Elan Financial Picking on 83-year old

[bw4444]

My mother-in-law is 83 and had only one credit card in her life. Something she picked up from Umpqua bank. She never used it. Ever. Well, once, apparently.

She apparently bought something at a store with the card for about $75 and promptly forgot about the whole thing. She never uses a card and is 83! Well, time goes by and lo and behold, she's getting calls from Elan Financial about this charge. (I can't tell if they're a bank or a CA.) My MIL never saw the statement and requested they send her a statment. She told them she never remembered making any kind of purchase.

The Elan folks harassed her on the phone DAILY and did not send her a statement. She spent months going around with these people and then talked with Umpqua bank. Apparently Umpqua signed up a bunch of people for visas and sold the whole thing to Elan Financial.

My MIL went back to the Umpqua folks and asked for help figuring this out. After many months, the Umpqua people eventually got a statment of account from the Elan people. My MIL paid the $75 plus some interest, but considered all the other late and over-limit fees ridiculous & wouldn't pay them.

Well, get this. Here is financial terrorism at work. During all the months dragging by she's hit with a $39 late fee every month. With a $500 credit limit and 29.9% interest, it doesn't take long to exceed the credit limit, so $39 over-limit fees apply.

She refused to pay any more than she did. Meanwhile, the snowball is getting bigger and bigger. Elan finally charged it off and sold it to one of Satan's own, who called and harassed my MIL daily. When I finally got involved, the original debt plus some interest had been paid, but now this $700 piece of goo with her name on it is floating out there.

I had her DV with C&D and so far, she hasn't heard anything. I told her that sometimes collectors turn right around and sue when they get these (happened to me twice), but so far, so good.

Nevertheless, this isn't over. This $700 is all penalties and interest on those penalties. None of this is money lent by the bank. This is all fake debt.

Hey, I just wanted to rant. Not sure if there's much else to be done. Probably try to settle with the next son of Satan that comes along.

Thanks for letting me rant.

bw

[astiman]

You were SUED for less than $700?

Hope you ran up their legal fees.....

[bw4444]

You were SUED for less than $700?

Hope you ran up their legal fees.....

Nah, she wasn't sued.

I have been sued, though after DV. Both suits were for way much more than $700.

bw

[astiman]

ah, I see....

[ms6073]

You might want to take a moment and read this post in the Credit Article of the Week forum: http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27020

Michael

[bw4444]

You might want to take a moment and read this post in the Credit Article of the Week forum: http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27020

Michael

Great article! Thanks for the link.

While my mother-in-law is not impoverished, she was nevertheless bewildered by the unreasonableness of the banks involved. At least Umpqua eventually produced a statement for her. But all the other fees seemed like simple robbery to her. The $&%^*#& debt collector was only interested in harassing her until she sent a check. I don't think she ever understood the terms and conditions of the credit card agreement or ever understood what all the extra fees were.

[snotrag]

You might want to take a moment and read this post in the Credit Article of the Week forum: http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27020

Michael

Man...that was poetry.

I believe in paying your bills. And dang it, this lady sure as heck was trying to pay her bills.

I am astonished & relieved to read this judges actions. I mean, its one thing if the judge were to just toss out Discover's suit, but to pull a 180 and hit Discover with a judgment....that's something....that's justice.

Its too bad its not binding anywhere else - I'm sure there are a lot of people in similar situations trying their darndest, not knowing that they're making it worse.

But still....poetry.

[gdouglaslee]

That's a horrid decision by the judge and we will all pay for it. They only redeeming value is that since it was in muni court, there's no published decision, so it's worthless for other consumers unless you happen to appear before the same judge.

They are already running AR hits every other month to check your utilization on other cards so they can jack your rates.

[snotrag]

She racked up a debt of $1900....she paid $3500....but because of overlimit and late fees (that were supposed to be covered by CreditSafeCrap) now Discover is claiming $5500?

Look, from what I made out of that article, that lady was trying pretty dang hard to payoff that debt. Discover probably made less money off of people who tried to avoid the debt all together. Judgment aside, the fact that she would have been better off not sending in a dime as opposed to trying to pay off this debt in good faith is just wrong.

I think that if this was another situation, where a debtor flat out ignored the obligaition - if they had the ability to pay - I probably wouldn't be so thrilled.

Frankly, I'm suprised that two people could have such different responses to this decision (well aside from Discover & their attorneys, that is). I think there must be an angle that I'm not looking at. I don't see how this has any bearings on the recent rash of AR pulls. I am genuinely interested to find out why you had such a negative reaction to this judgment. Please enlighten me.

[snotrag]

Crap...I completely forgot to respond to the orignal poster.

OKAY bw4444...you say this debt was sold.

IF that's the case, and the debt was really SOLD, I think you may be dealing with a JDB. They might have picked up this debt for pennies on the dollar. Find out how much they paid for it, and if you want to pay it you may be able to settle it for a couple more pennies on the dollar.

I'm going to try to find that thread that talks about how to find out how much a JDB paid for a debt...some case said that its not proprietary information or some crap....I'll do a search and post it when I find it

unless, of course, DocDon just happens to be strolling by and has that information handy...

*** what follows was added later ***

Alright, I lifted this directly from a post by DocDon (hope he doesn't mind)

"When dealing with JDB's, cite this case:

Coppola v. Arrow Financial Services, 302CV577, 2002 WL 32173704(D.Conn., Oct. 29, 2002) – Information relating to the purchase of a bad debt is not proprietary or burdensome. Debtor must phrase their request clearly to obtain: The source of a debt and the amount a bad debt buyer paid for plaintiff’s debt, how amount sought was calculated, where in issue a list of reports to credit bureaus, and documents conferring authority on defendant to collect debt."

You can find more excellent advice from DocDon regarding this here:

http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19996&highlight=jdb+proprietary

Once you know how much they paid for it, you know how little you can pay them to make it profitable for them & (relatively) cheap for you.

[bw4444]

OKAY bw4444...you say this debt was sold.

That was my impression, but I talked with my mother-in-law tonight and since the DV about a month ago, she hasn't heard squat from the CA. However, she is getting statements from Elan Financial. So, it sounds like the debt was assigned, not sold.

They keep tacking on more fees. She said the balance is up around $800 now. It grows by about--well, let's see--$39 late + $39 over limit + $20 (29.9% interest ) = ~$100/month.

The principal plus some interest was paid off months ago, yet this account grows by $100/month. None of this balance is money loaned--it's all loan-shark fees. One year from now the balance will be over $2000.

Sheesh, I'm ranting again. I just can't stand this kind of practice. If you have any kind of account with Elan Financial, I urge you to close it now.

bw

[DocDon]

bw4444, have her file formal complaints with her state Attorney General and the Attorney General for the state the CA is in. On of the things they handle is consumer protection.

If you approach this as an FDCPA violation, they'll just send you a nice FTC brochure.

This goes a little beyond the FDCPA. It sounds like a consumer protection issue for them trying to take advantage of an elderly person.

[snotrag]

Alright, well since the CA appears to be out of the picture - you need to determine just how Elan fits in. (I know this is part of your problem already)

I hate to tell you but DV Elan, but I think you have to (again, if you already have). Be sure to find out exactly what it is they are claiming...if they are a CA they are required to provide detailed accounting as to how they arrived at the amounts they have now...this should include and collection fees too.

I have to say, if the fees are piling up the way you say (overlimit + late + interest), it almost sounds like an OC. But it doesn't look like they are...hmmpf

Unfortunately, I'm at a loss. I hope somebody else can chime in.

*** Hey, whadya know...somebody else already did ***

[KentWA]

What jumps out at me is when was the last payment made? 180 days after that they must charge-off and then UCC applies to interest and they can not charge overlimit or late fees since there is no credit limit on a charge-off.