Written balance request ignored

[allen4150]

What is the name of your state? GA

I'm currently paying off a cc that went to collections. I've been making 200/month payments for 8 months now. When I ask for a written statement detailing the payments and outstanding balance, I get the same response: "your balance is: blablablabla.
I'll then ask for a statement but I have yet to receive one. SURELY to god I am entitled to a written statement that at least privides a written account of what the remaining balance is. I can't find what I need in the FDCPA. Please tell me I am entitled to a written statement detailing the amount I owe.

[TiredOfAbuse]

You have entered into a payment arrangement with a Collections Agency. Once you receive the initial contact from a CA, you have 30 days to dispute any part of the debt (The total, who owns it, et al..). Since you have been paying this CA for months now, you have lost a few rights.

What you can do is send good will letters to the CA. Tell them you have been diligent in remitting payments per your agreement (you DO have a signed and written repayement agreement with them, right? Verbal doesn't count..) and you think it would be fair to receive an accounting statement from them in return.

Send more then one letter asking for this. It would be reasonable to wait a week or two between mailings. Send all letters CMRR (Certified Mail Return Receipt). Keep the proof of receipt from all your sent mail.

If after 3 letters go by and you do not get an accounting from them, then pursue them further. File a comlaint with your state Attorney General alleging there may be possible fraud on the part of the Collections Agency. Detail out your complaint and send the copies of your good will letters and proof of their receipt. This will show the AG that you did your best to try and get an accounting.

Beyond that, you could talk to an attorney. A free consultation will show you exactly where you stand.

You lost a lot of rights by just enterning into a repayment plan without disputing the bill in a timely manner. I hope you can get them to comply, and at this point (without help) they more then likely do not have to respond to you!

Here is a link that will point you in the right direction for your rights as a consumer in Georgia.

[url]http://www.legalaid-ga.org/GA/index.cfm[/url]

TiredOfAbuse

Note: It is up to you if you wish to continue payment on a debt you now dispute. In your shoes, I would see if the AG could help in any way. If he can't, I would stop all payments and get legal help. Just remember - this decision is ultimately yours. CA's do things that are dishonest sometimes, lets keep them honest.

[debtcollector`]

Ignore TOA -- he is once again confused. The OP doesn't dispute the debt; he mearly wants a statement showing the balance and payments credited.

You aren't going to get a billing statement from a collection agency. Why? Great question. It is because statements cost money to put together and mail. Since the FDCPA forbids the CA from charging you extra fees or interest, you don't get anything they don't have to provide. As a entry level collector I questioned this practice, however, when I moved into positions of greater responsibility I realized that it could not be done.

So, no, you aren't entitled to a statement.
DC

[TiredOfAbuse]

allen4150,

DC' is of course correct, you did waive quite a few of your rights when you decided to pay a collection agency money on an account where you are unsure of the true and correct balance.

If you want to take steps in finding the true and correct balance, then my advice is just one of several ways you can go about it.

If instead you want to encourage the collection industry to keep you in the dark in regards to the health of your finances, then by all means keep paying and ignore my advice, as Debt Collector' put it.

You aren't going to get a billing statement from a collection agency. Why? Great question. It is because statements cost money to put together and mail. Since the FDCPA forbids the CA from charging you extra fees or interest, you don't get anything they don't have to provide. As a entry level collector I questioned this practice, however, when I moved into positions of greater responsibility I realized that it could not be done.

DC, thank you for giving me an opportunity to ask you a question. No I am not baiting you, I really do have an interest in what you have to say.

Collection Agencies spend the money and effort to ensure they can track their financials. CA's also use the same computerized system to track the incoming payments from consumers as well. CA's most definately have a system in place so they can mail dunning letters that are nothing more then just "fill in the blank" letters that pull information from the agency's database.

So since you already mail dunning letters to consumers, what makes it so cost prohibitive that you can't mail out a statement, say every quarter, to a consumer?

I am sorry if I put you on the spot, but I have a hard time believing any CA would see statements as being nothing more then the cost of doing business. You are correct, the FDCPA does prevent extra fees, but that does not mean you can't charge back your client - the OC/JDB? Can you elaborate?

Thank you for your time, this really is a valid concern of mine.

TiredOfAbuse

[debtcollector`]

Originally Posted by TiredOfAbuse

Collection Agencies spend the money and effort to ensure they can track their financials. CA's also use the same computerized system to track the incoming payments from consumers as well. CA's most definately have a system in place so they can mail dunning letters that are nothing more then just "fill in the blank" letters that pull information from the agency's database.

So since you already mail dunning letters to consumers, what makes it so cost prohibitive that you can't mail out a statement, say every quarter, to a consumer?

Then the question becomes: Mail to which consumers? The ones who are actively paying their debt or mail it to all the consumers in the agencies database. Let's see 41 cents postage, 20 cents printing and handling of the letter equals 61 cents per consumer per quarter per account. So an agency with only 1,000,000 accounts will have to pay $610,000 a quarter or more than $2.4 mil a year sending our "billing" statements. And that money is going to come from where?

Then you have to consider that once you start doing that some yahoo is going to go to court arguing that the least sophisticated consumer needs statements once a month. Eventually courts in California and New York will agree and the bill becomes $610,000 a month. Since that is obviously unreasonable, many collection agencies will go out of business. The result of reduced collections is greatly reduced availability of credit - mainly to low and middle class people -- or much higher interest rates that reflect the risk of loss.

The end game is that consumers lose by demanding statements.

DC

[TiredOfAbuse]

Ouch, that would be a hefty bill if Agencies had to mail to the entire datebase!

What if the statements were sent on a quarterly basis to only those consumers that remit payment, and the Yahoo's didn't challenge the industry's decision to do that?

Your response makes complete sense to me.

It would be a financial nightmare if the laws were changed to ensure all consumers with active tradelines on their credit report receiveced montly or even quarterly statements.

That should not happen, but I would be all for quarterly statements to those accounts that remit payment.

Again DC', thank you for your time and response!

TiredOfAbuse

[allen4150]

Originally Posted by debtcollector`

The end game is that consumers lose by demanding statements.

DC

I call your bluff. I'll wait for a sheriff to issue papers before I send a dime. You've got to be kidding me. I haven't rexceived ONE letter in the mail. The only thing I have received are phone calls. I wonder why I can't muster a letter outta these folks.? I'll wait for the sheriff or correspondance vis usps mail.

[allen4150]

C'mon debt collector......NOT ONE letter request for payment via usps mail?****************************.. I think I'll tell them to go fvck themselves. Am I banned?

[debtcollector`]

Originally Posted by allen4150

I call your bluff. I'll wait for a sheriff to issue papers before I send a dime. You've got to be kidding me. I haven't rexceived ONE letter in the mail. The only thing I have received are phone calls. I wonder why I can't muster a letter outta these folks.? I'll wait for the sheriff or correspondance vis usps mail.

...
C'mon debt collector......NOT ONE letter request for payment via usps mail?****************************.. I think I'll tell them to go fvck themselves. Am I banned?

That is your mistake to make. It also ends my interest in helping you. Goodbye now.

DC

[ashleyh]

People in debt have no rights---let's just say it like it is.

But they do have access to spreadsheets, like Excel, which are great for keeping track of financial matters.

In the agreement you made with the collection agency, it hopefully had the total amount due, number of payments to be made, and the interest rate being charged.

You can then input all this, along with payments you've already made, to determine what your balance is. This can then be sent to the collection agency for verification. They'll probably ignore it or add money to the balance just to amuse themselves. I'd then suggest getting on the phone, talking to someone, asking them to look you up on their computer and telling you 1) what they show your balance as and 2) what the interest rate is. And ask them to print the screen and send it to you.

OR....instead of all of that...send the collection agency a letter reading, "according to my records, I have paid this in full so I will no longer be sending payments." Chances are you'll receive a hasty balance update.


Good luck!

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by ashleyh

OR....instead of all of that...send the collection agency a letter reading, "according to my records, I have paid this in full so I will no longer be sending payments." Chances are you'll receive a hasty balance update.

Or a summons...

[SHORTY LONG]

Originally Posted by allen4150

C'mon debt collector......NOT ONE letter request for payment via usps mail?****************************.. I think I'll tell them to go fvck themselves. Am I banned?

Q: Am I banned?

A: If I had it my way you would be!