Re: Account closed! Thanks to FTC

Posted by inspired (164.214.4.62) on February 20, 2004 at 08:08:49:

In Reply to: Account closed! Thanks to FTC posted by Tina on February 19, 2004 at 18:36:54:

Before I discovered this board, a couple of years ago I mistakenly dealt with LTD Financial Services (a CA out of Dallas) to settle an old BofA credit card account. Had I known then what I know now, that CA would've been on SO much trouble. Here's a brief rundown of what they did/where I went wrong:

1) Contacted my PARENTS out in California (I'm in Virginia) and told them about my debt. (This was how I found out about it -- my mother called in a panic, thinking I was in real trouble.)

2) I called LTD to ask why they called my parents, and the rep told me that she thought she was talking to my wife. Either way, a violation of the FDCPA.

3) I did not validate the account with them.

4) LTD quoted the date of last activity as a date which I KNOW was incorrect. I had not paid on that account in years, and they had the date of last activity within the last six months. They absolutely re-aged the account, another violation. But I didn't know any better.

5) With much ignorance, I settled the account with them for 50% of the outstanding balance, which I had to borrow money from my parents (who were now aware of the debt) to pay.

6) Although LTD Financial services is no longer on my credit report, the original Bank of America debt is still there, still listed as Charged Off. I tried to tell the CRA that the account was settled through a CA, but because I handled it all wrong, they had no record of any of that.

For all intents and purposes, all I did was send LTD Financial $1800 with absolutely zero benefit to me.

Now I've found this board.

Yesterday I fired off (via certified mail, return receipt requested) an SOL letter to Asset Acceptance and one of their scummy law firms who were threatening to sue on an credit card account with a Jun 1999 last activity date. I filed a complaint on the FTC's website as well. And as soon as I get those return receipts, I'm using WhyChat's follow up letter to the CRA's to really finish the job off.

If Asset and their lawyers still decide to sue, I'll have the "Expired SOL" as a defense. From what I know, filing lawsuit on an account that they cannot legally act upon is a violation of the FDCPA as well.

Thanks to everyone here, I'm armed with knowledge of my rights and I now know that I'm not at the mercy of the collection agencies. My score is up to 638, and will improve once I'm able to whittle off the collection accounts from my CR.

If only I'd found this board sooner...

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