Complaint Review: United Collection Bureau Inc

Sorry, Jessica, but failure to pay debts is not considered "theft." Perhaps "breach of contract" or some other euphemism, but not theft.

Theft is a CRIMINAL offense. Failure to pay debts stopped being a criminal offense back when Debtor's Prisons were abolished. :)

OP: The worst, really, that they can do to you is file and obtain a judgment against you. Subsequently, they COULD attach a lien to any property you might own (car, house, etc), but they certainly can't "take it away" from you. In fact, most states do NOT allow the attachment of liens against primary residences.

What you NEED to do is find out WHEN you defaulted on this account. Each state has a Statute of Limitations that specify how long a creditor (or collection agency) has in which to file suit. For credit cards, I believe the average SoL would be 4-6 years. After you're past that point, you can no longer be sued LEGALLY.

They can STILL file suit against you, even if the SoL has expired, BUT all you have to do is appear and use the expiration of SoL as your defense. The creditor will then walk away with their tail tucked betwixt their legs. If you do NOT appear if sued, they will obtain a default judgment against you. So for pete's sake, if you're summoned, appear!!

Lastly, go take a gander at web sites like MyFico and CreditBoards ... they have oodles of great info to help you with your credit AND what collection agencies can and can NOT do. At the very least, read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It will open your eyes!!

Best of luck to you!! :)

If this is a third party collection agency verses an inhouse collection agency, they did break the law. Under the FDCPA, their 10-15 calls are excessive and can be construed as annoying and harrassing. If you have asked them not to call you at work, they are again breaking the law by continuing to do so. And name calling is considered abusive language under the FDCPA.

Now to address Jessica's comment that "you are lucky you are not in jail for theft", that is simply not true. Debt is a CIVIL matter not a CRIMINAL matter. You don't go to jail for debt. For someone to be guilty of fraud and theft, the credit card company would have to "prove" that her "intent" was never to pay the bills back. That is hard to prove. They are not mind readers. Someone having a credit card balance and then losing their job rendering them unable to pay is not fraud. It is bad luck. And bad luck doesn't make someone a thief.

Some collection agencies think that they get more flies with vinegar. I would think that the opposite is true. Why would anyone want to talk with someone who is going to get nasty with them?

Good luck.

It appears the only ripoff here is the one you committed against Citibank. You stole from them by spending there money and not paying it back. You should be grateful that getting phone calls is the worst that has happened to you, you could be in jail for theft.