petermorwood:
ms-cellanies:
cumaeansibyl:
le-dreadmau5:
afronerdism:
afronerdism:
Please do not let debt collectors play in your face.
I am super busy so I honestly don’t even know if I should be taking the time to write this, but hopefully this will help those of you who may find yourself in a similar situation.
Earlier this year I received a letter of notice from a debt collector stating that they had acquired a debt supposedly belonging to me and that, per law, I have 30 days to dispute the debt. I immediately drafted a letter and sent it to both disputing the debt and request validation of the debt as well as possible settlement arrangements had they actually been able to validate said debt
I sent this letter via certified mail. Always certified mail.
About a week after the 30 day period for them to respond expired, I received a Phone call very specifically crafted in a way to invoke urgency and panic and suggest legal action. So, naturally, I called this number only to discover this was a different company that had only just recently acquired said supposed debt. I reiterated to them that I was disputing this debt and required validation in writing.
The initial conversation went smoothly, they then called me back the next day and became aggressive. They accused me of lying and did everything under the sun to try and trick me into validating this debt as mine so that they would not have to legally send me that validation. I, knowing my rights, insisted that I was disputing the debt and that they were required to send me validation despite them claiming that they were not and that they already had and many other number of lies. I refused to continue the conversation until someone had sent me validation to which they continually responded that they would be forwarding this to their legal department and blah blah blah blah blah.
Surprise surprise, I get a phone call today from yet another company, this one claiming to be in the process of forwarding my account to the county clerks office. That was an immediate red flag as the county clerk does not handle debt disputes. They would have to hire a lawyer in my state to handle this case. I asked what company this was as they had not stated initially, and when they told me I realized this was now another company who had purchased said alleged debt and we’re trying to collect on it. this one outright illegally threatening to take me to court knowing they weren’t.
Beyond that, he tried to lie to me and tell me that a debt validation was not what I thought it was and that a validation was actually just a notice that they had purchased a debt so when I received a letter stating that they had purchased this debt that would be a validation.
That is not true! Debt companies are legally required to send you notice of an allegedly acquired debt in writing and you have 30 days to dispute and request that validation. The company then has 30 days themselves to respond and validate your debt or the debt is forfeit. This man tried to lie to me and tell me that a notice was the same thing as a dead validation in order to trick me into paying a debt that he cannot validate that I am actively disputing.
This is now the fourth company that has attempted to collect on a debt they cannot validate. They know they cannot validate this debt and instead have relied on trying to trick me into paying it. These tactics would absolutely work if I did not have a sales background and or know my rights.
And this ladies and gentlemen is why you always always always dispute a debt. The last debt I disputed was immediately pulled from collections and that allowed me to get back in contact with the original creditor and work out a payment plan so that it would never hit my credit and keep my account with them current. This debt is invalid and therefore they cannot hit my credit with it nor can I collect on it or I will sue them.
If you guys have any questions about dealing with that collectors please ask me.
I’m not surprised they gave you the long ass run around on this.
For anyone that has a debt sold to a Collections Agency do exactly what OP did and request debt validation (Google-able). Most of the time, the Original company you owed debt to did not give them your Social Security Number or your date of birth; just a good phone number and address. In order to be held legally responsible for it and to be on your credit score, they need your SSN or DOB to prove it’s yours.
Usually, they’re initial call will say “Hey so before we can discuss your debt of $Xxxx, we need you to verify your SSN and DOB.” They’re lying. That means they want you to confirm it so they can legally pin that debt to you. If you send a Debt Validation letter VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, that Collections Agency has 30 days to prove you owe the debt and that it does in fact tie to you. Since in most cases they can’t, they’ll send a letter saying “We don’t have the necessary information to collect on this debt. It is now null and void.” Send copies of that to the credit bureaus, and they wipe it from your credit report.
With OP, they did the shadiest thing possible by constantly re-selling the debt, thus starting over that 30 day response period.
Never pay a debt unless you’re certain that you owe it. Especially if it’s for a deceased relative. Debt collection companies are especially predatory during the grieving period asking you to “Pay down the debt” or “Clear their good name”. Unless you (co)signed, don’t give them anything. The debt will get written off on their taxes. If you do pay, you’re locked in on that debt. You basically showed “willingness and ability to pay” which is all they need.
this is US rules btw
just to emphasize the last point: the collection agency may actually have the information they need to tie you to a debt that’s yours, so you might end up having to pay. but they CANNOT make you pay your own money to clear a dead relative’s debt. all of those debts have to come out of that relative’s money, and if there’s no money left, too bad! cost of doing business.
PLEASE READ & REBLOG THIS SO EVERY ONE WILL BE AWARE OF HOW TO HANDLE DEBT SITUATIONS, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DON’T OWE THE DEBT.
As @cumaeansibyl points out, these are US rules, so aren’t applicable to me in Ireland, but with a lot of US followers I’m reblogging for any who might find the info useful.
Be aware of what debt collection agencies can and can’t do, because that’s very different to what they’ll try to get away with.
Collecting debts is how debt collectors make a living.
Cancelling debts is not.
*****
Earlier this year a certain UK cellphone provider assigned a debt collection agency to pursue an outstanding account payment.
Due to having died
(!!) the account holder hadn’t called Vodafone to cancel the account, so the collection agency went after their next of kin instead.
The whole thing was a sordid, money-grubbing mess.
Full story here on Twitter.
:-P
*****
@dduane and I don’t have cell accounts; after realising that neither of us were using anything like the amount of calls / texts / data for which we were paying, we closed the PrePay accounts at the end of their period, and transferred to Pay As You Go instead. Never regretted it.
€20 to Three Ireland when needed gives 28 days of, yet again, far more talk-and-text than we can ever use and “all you can eat” data. Indeed so many places now have free Wi-Fi that it’s more like “all you can snack on between hotspots.”
Obviously this is what works for us, so YMMV in all sorts of ways. But it’s worth bearing in mind.