Hello everyone,
So first off I apologize for the wall of text I am about to present, but I like to give details. Also I am in Nebraska.
I am trying to decide whether to go see an attorney about suing a debt collector over what I consider to be a pretty shady practice, plus a possible second part of the situation that may be FDCPA violation, but I am not certain.
Every call made in this story is recorded, Nebraska law states only 1 party on the call has to be aware the calls are recorded, but every place of business always states their calls are recorded anyway so no issues there.
Early November 2018 received a lawsuit. Debt collector saying I owe xxx dollars from claim A and claim B for wife medical expenses. Never received mail with notification. Never received phone call. Nor did wife.
Called the place the debt originated from (Client). They told me the info on the debt. Originally debt was paid of (numbers modified and rounded for ease of understanding) 10 dollars -remaining debt after insurance paid rest. Client then added 100 dollars as an extra charge. When I paid the bill originally, they split my payment, so a percentage went to the 10 dollars and a percentage went to the 100 dollars. That is how they got claim A and claim B.
Insurance didn't pay anything for claim B. Called insurance, they said I should never been charged any part of claim B and sent letter of notification to Client after talking with them on phone.
Client put debt into review, and I made sure they notified debt collector who was now suing me.
Waited two days, called debt collector, they were aware debt was in review. I asked if that meant they would pull the suit, their response was I needed to pay to pull lawsuit. I stated very specifically the situation amd that if it was review what if it entered default judgement? Their response was they could take a payment. Essentially whether or not it was valid, it came off as they were hoping for a default judgement, or I would pay, because who has hundreds of dollars to pay a lawyer to write a refusal/denial letter.
After confirming with them on the phone that I did not receive the letters to notify me of the debt (they said they sent them with no confirmation) and confirming that they did not reach either me or my wife by phone, (they said they called but no one answered -yet they never left a message).
Of course I did some google-fu and wrote my own response letter with a couple affirmative defenses. They didn't drop the suit until they received it, but they dropped the same or next day day I got notification they received it.
So questions are:
The crappy practice of hoping for a default judgement when they aren't even sure the debt is valid - is that grounds for civil suit?
The never actually getting a hold of me (though they claim an attempt) grounds for FDCPA violation?
Typically don't have debt problems and this was caused by wife having cancer but I have managed to pay all my other bills without incident or issue - in case that help from a character perspective.
Happy to answer any questions if I missed anything.
Thanks
So first off I apologize for the wall of text I am about to present, but I like to give details. Also I am in Nebraska.
I am trying to decide whether to go see an attorney about suing a debt collector over what I consider to be a pretty shady practice, plus a possible second part of the situation that may be FDCPA violation, but I am not certain.
Every call made in this story is recorded, Nebraska law states only 1 party on the call has to be aware the calls are recorded, but every place of business always states their calls are recorded anyway so no issues there.
Early November 2018 received a lawsuit. Debt collector saying I owe xxx dollars from claim A and claim B for wife medical expenses. Never received mail with notification. Never received phone call. Nor did wife.
Called the place the debt originated from (Client). They told me the info on the debt. Originally debt was paid of (numbers modified and rounded for ease of understanding) 10 dollars -remaining debt after insurance paid rest. Client then added 100 dollars as an extra charge. When I paid the bill originally, they split my payment, so a percentage went to the 10 dollars and a percentage went to the 100 dollars. That is how they got claim A and claim B.
Insurance didn't pay anything for claim B. Called insurance, they said I should never been charged any part of claim B and sent letter of notification to Client after talking with them on phone.
Client put debt into review, and I made sure they notified debt collector who was now suing me.
Waited two days, called debt collector, they were aware debt was in review. I asked if that meant they would pull the suit, their response was I needed to pay to pull lawsuit. I stated very specifically the situation amd that if it was review what if it entered default judgement? Their response was they could take a payment. Essentially whether or not it was valid, it came off as they were hoping for a default judgement, or I would pay, because who has hundreds of dollars to pay a lawyer to write a refusal/denial letter.
After confirming with them on the phone that I did not receive the letters to notify me of the debt (they said they sent them with no confirmation) and confirming that they did not reach either me or my wife by phone, (they said they called but no one answered -yet they never left a message).
Of course I did some google-fu and wrote my own response letter with a couple affirmative defenses. They didn't drop the suit until they received it, but they dropped the same or next day day I got notification they received it.
So questions are:
The crappy practice of hoping for a default judgement when they aren't even sure the debt is valid - is that grounds for civil suit?
The never actually getting a hold of me (though they claim an attempt) grounds for FDCPA violation?
Typically don't have debt problems and this was caused by wife having cancer but I have managed to pay all my other bills without incident or issue - in case that help from a character perspective.
Happy to answer any questions if I missed anything.
Thanks
