Debra
Eagan,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, September 30, 2005
They may have sent this to Allied in a pre-charge off state. Maybe. I suspect what's really happening is that the agent is feeding you a line to get you to send in the money. Send them a written notice requesting validation of the debt. This might mean they will need to request media. That's relatively simple for them, but they'll probably tell you they can't or they don't have to. As long as you are within the first 30 days they can and they do. Mention that you will be copying your letter to your Attorney General's office, and that if you do not receive the requested validation you will consider that the debt is not yours and that you want all further contact of any kind to cease. Collection agencies don't want to get in a bad light with the AG in their state, and Capital One is already under the microscope by a number of Attorneys General across the country. Finally, agencies never met negotiable currency they didn't like. I wouldn't advise paying Capital One directly, because it won't call off the agency. And try to send as much as you can afford, to pay it as fast as possible, because it's probably accruing interest at the accelerated rate it went to when the bill went into default. Eventually you'll want to call for a final payoff. Get it in writing, and hold on to it, because there might be a residual balance of interest which accrues between the day of your call and the day the payment is posted. Finally, be sure to demand a letter saying that your account has been paid in full. They have been known to take the payments and send the residual balance off to the original issuer. It will sit for a while, increasing steadily, and then they'll send it off to a different agency and start the whole thing again, and if you don't have that letter, you have no proof and all you can do is wait out the statute of limitations. Good luck.
Dawn
Maurice,#3Author of original report
Thu, September 29, 2005
Let me try to clarify a few things that might be confusing.First my entire balance is over 900.00. As of the middle of Oct I will be 90 days late the bill was for 126.00 payment for the three months. The collection agency said Capital One is not interested in monthly payments anymore.They want the whole thing now. Then later in the conversation she says if I pay 200.00 They MAY take me back for payments no guarentees. Nothing was said about settlements,charge-offs or otherwise. She said I had been late before a few other months so I checked.I had been late one day twice previously.Five months have not passed with nonpayment and wont if they will take some money.I am willing to pay what is owed not just a small percentage to settle if we can get things back on track. Nor do I want to scrape together 200.00 just so they can sue me in the end
Jessica
Long Beach,#4Consumer Comment
Thu, September 29, 2005
I used to work for a major credit card company (NOT Capital One) and wanted to give you some insight. The reason why the collection agency will only accept $200 or more is because once an account charges off to a collection agency, payment plans pretty much go out the window. The only payment plans they accept are a certain percentage of what your balance is. Sometimes you can 'settle' which means that you pay, again, a certain percentage but then the account is considered 'settled' and they don't bother you again. Of course this is negative on your credit report but it does look better than a charged off account with no payment at all. There is no way your balance went from under $200 on one bill to over $900 on the next bill. Even with fees, they cannot charge you fees several times greater than your balance. Something is missing from this story. Obviously there were additional bills that you just didn't respond to. Even with a medical condition, you should have notified Cap. One and asked for a payment plan. They are not required to give it to you but the bottom line is they want to get paid no matter how you do it so they accept them. Sounds to me that you didn't notify them at all and now that the account is charged off you want them to help you. It takes 5 complete billing cycles of no payment for an account to charge off. It sounds like now you are in a situation that is going to be very difficult to get out of. I would recommend trying to settle the account. Even with medical bills, this could have been prevented with a payment plan. Now if you did ask them for one and they didn't give you one, that is a whole different story. Is that what happened?