Citibank and GC services Nightmare...

[zibreira]

What is the name of your state? It's for my daughter in Delaware
Hi,
I'm residing in florida but my daughter is the one having the problems with citibank and GC Services. She is a Student at the University of Delaware.
She had a card with citibank for which she owes $1600, she was over 90 days late so her card was cancelled and GC Services called her to collect the full amount.
GC Services got her bank info from citibank (she had always paid over the phone in the past) and told her that they needed her to give them a check number in order to clear the debt. She gave them a check number and told them that she did not have the full $1600 in her bank account, but was willing to make payment arrangements with them to pay off her debt. They told her that she better get the whole $1600 into her checking account because they were going to cash the check for the full amount.
This is when she called me and I found out about this messy situation. Being 19 years old and feeling threatened by GC Services she was a total wreck, and even sent me a text message stating that she would be better off dead. At this point after finally calming her down and making sure she was in a safe state of mind. I told her to call her bank and put a stop payment on the check since she did not have that amount available and it would not clear. After she that I told her to call back GC Services and inform them that she had put a stop payment on the check number she had given them for the $1600, but that she was able to pay $500 right now and then $300 on the 21st of each month. They told her this was not acceptable and that she had less than a week to come up with the full amount or proceedings would be taken against her. They explained that Citibank wanted the full amount and there was nothing they could do about it. Also payment had to be made over the phone and not mailed.
I then told her to call Citibank and try to work out a payment settlement agreement with them. They told her there was nothing they could do she had to deal with GC Services.
I then called the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 and explained the situation to them. They took down my daughters name, address, etc. the original creditor's name "Citibank" and the name of the collection Agency= GC Services and their phone number 1-800-475-7311.
They told me that she had to send a certified letter to GC Services asking them for a payment settlement agreement and stating that she could only pay $300 per month until the debt was cleared. However we had no mailing address for GC Services, only the above phone number and when we called to get an address from them they refused to give us one, they were very rude and unwilling to cooperate in any way.

I called back the FTC to explain that they refused to give us an address, and they said to try to find out the address somehow.
I tried to find their address online, but there are so many offices listed that we don't know where to send it. I tried to look up the address by the phone number online and thru the telephone company and that didn't work either, I tried calling the better business bureau to try to see if they could help and they couldn't without knowing in which state GC services is.
Again I called the FTC and give them my complaint number and told them I could not get their address and they told me I had to find a way to get their address... But how???

At this point I told my daughter that we will write a letter today directly to Citibank and include a check for $500 with a payment settlement request for $300 per month and explain the above situation to them in writing and see if they cash the check and respond or if Citibank will just send everything back.
What can we do?
My daughter is willing to pay $300 a month (with my help of course, since she is a full time student and has a job that pays less the $200 per week).
She is scared that they won't accept anything except the whole amount and that they are unwilling to make payment arragements with her.
We are so stressed because of all this. GC Services are very rude and unwilling to compromise or help in any way and they keep threatening that action will be taken against my daugter, but they don't really elaborate on what kind of action. They just tell her that if she doesn't pay the full amount then she will suffer the consequences?

Is all this legal?
Don't we have any rights?
Can't she do anything????
Why won't they even give their address????(try calling you'll see)

Please any help or info would really really be appreciated.

[Ladynred]

Of course you have rights, read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Under the FDCPA, if you ask for their address they are required to give it to you, there is no refusing, doing so is a violation and the FTC damn well knows it.

Further the tactics of GC Services in giving your daughter the ridiculous time limit and threatening her with 'possible legal action' are BS - all just designed to put pressure on their victims, to make them cough up money they usually do NOT have. Their insistence on full payment is also a tactic.. THEY get paid more by Citibank if they can get full payment as quickly as possible, so naturally they will refuse payment of anything less. NEVER give a collection agency access to your bank account !!! IF you must give them access to a bank account, make it a separate account in a DIFFERENT bank than where you normally bank, and have ONLY the amount in the account that they are due to get. That prevents them from helping themselves to everything in your regular bank account - which they will do.

GC Services is based in Houston, TX. Their address is:
GC Services Limited Partnership
Collection Agency Division
6330 Gulfton
Houston, TX 77081

That's their main office. They may have regional offices in your state or a nearby state. I'd go for the top first.


Has your daughter gotten ANYTHING in writing since this phone contact ??
BY LAW, they MUST send her a letter within 5 days of contact.

Read the FDCPA [url]http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm[/url] - go forward from there.