Search the Community

Spoke to a rep at Carson Smithfield and was offered a settlement for 25% of money owed to Merrick Bank. Called back a couple of days later to set up arrangement and they weren't going to honor the offer. After a bunch of back and forth they said as long as payment is made by the end of the month (7 days away). I want to accept the offer but they say they can not send me the offer in writing. What?! He said that their offer letters are auto generated by the computer and the language in those auto generated offers gives 35 days to make payment but this is a special deal that he wont extend for 35 days. I recorded the call with him , with his permission, where he lays out the deal but don't see how I can send money without a written agreement or letter. Any suggestions?

Eight years ago, Advanta credit card debts were removed from my account after Advanta was dissolved by the FDIC. I still had a small business balance. A collection agency named Carson Smithfield sent me a letter last week saying that I was to pay them 20% of the amount due. Do they have an agreement with a defunct credit card company? I recently applied for a HELOC and Experian was consulted and they had a lot of inaccuracies on my credit report and I was denied. Now the dogs of Carson are on my tail. Any suggestions?

I've seen quite a few questions about Advanta, but I didn't see any like my situation where business credit card debt was sold to Carson Smithfield. We went through the closing of Advanta and the sudden increase in our interest rate like everyone else. We worked on paying it for years then started fighting the interest rate increase and did stop paying. We weren't getting anywhere then the account was charged off and sold to Carson Smithfield. We started paying the offered payment terms by Carson Smithfield, thinking we had no alternative. But recently I've started doing some research. As a part of my research I've realized that Carson Smithfield did not abide by Section 809 of 15 USC 1692g (a) sections (2), (3), (4), or (5). They provided the name of the creditor as Advanta, who hasn't existed and as far as my research goes the credit card debt is now actually owned by the FDIC, if that is incorrect please correct me. Subsections (3), (4), and (5) they simply did not provide those statements and I was left with the impression this was it pay this or be stuck forever. (I know I shouldn't have given up so easily.) I have also gone through and audited the account based on the actual account terms, not their jacked up ones, and found I've now over paid them several thousand dollars. I sent them a debt validation letter requesting: The agreement with the creditor that authorizes them to collect on the alleged debt, the agreement bearing my signature stating I have agreed to assume the debt, valid copies of the debt agreement stating the amount of the debt and interest charges, proof that the statute of limitations has not expired and complete history on the account all with an accounting of all interest charge changes, supported by account terms and additional charges being assessed. They responded with: "According to our files, you are currently paying under a settlement agreement on your Advanta Credit Cards account. In order to satisfy the settlement arrangement, Our records show you still owe a remaining amount of $xxxx.xx. Payment of this amount will prevent further collection activities." So not a response at all to my demand for debt validation. I'm hoping for others experiences or thoughts on dealing with Advanta / Carson Smithfield or those dealing with Advanta / Cardworks Serving.