Received a letter stating my account is going to NCO Financial collectors.

[sunar27]

I have/had an account with MBNA and I owe them about $6200. I haven't paid them anything in about six months due to some bad times and I'm not sure how to respond to this letter. The letter says that unless I notify the office within 30 days after receiving this notice, the office will assume the debt is valid.

This is all new to me, i've never been in this deep before and i've learned a lot reading through the forums but now it's my turn and i'm a little apprehensive. I'm heavily considering a no asset chap 7 as I owe about 12k in credit and have school loans I need to focus on paying off instead. I know it's not much but I don't make much money anymore and this is seriously stressing me out.

 

[Ladynred]

There's not a whole lot TO do, and no real point in responding unless you can pay. The '30 days to dispute the debt' verbage is required by law (the FDCPA).

The debt is relatively fresh, probably charged-off (written off as a bad debt by MBNA) and for debt this fresh, a debt validation letter probably won't help, especially if MBNA has not SOLD the debt to NCO. The downside is that MBNA will eventually send your case to Walpoff & Abramson and they will go after you with an Arbitration.

School loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy, and 12K isn't much at all to file on, but there are no debt limits for filing. If you're going to file BK, do it BEFORE 10/17 when the new laws go into effect.

 

[sunar27]

There's not a whole lot TO do, and no real point in responding unless you can pay. The '30 days to dispute the debt' verbage is required by law (the FDCPA).

The debt is relatively fresh, probably charged-off (written off as a bad debt by MBNA) and for debt this fresh, a debt validation letter probably won't help, especially if MBNA has not SOLD the debt to NCO. The downside is that MBNA will eventually send your case to Walpoff & Abramson and they will go after you with an Arbitration.

School loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy, and 12K isn't much at all to file on, but there are no debt limits for filing. If you're going to file BK, do it BEFORE 10/17 when the new laws go into effect.

Well the letter says "MBNA has asked NCO financial systems to collect the account." I'm guessing that NCO owns this account now. Does this mean Walpoff & Abramson may still be in contact with me sometime in the near future?

 

[Ladynred]

No, it means NCO has only been ASSIGNED the account, MBNA still owns it. If your MBNA account on your credit reports doesn't say 'sold or transferred', then MBNA has only farmed it out to the collection agency. If NCO can't get money out of you, you'll eventually hear from some other CA and that could be Walpoff and company - and they are nastier than NCO !

 

[sunar27]

No, it means NCO has only been ASSIGNED the account, MBNA still owns it. If your MBNA account on your credit reports doesn't say 'sold or transferred', then MBNA has only farmed it out to the collection agency. If NCO can't get money out of you, you'll eventually hear from some other CA and that could be Walpoff and company - and they are nastier than NCO !

Well if what you're describing rings true, i'm screwed. Time to call some BK lawyers I guess. If I am scheduled for an arbitration, can filing stop all of that?

 

[echogirl3142]

watch out for NCO. they're not all that wonderful a collection agency to deal with. the last i heard they're being investigated for a variety of fair credit collection violations. i'm not one for saying go for arbitration but with these guys sometimes it's a better root. i know i dealt with them

 

[sunar27]

watch out for NCO. they're not all that wonderful a collection agency to deal with. the last i heard they're being investigated for a variety of fair credit collection violations. i'm not one for saying go for arbitration but with these guys sometimes it's a better root. i know i dealt with them

Ok thanks for the info. If I have to deal with them i'm sure i'll post another question.

 

[sunar27]

Just to help me out a little more... what would some of you do in my situation? Other than pay the debts back which would I would if I could but that's impossible for me now and probably for a long while.

 

[Ladynred]

BTW, What state are you in ???


At the stage you're in, first I'd figure out whether or not MBNA has charged-off the debt yet or not. Pull your statements, they WILL send you mailings stating when that they are going to charge-off the account and when. I know, been there, done that, got the T-shirt - on 2 MBNA accounts.

If its not charged-off yet, I would simply ignore NCO for the time being. If you can't come up with money to pay, there's no point in any verbal wranglings with the screaming witches at NCO. Yes, they DO scream at you over the phone !! Screaming (or similar bad behavior) is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), its verbal abuse and harrassment.

As for W&A, these bad actors don't usually get involved right away, and believe me, they're bad, they violate the FDCPA every way they can and think they are above the law. You will likely hear from a succession of collection agencies before W&A gets involved or you get sued.

 

[sunar27]

BTW, What state are you in ???


At the stage you're in, first I'd figure out whether or not MBNA has charged-off the debt yet or not. Pull your statements, they WILL send you mailings stating when that they are going to charge-off the account and when. I know, been there, done that, got the T-shirt - on 2 MBNA accounts.

If its not charged-off yet, I would simply ignore NCO for the time being. If you can't come up with money to pay, there's no point in any verbal wranglings with the screaming witches at NCO. Yes, they DO scream at you over the phone !! Screaming (or similar bad behavior) is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), its verbal abuse and harrassment.

As for W&A, these bad actors don't usually get involved right away, and believe me, they're bad, they violate the FDCPA every way they can and think they are above the law. You will likely hear from a succession of collection agencies before W&A gets involved or you get sued.

I live in Virginia. They somehow got my mother's number and have been calling her. She said the guy had left a message and was screaming my name. I thought that was pretty funny... I think i'm going to answer my phone when it's them. I really don't care if they scream or make threats since i'm not intimidated and think it's rather funny.

Did MBNA ever try to sue you? I owe them about 6200 bucks and definatley can't come up with the money to pay - if i could, they'd be paid.

 

[Ladynred]

Well, calling your mother when they already HAVE your contact information is yet another violation of the FDCPA. Make a list of everything like that that they do. NCO got slapped by the FTC last year with one of the biggest fines EVER for their willful violations of the law. Your mother needs to tell them they are never to call her again and hang up on them.

No, they never sued me. W&A did show up last December, but not on an MBNA debt.

 

[sunar27]

Well, calling your mother when they already HAVE your contact information is yet another violation of the FDCPA. Make a list of everything like that that they do. NCO got slapped by the FTC last year with one of the biggest fines EVER for their willful violations of the law. Your mother needs to tell them they are never to call her again and hang up on them.

No, they never sued me. W&A did show up last December, but not on an MBNA debt.

Ah I knew something was fishy when she told me how they were acting. Is this something that people sue these guys over and get checks for?

 

[Ladynred]

You can, provided you can document the violations. Its generally not worth much as far as fines, the FDCPA only allows a MAX of $1000 per action, not violation. Where people have gotten more they have been able to prove real damages.

 

[sunar27]

You can, provided you can document the violations. Its generally not worth much as far as fines, the FDCPA only allows a MAX of $1000 per action, not violation. Where people have gotten more they have been able to prove real damages.

lady... do you know where i can find how much cash assets are exempt in virginia? I have some savings but not enough to really make much of a dent in anything. Just want to make sure I have enough to live on.

 

[Ladynred]

VA doesn't specify a cash exemption, its all rolled in as part of 'personal property'. VA DOES allow you to use up to 5,000 of unused homestead exemption for 'any property', so that may help you.