Arcadia Financial LTD ripoff the business that doesnt give a dam Eden Prairie Minnesota
I purchased a car back in 1999 in Brandon, FL from Arcadia Financial. The car was repossessed voluntarily in October 1999 due to the extreme payments. I contact the company for 2 years straight for the balance, they told me to wait and I will be contacted by a collection agency.
Months went by and I recieved nothing. I continued to call, and I spoke with the most rudest people in the world. One rep told me that I owed nothing, and then I finally recieved something in the mail from an collection agency who offered to settle the debt for $2500.00, and explained that I did not have that amount, but that I could pay half now, and make payments on the rest. Arcadia declined the offer, and they stated that I had 2 days to come up with it, or the balance would go back up to $5,000.00.
I borrowed money from everyone, and I finally had the money. I contacted the agency, and they stated that my account has been pulled by Arcadia, and they could not take my payment. Back to square one. I contacted Arcadia, and they did not acknowledge any settlement that they offered. They demanded the balance in full. I offered the payment that I had, and to make payments on the balance. They refused. I sent the payment anyway, and they cashed the check, but they refuse to acknowledge the payment on my account. I moved from Tampa to St. Pete, and I have sent them change of address info.
I recently found out that they are now with Transouth Financial, so I contacted them to found out something about this debt that I owe. I was told to call back the next day, because they are closed. I called back this passed Saturday, and was told that they have given my account to another collection agency called American Coradious. I contacted them, and they have a settlement of $2,311.50 for the account.
I have until Thursday to comply. If I do not comply by Thursday then I will owe for the collection agency fees, the interest incurred, and legal fees, because now they plan to take me to court. Now the balance is over $9,000.00. This is truly a rip off. I am going to fight this tooth and nail, if there are any pending lawsuits please add me to the list.
Thanks for listening.
Erica
Saint Petersburg, Florida
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Tammy
Lowville,New York,
U.S.A.
I hope you kept all your receipts.
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, July 30, 2003
First of all, they cannot add fees and interests to the bill unless they first notify you in writing. Follow all the CAMCO material and look for information there. There is a lot of real good advice on collection agencies.
Keep all reciepts. By law, the collection agency has to notify you in writing of what you owe. They must also notify that you have the right to dispute the amount.
You can write a letter to them disputing the amount. Do not agree to anything on the phone and do not admit to anything until you have a settlement offer in writing. If they don't give you something in writing and you send in a check, they can clean your bank account out and they can force you to pay the entire balance and even more. They will often charge outrageous interest and fees and legal fees and attach them to you.
Here are a couple of sites that are full of information for consumers about their rights. Do not speak to them on the phone. Do all negotiations in writing, certified mail, registered reciept. If you send anything over the phone, you will regret it.
http://fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html
http://www.cardreport.com/laws/fcra/fcra.html
http://www.carreonandassociates.com/collectionlaws.htm
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml
http://www.able2collect.com/ableinfo.html
Special note about this last link. It is the link to the association of credit collection agencies about some of the advice that they give to each other about how to collect and what strategies and information they try to get and how to use.
Sometimes it is a good thing to visit theie lair and get some inside advice for how they plan to operate.
I hope these help.
Good luck.