.
Do it in writing, not by phone. They don't need anything to do anything. Whether it is right or legal is another matter, but it won't stop them from doing whatever they want. Your mother should tell them to stop calling when they call, and hang up. She should not communicate with them further. She has no obligation to talk to them at all. If they call again, she should file complaints with her phone company and local DA that they are making harassing calls. Calls made to a party they have no business talking to, when she has specifically requested that they not call, are "harassing".
The thing is, the FDCPA states that you can only contact a 3rd party once and that is only to attain address info. Disclosing that they are calling about a debt is a violation in itself. So even though I haven't sent them a hard copy asking them to stop calling her, they have been violating the FDCPA regardless in continuing to call her and discuss the debt.
True. But it is not enough that you know they are violating. They can do anything they want until such point as you make them stop, law or not. There is also the issue of what action they will take to collect, presumably based on whether the account is within SOL.
God these NCO people are stupid. They called my mom again today and left a message saying they are extending the settlement offer blah blah blah. This is my account and they are leaving these types of messages on my folks phone. The good thing is that she has saved the message and I am going to use it in court. Quite honestly, I think they think they have a better chance at pressuring her into paying than they do me. But, it is my alleged debt they are chasing. They are simply trampling on the FDCPA right now.
That is why you need to memorialize all violations (don't call them that. Just tell them to stop.) Otherwise, you take it to court, and they just say "bone fide error, We thought his number was (mother's number) and since she was discussing the debt with us, we assumed it was at his direction." Or they claim they were talking to your "wife". Maybe a judge will buy it, maybe not.
Is the FDCPA so flimsy that a CA could just say, "oops, sorry, we thought this was the right number." They clearly know who they are talking to. Also, if I'm not mistaken, leaving a voicemail and discussing the debt is a violation in and of itself. BTW, I just called NCO again and told them (once again) to quit calling her.
You can call all day long. Without writing and sending CRRR, it's as if it didn't happen. You might, however, search on FTC settlements with NCO, and see if they have a consent agreement to follow FDCPA and collect information on reported violations. You might have additional leverage there.
But still, the real violations here are there repeated calling of my mother, a 3rd party, and their disclosure of the debt information to her. I completely understand what your saying about sending letters instead of calling, but I'm going to take a shot at them anyway as the crux of the violations don't even require me to tell them to stop as they are just blatant violations.
So I got a call from them this morning and of course didn't answer the phone and now have a voicemail from the rep saying that "the only reason I've been calling your parents is that they seem like they wanted to help you with this debt". I think this can be very powerful evidence in showing how they have been abusing the FDCPA in trying to collect this debt. I have him on recording admitting he has been calling my folks and insinuating that he has discussed settlement offers with them. Regardless of whether I sent letters telling them to stop, they have violated by repeatedly calling a 3rd party and discussing the debt with them. Multiple times. I'm filing my suit against them today.
NCO doesn't own the debt. Citibank does. I sent a notice to Citibank informing them of NCO's violations and that I will no longer do business with NCO because of them. NCO can't sue me for shit.
and honestly, I'm just going to stand up to these douchebags for once and seek justice. They violated the FDCPA mulitiple times, scared my mom, tarnished my reputation with her, etc. **** them, if I lose I lose but I'm not going to let that slide.
