|
BaseballPCHiker posted:Well poo poo, I'm an idiot. Had a very similar call, asked them to send me proof of debt and they refused, they also wouldn’t share their mailing address. I knew it was a scam but they had the last 4 digits of my social and my current and previous addresses. I guess that info is out there.
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2019 03:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 07:16 |
|
|
Puppy Galaxy posted:Had a very similar call, asked them to send me proof of debt and they refused, they also wouldn’t share their mailing address. I knew it was a scam but they had the last 4 digits of my social and my current and previous addresses. I guess that info is out there. If you have a credit card, you're probably compromised. Freeze all credit reports as a general safety step these days.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2019 04:00
|
|
|
FCKGW posted:I just got a debt collections notice on a medical bill that's not due until a week from today (4/5). The charge was right around the monthly billing cycle so they probably jumped the gun a month early. I sent a certified letter on Monday and they sent a follow-up letter that same day saying they screwed up and to disregard the first letter lol
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2019 04:50
|
|
|
Puppy Galaxy posted:Had a very similar call, asked them to send me proof of debt and they refused, they also wouldn’t share their mailing address. I knew it was a scam but they had the last 4 digits of my social and my current and previous addresses. I guess that info is out there. Yeah pretty much what happened to me. They already had my address, last 4 of social, and DOB I just like an idiot confirmed that they were right. Still havent seen anything on my credit report at least and I put a freeze on my credit report, we'll see what happens. Were you by chance involved with that big Office of Personnel Management data breach? I was and all of this stuff started happening to me right afterwards.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2019 15:54
|
|
|
BaseballPCHiker posted:Were you by chance involved with that big Office of Personnel Management data breach? I was and all of this stuff started happening to me right afterwards.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2019 01:45
|
|
|
baquerd posted:If you have a credit card, you're probably compromised. Freeze all credit reports as a general safety step these days. I do, and it’s not. I have getting similar calls for years off and on. I monitor my credit report and it’s all accurate. I have to assume it’s very cheap and easy to get the information they have.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2019 06:01
|
|
|
Puppy Galaxy posted:I do, and it’s not. I have getting similar calls for years off and on. I monitor my credit report and it’s all accurate. I have to assume it’s very cheap and easy to get the information they have. I just mean your credit card data is probably out there for sale somewhere due to earlier breaches and one day you'll get hit and have to dispute some charges. If you're unlucky it'll be identity theft though and new lines of credit appear not opened by you. That's a lot more of a bitch to deal with and freezing your report is a free and simple way to minimize the risk of that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2019 12:22
|
|
|
Puppy Galaxy posted:I do, and it’s not. I have getting similar calls for years off and on. I monitor my credit report and it’s all accurate. I have to assume it’s very cheap and easy to get the information they have. Ya it's literally just extortion. The guys that called me had my dl # and stuff and threatened to have me arrested and poo poo. They're just hoping you'll be spooked enough to believe that if they have that info they have some way to do it. If they had your card info they probably wouldn't be calling to tell you, but it doesn't hurt to lock your credit anyways.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 06:01
|
|
|
Getting info like last 4, DL number, current and past address, etc. is, of course, trivial. Not only is most of that floating around the seedier corners of the internet for just about everyone, but there are "legit" ways to get it too. From the sound of the OP's post on this topic, my guess is one of the scummier debt collection agencies who operate behind a spiderweb of shell companies got the info by hoovering up a huge amount of old debt that, depending on the age, is usually sold for pennies or even fractions of a penny on the dollar. Doesn't matter whether the old debt is valid or not or even paid off, the point is it is a lot of targeted data they can use to then pull off scams like this.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 16:39
|
|
|
I have received a couple of letters lately from a collection agency demanding payment of around $5,000ish for a debt to a college (doesn't say anything about student loans, just has the college itself listed). The first thing is that I did take a couple of classes at this college but that was 7 years ago. I'm not sure how the SOL works because where the college is (Illinois) it looks like some of the SOL rules are up to 10 years, however for the past 5 years I have lived in a state where the SOL on everything is basically 6 years. Given that I am not sure if first off they can even do anything at this point (does this SOL apply to the state where the school is or where I live now/have lived for quite awhile). They also have had my last name misspelled on both letters that they have sent me. Up to this point for the past 7 years I have had no sort of contact about this. Do I send a DV letter which would correct the spelling of my last name and confirm my address? Do I just do nothing? What would the SOL be on this? Again I don't think it's a student loan thing, they are just saying that I owe the school itself this 5 grand.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 03:24
|
|
|
Have you tried to confirm it with the school? I'd check your credit too; I'd expect it to be reported long before now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 04:28
|
|
|
I need some advice. My dad passed and since my mom's mind is getting a little fuzzy I'm helping her settle the estate and pay some debts. She had a medical bill that went unpaid and was sold to a debt collector. For some reason AFTER the debt was sold my dad had decided to pay the original company what he owed, and they deposited that check even tho the bill had been sold off, and now the debt collector is still hounding my mom as if it were an unpaid debt. What exactly should I do here?
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2019 04:52
|
|
|
WorldsStongestNerd posted:I need some advice. My dad passed and since my mom's mind is getting a little fuzzy I'm helping her settle the estate and pay some debts. Send them a letter stating that the original debt was paid and ask them to stop contacting you.
|
|
#
?
Jun 21, 2019 17:58
|
|
|
My wife just got an email looking for her father. Addressed to him, looking to collect on a debt... Is this a violation? We are in FL, as is he... Who do we file with? (note, she has POA over him but she did not take out this debt)
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2019 23:38
|
|
|
I got a warrant to appear for an old debt that I was dumb to take out in the first place and I missed some payments. Did pay what months I could to what I thought showed some good faith in hey im paying and plan to catch up soon (note: i should have called and actually spoken with someone about this). But I never received late payment letters or anything else until a letter from the debt collector. Sent off standard letter asking for proof, they replied with not much info quickly but my wife just said hey you got a bunch of copies from that debt with your signature on them. First appearance date is just under 2 months away, I assume best to do is appear (planned to no matter what) and (besides hoping no one shows), do what? I am well aware the debt is mine, I'm assuming if they have my signature and all on documents I don't have an argument. Should I push for arbitration, do I have chances here that the agreed amount could go down and a payment plan setup versus wage garnishment or something else? Also my credit score has been on a steady rise before this and has continued to which I have been happy about, how could / will this take my credit down the shitter? streetlamp fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Aug 6, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2019 16:32
|
|
|
streetlamp posted:I got a warrant to appear for an old debt that I was dumb to take out in the first place and I missed some payments. They're suing you in small claims I assume? Absolutely show up in court, otherwise they win automatically. They almost certainly would be willing to set up a payment plan with you, I'd suggest contacting them and saying you want to reach an agreement out of court. They just want their money back and would rather not bother with getting a judgment and trying to garnish your wages or whatever. The most likely and best scenario is they agree to a payment plan, you might not even have to go to court and if you do you both tell the judge you reached a settlement and that's that. Nothing goes on your credit report. Worst case scenario is they refuse a settlement, take you to court and you lose. Then the court issues a judgment and they can try and garnish your wages. The judgment will go on your credit report and gently caress up your score. Are you being sued by the original creditor (whoever actually loaned you the money) or by a third-party debt collector who purchased your debt?
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2019 02:29
|
|
|
Pellisworth posted:They're suing you in small claims I assume? Absolutely show up in court, otherwise they win automatically. They almost certainly would be willing to set up a payment plan with you, I'd suggest contacting them and saying you want to reach an agreement out of court. They just want their money back and would rather not bother with getting a judgment and trying to garnish your wages or whatever. The most likely and best scenario is they agree to a payment plan, you might not even have to go to court and if you do you both tell the judge you reached a settlement and that's that. Nothing goes on your credit report.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2019 02:31
|
|
|
Dik Hz posted:Even if you reach an agreement out of court, I'd still show up to court just to make sure they're not being assholes. Oh definitely. You might be able to get them to cancel the court appearance but contact the clerk and make sure they actually cancel. edit: also make sure to get any settlement agreement in writing Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Aug 7, 2019 |
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2019 02:35
|
|
|
Pellisworth posted:Oh definitely. You might be able to get them to cancel the court appearance but contact the clerk and make sure they actually cancel. Absolutely do not agree to anything until you get proof in writing. Don't discuss over the phone (or if you do, assume it's all bullshit and they're recording you to try and get you to admit the debt is yours)
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2019 12:11
|
|
|
Pellisworth posted:Are you being sued by the original creditor (whoever actually loaned you the money) or by a third-party debt collector who purchased your debt? Plaintiff: Velocity Investments (debt collectors), LLC assignee of OneMain Financial (I originally owe onemain the debt) A law firm is representing them and says "this communication is on behalf of a debt collector ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANTS) below their information Should I contact the debt collector or law firm to see if a payment plan could be settled out of court?
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2019 22:21
|
|
|
streetlamp posted:Plaintiff: Velocity Investments (debt collectors), LLC assignee of OneMain Financial (I originally owe onemain the debt)
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2019 02:46
|
|
|
I'm waiting on a background check for a teller job and I'm worried about my credit being checked. I pulled my Equifax and I only have 2 things on the report. My student loans and an old student credit card listed as a Charge Off. My student loans are all listed as paid on time but they definitely were not. I brought the account current in April with forbearance, and I missed June and July but have paid them off to bring the account current again with full intention to pay August on time. For the credit card, I am ready to pay it off in full when the bank opens Monday morning. If I do so, how can I expect my credit score to change? My current score is 530. How soon would this show on my credit report? Am I boned on getting this job? I passed the interview, completed onboarding, and I'm only waiting on the background check to clear.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2019 00:16
|
|
|
A paid charge off is still a very strong negative, and it could take weeks before anything gets reported to the credit bureaus. Nothing you do right now will likely have any impact on what they will see if they pull your credit. In the longer term, you should not just pay the bank, you should try to negotiate for pay-for-delete, which means the bank will just entirely erase the tradeline on your credit report in exchange for you paying it off. This is much more difficult these days than it used to be, though. You should look at all of the information reported about the account, because if anything is incorrect, you could be able to dispute the tradeline with the bureaus and get it knocked off, but again that is a long-term benefit thing to work on. Sometimes a bank will not bother disputing your attempt to get a paid charge off removed, while they will for a non-paid charge off. Also if they aren't trying to collect, you could wake up the debt, but since you are prepared to pay in full, that isn't something to worry about. If you can get it off, you will then be in a much better position to get a new card to start building a credit history, as things like the age of your oldest account and average age of your accounts are very important, and it takes a long time of good history to build good credit. I was in a much worse situation than you seven years ago, and my last derogatories will finally fall off in February. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but wait for bad things to fall off, and cultivate good tradelines while you do.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2019 06:27
|
|
|
Xinlum posted:I'm waiting on a background check for a teller job and I'm worried about my credit being checked. I pulled my Equifax and I only have 2 things on the report. My student loans and an old student credit card listed as a Charge Off. My student loans are all listed as paid on time but they definitely were not. I brought the account current in April with forbearance, and I missed June and July but have paid them off to bring the account current again with full intention to pay August on time. I have worked in banks for over 10 years and known some people with really lovely credit who were able to work there so you might be OK anyway. They care more about things like fraud and theft.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2019 07:09
|
|
|
Yeah I got the job. Thanks for the advice! I start Monday!
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2019 17:47
|
|
|
Dik Hz posted:Contact the law firm. Once one or both parties have an attorney, everything should go through the attorneys. I do as told but reading the contract was basically me googling every few words and trying to put meaning to each bullet point but felt I can cut back on things and in a month my mortgage payment was going down a good amount. So gently caress it, signed and sent. There was a spot for the Judge to sign off on and the lawyer. I never received any confirmation of receiving it, I also assumed some proof of the Judge signing off would show up. A day or two after sending this off, a bunch of lovely unexpected family emergencies came up and it wasn't until this week I actually thought oh I haven't heard about the whole debt thing, checked and it was on the docket for this morning. Showed up, no one from the lawfirm was present but another attorney who I guess was handling every case on the docket was standing up next to the judge sliding paperwork and such to the Judge. Everyone before me except for one woman immediately lost and told to meet with that attorney after this docket was over. I was called and the attorney up there I see slide that contract over and said something like I was asked on behalf of the plaintiff for your signature on this contract and she immediately said no signature, dismissed. I went into the clerks office and asked for a copy of the judgement. Says dismissed and I clarify with the clerk 'So I'm done?' and walked out. I see the Judge marked it without prejudice. Any ideas if I should expect for this to be filed again soon? TLDR: First hearing, plaintiff no showed, dismissed without prejudice. Any idea if this is likely to be filed again? If so does this first hearing help me at all.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2019 17:30
|
|
|
streetlamp posted:Thanks for this thread and replying to help my dumbass. I called the law firm, after a few attempts I got a lawyer on the phone who could pull up my record. He spoke very fast and aggressive and was immediately typing away hard as we spoke he kept throwing out deals that I would answer sorry I can't pay that, I have no money. He finally said well could you do $200 a month? I felt really pressured and not liking how this is going but as mentioned above and by a few friends I should try to settle out of court, not have my wages garnished, no court, etc. I agree to $200 a month and the second I said sure he was emailing a contract to sign and overnight to him.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2019 03:19
|
|
|
thanks i was afraid reselling the debt would happen
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2019 13:41
|
|
|
Didn't know this thread existed, moving this from the General thread.. Background: roughly 1 year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I underwent chemotherapy at that time and am now in full remission. My MD says it's like I have diabetes...the type of cancer I have is a long term, managed condition. I may have some reduced life expectancy but not by much. Between being so sick from the cancer and so sick from the chemo both my ability to manage money and my ability to earn money both went into the toilet. We were one of those families 'just getting by' and this happened. I got behind on several bills and fell behind both in saving and managing my money. Over the last six months I have started righting the ship by saving both in cash and in my bank account. I have about $700 saved now. I am also slowly getting caught up with bills and have even paid off some entirely. This leads to last week when I came home to find a sheaf of papers from the local court tucked into my doorframe. A nationally known debt collection agency has bought the debt from a credit card I had completely forgotten about...I've made arrangements with all the others but this one got past me. There is a court date set for roughly a month from now. The amount of the debt is roughly $1500.00. My questions are as follows: 1) Do I offer to pay the full amount of the debt? I have heard on financial talk shows before that if a debt is bought by a collection agency then they have bought it for (potentially) pennies on the dollar and that it might make sense to offer a lower amount. I could probably raise the full amount between now and the court date. 2) My plan is to only communicate in writing with this collector. Is that the right way to do this? I"ve found their website and they have a phone number, etc. If I do contact them, what should I be asking for/mindful of? 3) Do I need to contact the court before the trial date? If so, what do I tell them? 4) Am I missing something? (Yes I'm going to read the OP here in a minute but I'm juggling a million things and I'm also fairly anxious about the situation)
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 20:05
|
|
|
Pershing posted:1) Do I offer to pay the full amount of the debt? I have heard on financial talk shows before that if a debt is bought by a collection agency then they have bought it for (potentially) pennies on the dollar and that it might make sense to offer a lower amount. I could probably raise the full amount between now and the court date. This is all from my own experiences and "I am not a lawyer" etc. 1)If you believe it is a legitimate debt and collection effort, you can offer to make some sort of payment. If not, get a lawyer. If you do want to just pay it off, offer them something really low ball. In the past, I've always offered about 20-25% of what they are asking. They'll likely shoot back with something around 75%. You can then go to something like 40% and they'll likely come back with something around 50-60%. You can fight pretty hard and get better deals, it really all comes down to how much effort/time you want to put into it. You can also almost certainly ask for a payment plan, which they will almost definitely accept. You'll likely get stuck paying the full amount, though, which often includes extra fees and interest they've tacked on. 2)Do EVERYTHING in writing. Make a folder, save everything. They'll likely try to push you to contact them via phone. I'm 100% convinced this is so they can pressure/trick you into agreeing to something more beneficial to them. Don't do it. If there's a time crunch, you can get probably get away with writing back and forth via email, just print them out and save em in a folder just in case. Related to the previous question, I have had one collection agency request that I fill out a proof of income form before they agreed to take a settlement payoff. Read any forms very carefully before filling them out. I can't call this a good recommendation, but it is what I did: I didn't fill in anything I didn't feel comfortable with. For example, I didn't give them the address or phone number of my employer, just the company name. I actually left a fair bit unfilled or put something along the lines of "I am not comfortable providing this information" on the blanks. I also wrote in big letters "THIS IS NOT AN AGREEMENT TO PAY THIS DEBT, NOR AN ADMISSION OF LIABILITY FOR THIS DEBT" right above the signature line. The point is, don't get tricked into filling out or signing anything that could be seen as admission of guilt or agreement to pay until you have reached an agreement that you actually want. If in doubt, lawyer up. You may be able to call around and get a free consultation. There's also a site, that I can't for the life of me recall, that you can submit questions to and get answers from real lawyers (though a lot of times the answer is "hire a lawyer", haha). I'll dig around when I get a chance and see if I can find it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 21:34
|
|
|
You should be able to negotiate to repay only a fraction of the original debt and have the debt collection agency drop the court case. It's a lot better for them if you pay upfront than trying to enforce a court judgment against you, especially for a relatively small debt like $1500. It's just not worth their time to try and garnish your wages or whatever. IANAL. Contact them in writing and like lord_daeloth suggests, ask to settle out of court for a portion of the debt. Do everything in writing and keep copies. You should plan on attending the court date no matter what. What will likely happen is you and the collection agency rep go to court and tell the judge you've reached an agreement and the court issues a suspended judgment. The collectors can later re-open the lawsuit and seek an enforceable judgment if you don't follow through on your payment agreement. If you don't show up to court, even if you agreed to a settlement, the agency automatically wins a judgment. You might be able to convince the collection agency to drop the case entirely, if they agree to that you should still verify with the clerk that the case has actually been dismissed. Worst case scenario is you don't show up at court and a judgment is issued against you, that's very bad. You should have no problem negotiating with the collection agency beforehand, just make sure to have everything in writing and be physically present in court so you don't get screwed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 21:58
|
|
|
I didn't mention in the other thread but absolutely make them prove this debt is yours and owned by them before you offer any sort of payment whatsoever. If they can't prove they own it they can pound sand. Even if you believe it's legitimately debt you owe.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 23:34
|
|
|
100 HOGS AGREE posted:I didn't mention in the other thread but absolutely make them prove this debt is yours and owned by them before you offer any sort of payment whatsoever. If they can't prove they own it they can pound sand. Yeah some of the scummier sorts will buy debt, try to collect, then sell it on but still try collecting it later. So you pay one of them and then some other company shows up saying they now own the bill.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 23:57
|
|
|
Thanks for the replies. The sheaf of paper stuffed in my door contained both the notice of the suit as well as proof of the debt (copies of the two last credit card statements as well affidavits from the original owner selling the debt to them and the current owner's affidavit that they now own it). Between that and me believing that the moral thing to do is make an effort to pay I don't plan to challenge the validity of the debt. The current plan is to send a certified letter to the address they gave on the lawsuit. I'll borrow from your responses as well as the OP to spell out that: 1) I will only communicate by mail 2) I'm aware of my rights 3) That I am interested in an equitable settlement ...and then see what kind of offer that they make. Depending on that I'll counter and then mention the stuff from the OP about having them get it off my credit report. And YES I have cleared my calendar for the court date. Am I missing anything?
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2019 18:51
|
|
|
Their morality exists as far as the law says it does (and sometimes even a bit past that), so don't constrain yourself to any sort of "morality" when dealing with creditors or debt collectors.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2019 21:06
|
|
|
LorneReams posted:Their morality exists as far as the law says it does (and sometimes even a bit past that), so don't constrain yourself to any sort of "morality" when dealing with creditors or debt collectors. Oh sure! I'm well aware this is just another capitalist business negotiation. I'm talking about what's right for me and their documentation of ownership seems pretty strong
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2019 21:56
|
|
|
So I got an odd letter last week. Its from a private student loan that I defaulted on, close to 15 years ago. I'm not sure its legitimately mine, I was terrible with money back then but did ultimately consolidate and pay off my student loans. At the top of the letter it says that the debt is not collectible and is past the time limit to take me to court on and also to report to the credit agencies. A bit further in the letter though it says that if I dont dispute in 30 days they'll consider it a valid debt. Do I dispute this? Or just ignore it and let them try to collect on it by sending me letters and possibly calling me about it?
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2019 22:02
|
|
|
LorneReams posted:Their morality exists as far as the law says it does (and sometimes even a bit past that), so don't constrain yourself to any sort of "morality" when dealing with creditors or debt collectors.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 03:02
|
|
|
BaseballPCHiker posted:So I got an odd letter last week. Someone else may know better than me, but it seems like you have nothing to lose by disputing it, right? if it ends up being legitimate, you can just ... not pay it, right?
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 03:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 07:16 |
|
|
lord_daeloth posted:There's also a site, that I can't for the life of me recall, that you can submit questions to and get answers from real lawyers (though a lot of times the answer is "hire a lawyer", haha). I'll dig around when I get a chance and see if I can find it. https://www.avvo.com
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 16:49
|
|
