What type of income is exempt from CC debt in NY?

[Glendy2]

What is the name of your state? New York

I am a 60 year old retired woman who pays her bills religiously.
I receive Social Security Disability, Pension, and Worker's Compensation Benefits and would like to know if these are exempt from CC debt. I ask this because the CC company "BankFirst" made a mistake on my billing and I am not able to resolve it. I have never missed a payment to this company nor have I ever made a late payment. I sent off my payment of $50.00 in July for August payment and the CC company says they have never received my payment. I have since received my cancelled check for this payment and have sent them a copy of the cancelled check. During this time the company have tacked on 2 $35.00 late fees which they say that I now owe 109.00. I again made a 50.00 payment by phone and was then told that the account was current and everything was ok. They also removed half of the tacked on late fees and reinstated my available balance. A week later I received by mail another bill stating that I still owe $109.00. Now I am p***** off. I again called them to find out why I had received that bill and they told me it was because I missed July's payment. They now are harrassing me by phone because I refuse to send them anymore monies on this account. I am being threatened to be sued and they are calling my house before 9:00 am and up to 10:30 pm. I eventually closed the account and told them that they would not get another dime from me. I have A-1 credit and am sure that this will mess up my credit rating and it wasn't even my error. They refuse to resolve this issue and I would like to know what else can I do and can they take any of the above forms of income from me?

Thanks in advance for your help. I don't know where else to turn.

 

[Ladynred]

Your income is exempt.

Their threat if a lawsuit is seriously premature, and nothing more than a threat. They're not going to sue over 1 missed payment - but once you miss 6 months worth, they'll charge it off as a bad debt and it WILL hit your credit pretty hard.

You say you sent a copy of the cancelled check - what was their response ?? Did you dispute any of this in writing ?? You do have rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act, but you must do everything in writing and follow whatever dispute resolution process they have in the CC agreement.

If they made the error, and you have the check back to prove they processed it, they probably credited your payment to someone elses account. You need to stay on them like a rabid dog and get it resolved, its not worth destroying your credit over. I understand your feelings, but the harrassment you'll go thru from them and collection agencies to follow isn't worth it for something that can probably be resolved. If necessary, go above customer service to the big boys in the cushy offices. Many people have had success with Planetfeedback.com. Complaints from PFB get kicked upstairs, beyond any non-customer service drones.

 

[Glendy2]

What can I do next?

NY State

Hi LadynRed,

Thanks for your immediate response. In response to your questions of "what was their response to me when I sent them the cancelled check" and "did I ever send them this disputed error in writing", fot one I was told that since I had just sent them the cancelled check they haven't received it as of yet and to give them 10-14 business days to receive it and No, I haven't tried to resolve this in writing. I have tried through numerous phone calls. I have even spoken to a supervisor about the error and was told the same thing that the representative told me about the payment. I will send them a letter today regarding this matter. I don't want my credit to be affected by their stupid mistake. You said that they may have posted the payment to someone else's account. What can I do to find that out?

Thanks again for you continued advice.

Glendora

 

[Ladynred]

There really isn't anything you can do directly to find out what they heck they did with your payment. They are going to have to investigate it themselves, and there's no way I'd let them off the hook. Household did this to me about 10 years ago and it was no small payment they mis-applied either. I had sent a pay-off of about $1800 and they credited to someone else's account !! You can imagine my surprise when I got the statement after I knew I'd paid it off only to find late charges and an outstanding balance

Definitely keep tabs on their 10-14 day timeline and don't cut them any slack. THEY screwed up and THEY have to fix it. You have the cancelled check proving they got your payment and processed it - but to whom ???

 

[Glendy2]

NY State

Hi LadynRed,

Thanks again for your advice. I will definitely take your advice and atay on them like White On Rice! I really appreciate your help. I will let you know what the outcome will be.

Again, thanks for all your advice.

Glendora

 

[cmorris]

Send the letter certified mail, return receipt requested. This way, you know they received it--it creates a paper trail.

 

[Glendy2]

Thanks CMORRIS for your advice also. I will definitely do just that.

Glendora

 

[Glendy2]

Harrassing Phone Calls

I have another question. Isn't it against the law for bill collector's to call all times a night and day during the week and on Sundays? Is there a guideline as to when they should and should not call. I just received another call and did not answer it because I recognize the number from my caller ID since they call so much. It was 8:22 pm when they called and they call as early as 7:30 am.

Glendora