Credit Card Crisis.

What is the name of your state? Texas

I was in disput with a credit card co. over some charges I did not make. To make a long story short, it was turned over to a collection agency. The first person there was very rude and threatening. He told me he was the police, or he had police at my house to arrest me for not paying this debt. Finally I got his supervisor who was very nice. I agreed to pay the debt to save further heartache. I was told by her to send a payment and they would set up a hardship case where I could take up to 8 months to pay it off. I mailed the payment we discussed and two weeks later again began receiving calls at work. Now she says I have to pay the full amount by the end of the month to avoid garnishment of my wages.

First of all, I heard that once they accept a payment that it is like a contract and as long as you make regular payments they can not do any thing as far as further legal action. Is this true?

Also can they garnish your wages for such things? I thought garnishments were only for IRS, child support and some student loans.

Please help. My life is in chaos over this. I do not know what to do or where to turn.

[bigun]

First of all, why are you paying for charges you didn't make? I would file a fraud report with the police dept. and then contact the fraud dept. of the cc company and demand some proof these are my charges. Sales slips, etc.

Not to be rude, but you have done nothing right in this process.
1. If they aren't your charges, then file suit. By paying these charges, you have admitted that they are your charges.
2. ALWAYS GET THE PAYMENT PLAN IN WRITING. You can kiss your first payment goodbye.

For your payment, I hope you didn't send a check. If you did, then that's number 3. Hope it all works out for you. Been there, done that.

I have tried for quite some time to dispute these charges. Some of them are mine but most are not. THe bill is for about $792.00
About 300 is mine. The charges were made by someone living in my home who I thought was a friend and done over the phone. So they have no signature to go by. See where this is going? That is why they would not take the charges off. Their is no proof I did not make them.

There is no proof you DID make them either. If you want a piece of advice, hold off on paying until the fall, then agree to an amount with a collection agency (Get it in writing). $300 or so. Then it will be done.

Between us, if you elect not to pay at all, they won't bother with a $900 CC balance. It will be dropped.

Do you really think if I do not pay it at all it will go away? They are threatening lawsuits and garnishments. I am sorry I seem so dumb but have never had any unpaid debts. Or even late ones before and I am very scared.

First of all, you live in the great state of TX, so they can't garnish your wages.
Second, they could file a lawsuit, however 99.9% of the collection scums won't touch such a small amount.

[Ladynred]

They can't garnish you wages in TX, but they could garnish bank accounts. However, Baylorbear is right, the likelihood of them taking you to court over such a small amount is slim.. it would cost them far more than the debt is worth.

Secondly, buy pretending to be the police or threatening you with the police and arrest for a debt, they have violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Their threats are just that.. a lot of hot air and slimey tactics to scare you into paying. Don't do it. I only hope they don't try to raid your bank account since you have nicely given them your banking information.

Anyway, send these jerks a Cease and Desist letter, certified, rrr, and tell them NOT to contact you by phone ever again, that they can only contact you by mail. By law, they must comply. In the meantime, you should read up on the FDCPA and learn your rights when dealing with collection agencies. There's a lot they are NOT allowed to do and you could even sue them for their violations. If the scum calls again and makes threats or is abusive, mention that they are violating the FDCPA with their threats and behaviour.. most of them will shut up or ammend their behaviour pretty quickly.

Go to [url]www.ftc.gov,[/url] choose Consumer Protection, then Credit, and look for the FDCPA and read up on it so you know where you stand. If you start quoting from the FDCPA, the CA won't be happy .. LOL.

Make sure your checking/savings accounts don't total more than 1K.

[bigun]

Boy, you have screwed this up beyond all belief. Unauthroized use of a credit card is against the law. But, you have to report it promptly. In other words, the minute you discover the fraud you have to file charges. It doesn't matter if there is a signature or not. A lot of people are in jail for fraud involving a cc and never signed anything.

At this point, about all you can do is take Ladynred and Baylorbears advice and try and minimize the collection activity.

Thank you for al the advice. I did not send them a check, I sent a money order so they have no bank information. They wanted me to send a series of post dated checks and I knew they were up to no good with that so I kept my bank info. away from them.

As for the fraud, there were charges pressed against this person, the police were contacted and she cannot be found. But things were handled on my end according to the law. But that is as far as it went and the CC company says I have no case because the phone records show the transaction calls were placed from my home.

[bigun]

You got bluffed. Never listen to a cc companies lawyer. Get your own lawyer.

What I can't understand is why you let a $792 balance chargeoff and wreck your credit? The minimum paymentr would only be $10-$15/month. Why not just keep paying and avoid all of this other stuff?

It was not something I did by choice. I had a three year old daughter who was very ill and going through alot of things at the hospital. I lost my job due to being with her. Which it was a good thing I did. She passed away less than a year later.These people would not work out any type of payment plans for me. After I found another job and returned to work I again tried to set up payment arrangements and they kept telling me I had to pay the full amount in question. I had a friend who told me to make any kind of payments and if they accepted then it was an agreement for them to accept payments. Right or wrong, that is what I did. Call it stress or stupidity but what is done is done, now I only want to get this taken care of once and for all.

Send them a cease letter, certified mail, and tell them you'll contact them when you can pay. Just forget about the debt. Yes, it will be on your credit report for seven years, but regardless of what you do now, it will remain there. Keep your money.

sorry to hear about your daughter.

[Ladynred]

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your child.. my condolences

Ok.. so the CC companies won't listen and you're stuck with this slimeball CA. Unfortuately, your friend is wrong about the acceptance of a check being any kind of agreement, its a common misconception though. Bravo for you in not sending them any checks !!!

Send a Cease and Desist letter, get the phone calls stopped. Hop on over to [url]www.creditnet.com[/url] and under Discussions you'll find lots of sample letters you can use. You have to register, but its free. Send everything Certified, return receipt requested. Once you make them stop, I'd try a settlement offer, as I mentioned. As you have found out, nothing you say over the phone with these scum bags will ever hold water. Get it all in writing. If they won't negotiate a settlement, then start mailing them money orders for what you CAN afford, and do it religiously. That way, if they bother to even try to sue you, you can show intent to pay, but you can do it on YOUR terms instead of theirs. If they won't settle, make an offer of a payment schedule that YOU can afford. Believe me, they'll take your money.