I'm still dragging my feet on the $23K (now with about $4k interest) that I quit paying last July, 2008. Not being bothered terribly--about once a week. My Q is, first collectors were Nationwide Inc out of Canada. About 2 months ago, a company by name of GCServices Limited Partnership took over the task of collections. Anyone know if they are also working under the Amex umbrella? Or did they buy my debt? The other day the woman who called said they have the responsiblity now because "the other agency wasn't doing it's job". Whatever that meant... Also, I sent a CMRRR to Amex' NY offices addressed to Prez, and have not heard anything from them. I thought they would at least send me a complimentary letter THANKING me for mine. LOLOL Perhaps I don't understand the purpose of a CMRRR, since GCS told me that Amex will NOT work directly with me and offered me a negotiated balance of 16K. That sounds like about 25% discount. BUT I am unwilling to accept that figure because I want them to remove the accumulated interest since the first collection agency took the debt. (she also told me the interest is no longer accumulating--which I have noticed on their weekly reminders!) Is that a clue that they bought this for pennies on the dollar from Amex? Or could I be so lucky? Oh, and she also told me that I am (or people like me are) the reason everyone's interest is so high, including hers. I challenged her on that saying she was responsible for her own interest rates, but she disagreed--of course.
no you can blame our government for the high rates by letting them get away with it.They punish the good for the bad ones,im talking the ones who took a card out with no intention of paying them back
If you pull your credit report, usually the original creditor will state if it has been sold. I'm glad you successfully fought off the other collection agency. Keep the faith. You'll come out of this alright.
GC Services is simply a third party debt collector. Send them the precatory VD and they'll go away too. The issue with AMEX is that they are litigious thus, be careful. I'd ask them directly about their OASIS program once GC is out of the picture.
No it doesn't mean Amex sold the debt - they usually don't. They just like to move debts around from agency to agency.
I'm also dealing with the same situation. Have roughly a 25k debt with Amex, account went under around November 08. I have been dealing with GC Services, who is simply a third party collection agency on behalf of Amex. Without any questions, they offered roughly a 65% settlement. I explained to them my situation, asking for a smaller settlement figure, they advised me to write a letter which they would forward to their superiors at Amex for approval. Account definetly still belongs to Amex. We'll see what happens.
Let's see what happens amex created a bank to get bailout money,chances are the answer will be no,check into their oasis program.
rib, we're in essentially the same position, although I have continued sending in "gratis" payments of $100-150 directly to Amex every 45-60 days since I quit paying min July 2008. I have made no smaller offers than the 16K they would settle for, since the most i could scrape from the barrel (and getting splinters doing so!) would be only half that (8K) and I have no hopes of that offer even being considered as "serious". Have just been courteous, sometimes joking with the nice lady who calls me which is often reciprocated till she understands I have no way/desire to settle with her on that day, and hangs up on me. And 7 days later we repeat the script....
Friend owed AMEX... Also had Optima card.... She paid some on the Optima when they closed both accounts, (about 3 years ago) Then she got a few letters and then nothing whatsoever,until recently she has been getting calls several times weekly to call AMEX. I checked her credit report and AMEX is listing as a charge off and no other tradeline from a CA AND OR JDB, so I think they must have hired a third party collector now to try to get her to pay up. I told her to ignore the phone calls and if she gets anything in the mail or delivered to let me know. Right course of action? The amount she owes is about 5K total on the both cards. Woofer
Let's see.............first collection agency was Nationwide Credit, the second was NCO Financial, and the third (so far) has been First Source Advantage. My advice...........don't talk to an agency on the phone-make them put anything they have to say to you in writing. Much less stress on you plus you will have written proof of their behavior should they ever need it.
Recd call from GC Services for Home Depot First of all, this woman scared me when she mentioned Garnishment. I normally don't get rattled but that caught my attention. Our situation: hubby & I have approx $2500 owed to Home Depot. I had tried to work with them a couple of months back but the only options they were offering were simply not going to be plausible for us to do. Things like sending "$600 now and .... " They lost me at the $600 now part. So, we've not been paying. I see from our free credit monitoring that we are getting dinged every single month by Home Depot. Now this phone call from GC. They say that Citibank sent letters regarding the amount, and I suppose that, loosely, they did. The letters simply said to call them, which I had already done. So. I'm not trying to dodge the bill but I just can't send them a ton of money right now. Heck -- I made the error of borrowing from hubby's 401k last fall and paid Homer $4,000 then! I wish I still had that money in my pocket. What do I do? I want to send a payment arrangement letter to Home Depot and see if we can work it out. Can someone tell me if this is the right move while I go grab some Excedrin? Please? Again -- pls let me know if you need more info. I'm sorry. I just can't get myself collected (pun intended), here. gwenny
Google the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and how to write debt validation letters. It sounds like they may have possibly violated the act by threatenning something they aren't intending to do but even if they hadn't, the debt validation letter may work for you. In some cases, some collection agencies may leave you alone not wanting to do the research but even if they don't...............this will buy you some time. Also, you may want to look into your state laws to make sure the debt is not time-barred. This is a defense you can use if they do end up taking you to court (which they are supposed to do BEFORE doing things to enforce the judgement such as wage garnishment). You may also want to check avvo.com which may answer the legal end of your situation-the people who reply are lawyers while most of the rest of us are not...........all we can do is suggest the things that have worked for our particular situations.l
