opinions please

[Anonymous]

I beleive I have a good case against the CA for my repo and would appreciate your opinions.

After initial contact on the phone with CA, I never got any written follow-up or any other document stating who they were, and what they wanted.

In July, I spoke to one of the agents, stating the SOL was up. He replied that once it was in lawyers hands (meaning date), the SOL became null and void. He made arrangements for a loan officer to contact us for refinancing on our home and getting some extra $$ to satisfy this debt.

Later in October, I spoke with another rep. She said the case was on her desk to be filed in court. She wanted to give me a heads up. At this point, I didn't want any trouble and entered into a verbal payment arrangement. She sent me a letter with this arrangement written out. I sent in the agreed amount on the first due date to try and stop court procedings. I was not able to keep this verbal arrangement.

This month, I received another call (I mentioned it in another post). The rep said a lein could and most likely would, be put on my house. When I asked her about us (dh and I)having to appear in front of a judge for her to get this, she said no, that they could do it anyway. At this point is where I found this site and have learned (I think:D ) my rights and what CA's can and cannot do.

The laws say that in ME, the SOL starts from the DOLA from OC (mine being 5/96). The only way it can be reset outside of OC is to sign agreement with the 3rd party (ie. CA, lawyer); verbal agreements and even payments, don't count.

I do not have any recordings of these phone conversation, but some written notes. Unfortunately, I never wrote down exact dates. I know it was beginning of July, beginning of October and on or between the 10 and 12 of this month.

Do you think I have a case? And if I do, would I be wise to contact a lawyer for help?

[Anonymous]

Threats like your got are illegal in the first place. I do not think they can put a lien or anything else on your home until a judgment is against you and hey take proper legal actions to do so, depending on the state laws where you live. “the SOL became null and void.” Who do they think they are? The SOL is law, not what some lawyer thinks it is or when it is in “the lawyers hands.” !!! IMHO, you should not have given them any payment, but that is over and done with now. You will have to rely on the good people herein to help you now. Good people on this discussion board too.

Maybe you wait until they call again then record everything, either on paper or a tape recording device. Judges like it when people attempt to be factual. IMHO, the CA reps I have dealt with are uneducated buffoons who can hardly speak the American language, or reason like a normal citizen does. They use a script and are easily confused when confronted with facts, figures, and law. Then they will turn you over to some nitwit calling him or her-self a paralegal, or maybe an attorney, and then is when you should record them. You will have then nailed then, violating the law.

[retmar]

Something you might do is when they call again, put it right back at them. Remind them that "ADUB#1" told me that once an attorney has it, the SOL is void. Would you please send that to me in writing? Do the same on other threats they made. They have violated you horribly. As to the SOL, if it is past that they can't legally take action. So, what you need to do is study the site and especially read the FDCPA, FCRA, and SOL for your State. Some states have their own laws while others rely on the Federal.

As Jeff mentioned, they can't put a lien or anything that I know of without a judgment. Also check your State laws as to recording calls. If you can without telling them, then most definitely do it. If not, tell them at the onset each time. More than likely, they'll go "CLICK".

If that payment had any effect, I don't know. Maybe one of the others can answer that. Now is the time to fight back.

Note: Even if they hang up, write it down as to name, date, and time.

[Edit by retmar on Sunday, February 23, 2003 @ 03:28 PM]

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input! I have studied the various laws, etc., except on recording phone calls. And to be clear, this is a law firm acting as a CA. Will do some more research, and be prepared for the next call.

[IronMan]

If the SOL is up so the debt is stale. Might as well give the money to worthy charity instead.

The CA banked on your ignorance of the law and gotcha. However, you are paying on a debt that is actually owed to someone else not the CA. The CA probably can't take you to court anyway because it isn't their debt to begin with. . You'd have to check your state laws to see if the CA would have standing by themselves in court.

Your first step now is to cease payments and write letter with validation. To keep you out of hot-water with breaking the agreement with the CA:

Explain that you were unaware of your rights and you initially agreed to pay out of fear of having a complaint filed against you. Now, after receiving some legal advice, you are aware of the illegal threats made on or about July 2002 to get a lien on your property. Tell them that they cannot make you pay on a stale debt or enforce same without an existing judgment from the OC.

Tell them the rep willfully lied to you regarding putting a lien on your property without due process in order to get your compliance. It is a violation of the FDCPA for any collector to threaten action that it does not intend to take or it cannot lawfully take. Lastly, based on the above facts, you are rescinding the agreement until they can properly validate the alleged debt they say you owe OC.

This gets it on the record that you paid out of fear of being sued and summarizes their misconduct. You can lawfully rescind the agreement because they engaged into the agreement using unlawful means, which you discovered later (after making 1st payment?).

This misconduct would be an invocation of the "Unclean Hands" doctrine in court as an affirmative defenses if they try to sue to enforce the payment agreement with them. I doubt it anyway, but I don't know your state laws.

All they're doing is what they do 90% of the time, get people paying scared.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[Edit by IronMan on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 @ 02:05 AM]

[Anonymous]

Do I write 2 seperate letters or 1 with all this information? In the letters they have sent, they do state who the OC is and the original acct #. Is this enough for vaidation, or is there more required? Also, the 1st letter from them states only that they were authoried to offer this arrangement plan, but nothing about an agreement between us. The 2nd letter states that there is an agreement. I am gettin more confused as this goes on.

[IronMan]

More is required. How do you know who to deal with and what role does the CA play? It the account merely assigned only or purchased (the CA owns it)?

If they didn't give you any contact information for OC, that's not proper either. There should be a contract, or other supporting documents to support their actions.

Cheers!

[LadynRed]

On recording these CA phone calls. A poster on another board spoke personally to the FTC. The FTC basically told him to record ALL calls, state laws be damned, so you can send the recordings to the FTC for review. The FTC NEEDS to hear the evidence for themselves and they need to hear this from a LOT more people than are complaining now.

So.. I have recordings of one scumsucking CA 'attorney' who has continued to call me after TWO validation letters were received. One of these bonehead messages actaully said 'we've called you repeatedly about this matter' - and that was only a week after I KNOW the validation letter was signed for !!!