Can they do this?

What is the name of your state? Iowa
I have a credit card that has been closed, and turned over to a collection agency. They have told me the only terms they will agree to me paying it off is if I send them 6 post-dated checks, or authorize as many automatic debits from a checking or savings account.
Is this legal for them to request this? I asked my bank if I post-dated a check, would that ensure that it would not be "run through" until the date on the check. They assured me that it would be put through when they recieved it, regardless of the date on the check.
These people are calling me night and day, and are telling me it is completely within their right to do so, and I have just now drafted a letter to request they do not contact me again via the telephone.
Is there anything else I can do? I am paying them what I can, when I can, and fully intend to pay this off. I just need a little time.
Thanks Bunches!

[Ladynred]

Do NOT EVER give a CA your bank information, a check drawn from your account or a post-dated check !!! They LIE, LIE, LIE ! All you're giving them is free-access to your money and they will take everything they want and you won't even know until you get bounce notices in the mail !!! If you're going to pay them anything (and the wisdom of that is even questionable) send them cashiers checks or money orders ONLY.

You need to read the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) if you haven't already. Learn your rights and their limitations under the law, FAST. The name of the CA game is initmidation and fear.. they make empty (mostly illegal) threats just to scare you into paying. They SAY they'll only accept full payment or payments on THEIR terms alone, but that often is also a LIE.

Send your Cease and Desist letter, and make absolutely sure you send it Certified, Return Receipt requested. KEEP all receipts and a copy of the letter for your paper trail backup. If they call you after they sign for the letter, they are in violation of the FDCPA.

The FDCPA can be found at [url]www.ftc.gov[/url] under Consumer Protection, then Credit, scroll down until you see the Act. Pay particular attention to the section on abuse.

One more question... how old is this debt, when was the last time a payment was made on it ???

To answer your question, the last payment was made on 8-8-02, and the debt is about 9 months old. The account was closed in June of 2002.
I am not sending my payments to the CA, but to the original credit card company, and this is because it I do not wanting them getting my checking information from one of my checks.
Thanks bunches for your help....but I still don't understand, is it LEGAL for them to request such payments, and tell me that they won't submit them all at once?

[Ladynred]

Basically they can TELL you anything they want that isn't expressly forbidden in the FDCPA, and even then they break the law. So, yes, they can request post-dated checks, and tell you they won't submit them until the date on your check. The reality is they'll submit as many of them as you send them, maybe all at once. As you've been told, the bank will honor them no matter what the date on the check is.

Have you told the CA that you are paying but ONLY to the original creditor ??

Yes I did tell them that. They told me it just made for more paperwork, and might delay the acct. actually being "updated" or whatever, but like I care at this point. I have never dealt with anyone so rude in my life.
I had one of their "associates" hang up on me, to which I called back and spoke to someone who called himself a "floor manager".
Then the next day, when they called, i told the man I did not want them calling me anymore, that I had offered the only solution I could, and hung up on him, then he called me back to bitch me out about hanging up on him, and reading me the terms of the agreement with the original credit card company.
But thanks bunches for your help!
Hopefully I will get this resolved, and with luck, I can give them enough rope to hang themselves.
thanks Again!

[Ladynred]

Sounds like they've already racked up more than enough FDCPA violations to hang themselves.