Commercial Collection, Validation Does Not Show That I Owe The Debt

[chocula]

I live in Georgia, and my company (it was a corporation), was formed in Georgia.

Sorry for the long post.

Background:
I was going to start a mortgage company in 2001 or so. The partners that were going to own the company with me and the financing never worked out, so the company NEVER did a single loan. Heck, we never had any customers as we did not open for business.

I did everything that I needed to get started, bond, license, signed up with a bunch of lenders, etc...

Because the company closed down, I never did business with ANY company.

Problem:
A few weeks ago, I received a letter from an attorney stating that I owed Novastar mortgage $1600. I do not owe this, so I asked for proof of the debt. As proof of the debt, they sent me the broker agreement that I signed with Novastar. The only "fees" or "amounts" that it notates are in case a premium is paid to the broker for a loan that closes within 90 days of funding. In that case, the broker may have to repay the premium paid. If you never do a loan with Novastar, you can not be charged anything.

It says that the agreement between broker and Novastar can be terminated at any time.

It clearly shows that I DO NOT owe the money.

I have sent a dispute to the attorney, and asked them to not contact me again. I pulled the attorney up on Google, and the whois does not match their address, and the attached phone number belongs to an individual. I know that the information can change, but these guys seem to be real shady.

Since they will not show me what they are trying to collect, I have no way of knowing if the statute of limitations has run out or not.

I will record the collection company when I speak to them, but wanted to know more before I spoke to them.

I have sent letters to the Attorney Generals of Texas, Missouri, and Georgia, the BBB, the GA Department of Banking and Finance, Novastar, the FTC, and a consumer advocate, Clark Howard.

I have heard about this scam from a consumer advocate. The scammers send out a bunch of letters hoping that someone will not respond. If you do not respond, the debt becomes your responsibility no matter if it is yours or not. I wanted to see if anyone else is getting scammed by this attorney and/or Novastar.

The attorney did call me and has sent me an e-mail. They of course want me to pay, but their claim is false and appears to be a scam.

If they would have sent me proof of a debt, or anything even close to showing that I MAY owe this debt, I would be happy to work with them.

Since they are simply sending a letter in hopes that I would not reply or would not pay, I want to make sure that they are not doing this to others. If they take any action besides sending me a letter saying that the matter is settled and I do not owe anything, I do plan on filing suit on them. I refuse to let companies such as this prey on people to make a sleazy living.

My problem/situation/question:
Since this is a commercial collection, I am not sure of what my rights are. I have found a great deal of information on personal debt collection and know my rights as a consumer, but I do not have any information on my rights as a corporation under commercial collections.

I need to know what I am legally obligated to do, what they can do, what my rights are and such.

Any links or information would be greatly appreciated.


The information that i sent to them was for consumers, so the attorney said I sent a good letter, but that it did not affect them.

Thanks

[ecmst12]

Originally Posted by chocula

I have heard about this scam from a consumer advocate. The scammers send out a bunch of letters hoping that someone will not respond. If you do not respond, the debt becomes your responsibility no matter if it is yours or not.

Well I know THAT'S not true. It only becomes yours if you send a payment.