Collections

I dont know what to do anymore My identity got stolen a few years ago and many accounts were open in my name using my signature . I dont have money to pay a lawyer but creditors are calling my job and My boss is starting to get mad because the phone ring not stop everyday I already explain the situation and everyday a different person call ignoring teh situation . I dont know what to do anymore and I cant have this calls anymore at work . what can I do?? help please .

If you inform your debtors not to call you at work it is illegal for them to continue doing so. You probably need to go to a legal aide office for some advice. Also, most attorneys will see you free on your initial visit. Get some advice there.
If you do these things you can inform your employer that you’ve taken legal steps to remedy the situation.

Should debt consolidation loans be taken to pay off collections agencies, or should they only be used for paying off credit cards? I have debt of about 10,000 from medical bills and payday advances among other things. I want to pay off all my debts so my credit can start recovering.

Get a copy of your credit report. Consolidation is fine as long as your new annual percentage rate is going to enable you to save money in the long term. Make sure you do your home work on where you decide to get the loan. Sometimes you can negotiate with your creditors to get them to take a lump sum settlement. There are companies that will do that for you but again, be careful who you choose. Financial quagmires like we are in today makes the con artists come out of the woodwork. You might be able to get some sort of financial assistance on the medical bills.

A medical bill of mine was denied by an insurance company because my doctor wrote a script with the wrong diagnosis code. I am appealing the denial with the insurance company. How should I deal with the collections agencies while my claim is in the midst of the appeal process?

screen your calls. tell them it’s being appealed.

A collections agency keeps calling me for a debt that got paid over a year ago to Cingular Wireless. I had closed my account, but still had a balance. I had my balance paid within a month of closing the account, but some how they didnt record it and send it to collections. I explained to the collections agency that the balance had been paid, but they keep calling. When I called Cingular Wireless, they told me they were not able to help me. What can I do???

The previous answers are not quite on track.

Remember, it’s NOT your responsibility to prove you DON’T owe the debt! It’s their job to prove you do!

And if you follow the previous advice, you are not fixing the problem. I’ll bet this is already on your credit reports.

You need to first send the collection agence a letter (see the sample below) and demand that they validate this debt. Send it by certified mail, return receipt.

Also include a line stating that they must "cease and desist" all communications with you. That will stop the harrassing phone calls. If they call you again, they are in violation of the Fair Debt Collections Act and you can sue them for $1000 in small claims court.

Get a copy of your credit report. If they listed this debt on it, dispute it. The collection agency has 30 days after recieving your validation demand letter to remove this from your report, or prove it’s accurate.

If they don’t do it, you can sue them for (yup, another $1000) for posting unvalidated information to your credit report, in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Read the links below, contact me for help. I’m not a lawyer or credit counsoler, just someone who has been down this road before.

I got into some debt (approx £1k) about 9 years ago and never paid it back. I want to start repairing my credit but am concerned if i do a credit check with experian etc. the debt collections people will have access to where I now live. I realise Ill have to get in touch with them to settle the matter but want to do so on my terms. Any advice really…

Credit bureaus share information with anyone who pays for it (and has a reasonable justification for using the data).
You’d be surprised at how much information they have. They probably already have your current address.
But if your debt is 9 years old, chances are that it’s gone from your credit report.

Is it illegal for collection agencies to refuse to give you a written statement? I have been ignoring them for months and am now entering a credit couseling program to pay off my debt. This requires me to get an updated statement. Can Van Ru collections agency deny me a written statement by law?

Yes if they are trying to collect from you. They must validate the debt. That means they must tell you what the debt was for, have your original signed contract, and your complete payment history.
They must also prove that they have a legal right to collect from you. Do they have the proper documentation to prove that they truly own the debt?
If they cannot prove any of the above, they cannot win a civil suit against you.
Should you have a legal obligation to pay anyone who cannot prove that you owe them?

I had a financial crisis a couple years ago when I lost my job, but am working now. I had a couple debts go into collections and they are calling me 10 times a day.

You can stop a debt collector from contacting you by writing a letter to the collector called a "Collection Agency Cease and Desist Letter". Once the collector receives your letter, they may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the debt collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action. The debt will likely be sent back to the original creditor and/or re-sold to another collection agency, at which point you send a new Cease and Desist letter to the new collector.

If anyone ever says they will sue you is full of it. They know that you are in the poor house to begin with, why would they ever bother to spend a ton of legal fees to sue someone who is on the verge of bankruptcy?

There is also a statute of limitations on debt collections, which varies from state to state. There is a listing of all state statutes and a sample Cease and Desist letter on the following website:

http://stopcollections.blogspot.com

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No, they can’t "threaten" you. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they can’t threaten physical violence (obviously), or threaten to take any action that can’t be legally taken or that they don’t actually intend to take (ie, either do it or shut up about it). They can’t make any false representations at all. They also can’t use abusive or profane language.

They can’t even contact you in any way (other than for litigation) after you’ve given them written notice not to. Here is a sample of the letter you would send:
http://credit.about.com/od/debtcollection/a/ceasedesist.htm

I have applied to be in the RCMP and have a bad credit rating according to my credit report I just pulled, in process of disputing some, but I have 7 derogatory accounts on there due to collections, can you make a deal to pay in full in exhange for them removing it from your bureau? If you just pay in full and send receipts to the bureau what will that do for your credit? Does it then change last activity date so those are on there for longer?

The only way to do this is whats called a pay for delete agreement.

You must get this in writing before you pay a dime.

I need to increase my credit score. These companies are not calling me. I am trying to contact them. Within the next year, I am wanting to buy a house. If I am to do this, then I need to get these credit collections off of my credit report. I really need to contact these people, so that I can get collections off of my credit report. Will someone please be so kind to inform me of how to take care of this problem? Thank You!

This is the best process.
See below.
http://www.creditscorequick.com/2008/04/fast-free-credit-report-repair.html