Collection Agency and a Painful problem

[Jaryu]

around the first few days of october of 2006 I started getting phone calls from people that claimed that they where lawyers, my parents where the ones the would get those those since I work night time and would be sleeping good part of the day, the caller never specified what the call was about but would tell my parents that I "knew" what it was about amd would leave a number. I never bothered with them since they never sent a collection letter or anything so I didn't care who they claimed to be so I never took any of their calls or bothered finding out who they where. Since I've had those type calling before.

Around the end of october I checked my credit score which I check once a month with truecredit but compared to september my expedian credit score had droped almost 100 points compared to what it was, them I did a complete credit check since I usually only gaze around if my don't see anything wrong the CA called "AMERICAN INVESTMENT BANK" appeared on my credit report overwriting another debit and re-aged and changed the ammount due from my old dell account from back in 2000 with a date of 06/2006 and that is was currently Derogatory.

Those jerks never sent me any mail about the debt till the one I received a couple of days ago so I don't have their address just the lawyers.

On the letter they basically claimmed I either didn't want or coundn't get into an agreement with the people calling(which where obviously not this lawyers) to get into a payment plan with the CA, and now they wanted just want me to talk to them and set a payment of some kind.

This was a Dell account that became ultra low priority after I lost my job a day(or two) before the stuff I ordered came in. They never bothered to collect on this account for 4 year and then around 2005 they sold the debt and I started getting collection letters but they would stop after a few of them went unanswered and change CA.

But they did change the account to a 06/2006 opening date the original balance from the $4630 to $10446 and put it as a recent derogatory. Which caused my expedian score to plumet.

Question - Since they never bothered to send me a letter to tell me of their attempts to collect, this doesn't stop me from sending a verification of debit letter right now to the attorney right?

Question - I searched high and low and couldn't find any info on that "American Investment Bank" that placed the updated change on my report if I request on the letter to the lawyers do they "have" to tell me their address?

Basically the things I think I have on then would be...

1-Non written communication with me after they changed my credit report and started collecting on this account.

2-Account re-aging

3-Account value alteration

4-Hurtful inacurate Information on my credit report

Of after reading something about 7.5 years on SOL I became confused, I tought it was 6 years here in MA.

Ok so basically any more info you great guys and of course gals can give me will be much apreciated while I continue reading the little ebook and read some more back cases here in the forums.

Thanks

[Jaryu]

Forgot to mention that I have a original expedian credit report from july/06 that shows all the proper information from the account

Dell Financial SVS/CIT - even if it says citi for citi bank the original bank was MBNA, it was some time later that dell changed the bank they where using for the financing.

Recent Balance as of 04/2006 - $4630

Date Opened 12/2000

Reported Since 06/2001

Date Of Status 12/2001

Last Reported 04/2006 - From when I last tried to get the item deleted

I remember I ended up having to sell the stuff to help pay the bills which started piling very quickly at the time.

Now that I am home again I can read the actual CA name on the Lawyer bill... and it's diferent from the credit report too in here they are called Colins Financial Services, Inc. By seaching on yahoo I found a site for this people(I think) http://www.cfsi.net/ but site is kinda vague... and it says they are from texas... can they even collect here in MA, wouldn't they need a physical branch in here?

[Jaryu]

Here are some addresses that came out when doing a search nationwide for this company. if you guys wanna add them later and put in the CA list for future reference.

12016 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 207-2640

------------------------

694 N Spence Ave

Goldsboro, NC 27534

(919) 759-9299

------------------------

1375 Cherry Way Dr

Columbus, OH 43230

(614) 476-3800

-------------------------

2101 W Ben White Blvd

Austin, TX 78704

(512) 347-1492

-------------------------

301 Main St

Mount Olive, MS 39119

(601) 765-0101

Those where all the ones that came out from the yellowpages concerning this company.

[willingtocope]

I'm sorry, but that's a lot of information to wade through...

Was there an actual question in there somewhere?

[E. Normis Debtor]

Collins is one of the largest debt buyers/re-sellers in the country.

[nascar]

I just cut and paste

War and Peace.

[IHateCAs]

War and Peace.

Seriously.

Brevity is your friend, please learn to play with him.

[sr28b]

You guys are cracking me up, I was scrolling down to skip the essay and surmise from your answers. Some bold soul must wade through the book.

[elyse449]

Ok, I will give this a whirl. Honestly, your post was a bit confusing and hard to read. No offense. Anyway, here it goes...

You said; .."the day before yesterday I get my first official letter about the debit (debt?) but it was from the attorney that they hired(since the one calling was abviously a fake) and they are obviously demanding payment since..."

You need to put together a letter of dispute IMMEDIATELY along with a request for validation of this account. Make it clear that you do not know what this bill is and that you need more information from them. Send this letter CMRRR via your local post office.

Send a similar letter to "American Investment Bank" if they're showing a TL on your credit report.

Now, then you said; "It was a Dell account that became ultra low priority after I lost my job a day before the stuff I ordered came in, to my surprise around 02/2005 (4 years doing nothing with the account they never even tried to collect on it) they sold the debit to another CA and it's been going from one to another for last 2 years now without anyone ever trying to collect on it other than sending those collection letters."

It is extremely common for them to sell the account repeatedly. It's a common tactic along with hiring an "attorney" type person to handle it. They try to scare you into paying something.

You said; "not only that but as far as the stature of limitation in MA goes which is 6 years that account was a 12/2000 debit that somehow got attached to my credit report from someone else(this one I know was not mine.

It was a Dell account that became ultra low priority after I lost my job a day before the stuff I ordered came in, to my surprise around 02/2005

This is where I got confused. Is this in reference to the account you said you had no idea what it was for??? If so, than this is a valid account but possibly past legal SOL (you'd need to check your state SOL stats to be sure). IF that's the case, than you would amend your CMRRR letters to include "should you wish to pursue this matter further, I will utilize the Statute of Limitations as my absolute defense." Include a cease and desist request in your letter to.

Make sure to really review the letter outlines here to---just alter them to fit your situation.

As far as your claims against them for re-aging and what not...yeah, you might have them on that. If it were me, I'd try dealing with them via letter first. If and when it doesn't come off your CR's (7.5 yrs from DOFD-so Dec of 2007?) than you report them to the FTC, BBB and Attorney General Offices for your state and theirs.

Those are my initial thoughts. Gosh, I'm not sure my thoughts were any more clear than your post! LOL.

Elyse

[Jaryu]

I apreciate the info, I just did a clean up on the post it's about 1/3 as long and much easier to read I think. Another question I believe that the SOL for RI I believe is 3 years, since they haven't filled suit could I technically move there either physically or my having my state of residence in there before they try anything just as insurance?

[elyse449]

Ok, well the American General Bank buttholes probably purchased the debt in June of 2006. That may be why it says that, keep in mind that doesn't change how long they can lawfully report it. It does look like you're saying that the "date opened" claims June of 2006? If that's the case, you can dispute the crap out of that. That may be when THEY opened the CA against you, but it doesn't reflect when YOU entered into the deal. I would think in the "updated" part to the TL it should say "June 2006" but in the "opened" part it should state when you first opened the acct.

Also, the 7.5 yrs I referred to was the length of time they can lawfully report on your credit reports, NOT the SOL. SOL is how long they have to file against you requesting judgment.

Yes, you can request verification even if you've never received papers from a CA. If you see a TL reporting that you do not recognize, you are absolutely within your right to request info on that TL.

Like I said in my original response, go ahead and send your CMRRR letters to the attorney that now has this acct. Keep in mind, they're STILL debt collectors...just probably different ones than the previous ones.

As far as moving--I would think the same SOL applies. Wherever the debt was made I think is appropriate venue, but than you'd probably need to pose that question under the "Is there a lawyer in the house" section.

Elyse

[direred]

For a CA tradeline, "date opened" is when they were assigned the account, not the date the account was originally opened.

[momof5]

ALso, another thing to keep in mind.....although the FCRA sets the deletion date at 7.5 years, from my experience, 99% of the time they delete @ 7 years.

From what I can tell, you have an out of statute debt that needs a C&D. Watch your mail (and your door), just because it is out of Statute, does not mean they may not try to sue. Once a lawsuit is filed, you cite the SOL as an affirmative defense and bye-bye case.

[jets1934]

I have a question.. a collection agency is suing me..I never received the initial summons they had the wrong apt# on on it..luckily the case was dismissed without prejudice..they corrected the apt. and filed again and i received it by constable about a week ago....I am asking for DV and can I countersue for negligence for showing personal unverified info to my neighbor?

[nascar]

I have a question.. a collection agency is suing me..I never received the initial summons they had the wrong apt# on on it..luckily the case was dismissed without prejudice..they corrected the apt. and filed again and i received it by constable about a week ago....I am asking for DV and can I countersue for negligence for showing personal unverified info to my neighbor?

DV will not do you any good now. You'll need to answer the summons.

Regarding the summons and information contained therein, keep in mind that unless sealed by court order, lawsuits are public record. Now, think about the four required elements of a negligence case and ask yourself if your situation fits. Can you prove all four elements?