Back in February or March this supposed collector called us to collect on a debt. At the time we had no idea because we had so many debts we couldnt keep track.
The person by the name of Christopher Adams (An account supervisor) said that we owed $3385 in debt, but they can settle the debt for $1900. Thinking it was a great idea because we had some money and decided to start settling all our debts.
We gave them our bank information and they debited the $1900 from our checking account.
Months went by and not even thinking about requesting a payoff letter from them we got another call from this Christopher Adams asking us to resolve a debt from a credit card. The account # he gave us did not correspond to any account # on our credit reports. I inquired as to why this is, he stated this was a dormant account and the account # changed because it kept getting sold to other credit companies. Christopher kept insisting that if we dont pay it he will take us to court.
At this time I knew it was something fishy because he seemed to hesitate when I asked him for specifics, like originating account number, and kept dodging the question.
So we currently research this and seeing if it will qualify us to call the police. That is if we can find his place of residence.
This is a one guy deal (out of his house) because the last time he called us he said that he was leaving at 10pm. We called him late that night and he answered, same voice, but we asked for Christpher Adams and he said Chris was not in at the time.
Sounds like big time fraud to me and I am out $1900... Time to get a lawyer, PI, and call the attorney general on this guy.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
John
Louisville,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
FYI
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, September 19, 2010
You made the 2 biggest makes you can make when dealing with debt collectors:
- NEVER give debt collectors you bank routing/checking account numbers
- Never pay debt collectors without first getting a settlement letter on their letterhead that states that the account will be Paid in Full once the agreed-upon amount has been paid. If you don't get this first, then there is nothing to stop them from coming back several weeks/months letter and demanding more money. Without a settlement letter, you can only prove that a payment was made on the account. You can't prove that the account was settled in full.
You got burned because you were not aware of the proper steps to pay defaulted debts. There's no point in wasting money on hiring an attorney or PI. From your post, this is a real, valid debt. As sleazy as collection agencies are, there is nothing fraudulent about them trying to collect on a debt.
You leaned a $1,900 lesson on how to not deal with collection agencies...Now you know. Get a settlement letter first, then give them a USPS money order for payment. Keep in your permanent records forever.
Bman
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,
United States of America
The File A Report At...
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, September 17, 2010
This government agency:
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/index.htm
Steph
Minor Hill,Tennessee,
USA
If its not too late
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, September 17, 2010
My advise is do a stop payment on this 1900.00 right away. then you need to close the account and reopen it with new #s. Never give your bank imformation over the phone to a bill collector they cannot be trusted. The next time they call do not answer the phone stay off it.
You also need to find out if you have call block to stop unwanted calls and callers that call unknown .
Go to www.budhibbs.com and it will advise you not to give your bank imformation to any of these bill collectors and they will tell you why