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  • Report:  #465201

Complaint Review: Creditors Interchange - Buffalo New York

Reported By:
- Arlington, Texas,
Submitted:
Updated:

Creditors Interchange
80 Holtz Dr. Buffalo, 14225 New York, U.S.A.
Phone:
866-816-3176 x3159
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
I've been dealing with this company since 2003 with one debt that I rang up while I was in college & I have always tried to avoid all phone contact with these vipers at all cost but recently I have become alot more financially stable so i have been overpaying my bill with them & have finally wittled my debt with them down to only $800 after sending them $200 payments every month for the past few years. So before everyone hits me with the "you shouldn't have paid them a dime", i know you're right, I shouldn't have paid them a dime but I did & it's my bill, I charged up the card when i was young & broke & in college so now i want to pay that back & they're beginning to make even that difficult.

So recently I have been getting calls from their company & they never leave a voicemail so I've never tried to call them back, I figured no message equals not very important. The other day while I was at work, I was expecting a call on my cell from an 800 number. The phone rang, caller ID showed a random 800 number & I picked up. It wasn't who i was expecting the call from, it was Racquel Calhoun from Creditor's Interchange & she proceeded to tell me that my payments have been consistantly late. I told her that I have been paying over my minimum payment of $50 & that i was at work & I didn't have my financial records in front of me for reference so that i could prove her wrong & that i would have to get back with her.

After some light arguing between the two of us, i told her that she ought to mellow out, that she sounded stressed out to the max & that she needed a drink or something. Well needless to say, that didn't go over very well with her. I regret saying anything now but she got me flustered & I said it. We both hung up on each other in a tizzy.

I gathered my financial records & there it was, my payments were all made EARLY. She stated that my due date was the 5th of every month & my records showed them receiving my electronic bank payments of $200 on 3/24/09, 4/28/09, another on 5/19/09, and all my other payments that consistently followed that payment pattern from previous months & they were all well in advance of my "due date" which they don't print on their monthly statements by the way.

So I brought my financial records to work yesterday & called them on a break to clarify this issue. Racquel stated that if my payment is not received by them within a 5 day window of my due date, the 1st through the 5th, that payment falls back to the previous month & my account is then subject to late fee's. I laughed & said that's crazy talk, can you repeat that? She did, it was the same.

Then out of nowhere she says "please don't raise your voice to me sir". I reply with "wha? I didn't raise my voice at all, i'm trying to be calm about this. I just can't believe what you just told me. I'm voluntarily paying 4 times what my minimum payment is & I'm paying it early as well. There should be no problem at all. You guys should be happy with me as a customer".

She comes back with "sir I don't need this sarcasm & your payments are late & you are not a customer." & then she screams into the phone "You are not a customer, you are a DEBTOR. A DEBTOR SIR, YOU ARE A DEBTOR." I say "look this is going nowhere & I'm about to really lose my cool here. I need to speak to your supervisor NOW."

She transfers me to a Leonard Barnes who tells me he is Racquel's manager.

I tell Leonard my story & about the "due date" thing that Racquel told me. He then states that my due date is revolving. That I have 30 days from my previous payment to get another payment in or it's late. Since my March payment was received on the 24th of March & April on the 28th, that's late by 3 days. I say what happened to the 5th of every month & that i would like to see a copy of that agreement & that i never would have agreed to such a thing.

After that being said, he refused to send me anything in writing & I asked for his supervisor's name. He replied with a sarcastic "My Supervisor?" & abruptly ended the call by saying "Look, I don't have time for this anymore" & then he hung up on me. I was dumbfounded, I couldn't believe that this guy was actually speaking to me in this manner. It took everything in me to keep from throwing the phone at a wall.

So I ran across this website, ripoffreport.com, & did some reading up on ol' Creditor's Interchange. I figured that I'd fire off a cease & desist letter to stop the phone calls & then quietly finish my payments for the next few months which may or may not be subject to late fee's & then write the company off with a "glad i don't have to deal with those effer's again", unless you guys have other advice. My goal is to not to get out of paying my bill, I charged up the card & I will pay the balance off, I just wouldn't mind giving this company a nice screwing in the process if possible.

That's my story,

Steve from arlington

Arlington, Texas

U.S.A.


1 Updates & Rebuttals

Fdcpaviolationswinner

Lockport,
New York,
U.S.A.
Advice for Steve

#2Consumer Comment

Sun, June 28, 2009

Just so you know Steve, Creditors Interchange was recently subpoenaed by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and had to pay New York State an undisclosed settlement for unethical FDCPA violating practices. So needless to say, they will step over the line to collect. If you have recordings of their unethical practices on tape, find out if Texas is a one party state (you can record without telling the collector in live contact). If so, negotiate an out of court settlement with CI's compliance director for FDCPA violations. Since they have faced a lot of negative press through Cuomo's crackdown, they will likely cut you a check to avoid further civil exposure. The most you can sue for per case is $1000 so explain to them you will accept an amount less than $1000 (bargain and counter like you are buying a car). Whatever they agree to, get it in writing and you have more money in your pocket due to their violations. Now, simultaneously, contact the creditor who owns the account and make them aware of CI's violations.Explain to them you are willing to pay (whatever your demands are) and you want the agreement in writing. If your goal is to settle for less than you owe, bear in mind if you save over $600, the creditor will have the irs send you a 1099 form demanding the amount of the debt forgiven be considered "unearned income" on your 2009 taxes in january 2010. Settlements in my opinion don't improve your credit score very much but if you are looking to start fresh without filing bankruptcy and get old debts behind you, negotiate with the creditor directly on any settlement or reasonable payment plan that fits your budget and have the agreement in writing before you send them a penny. Preferably send money orders so they don't know where you currently bank. If they play hardball with you not disclosing your checking via postdated checks, compromise and explain you will send a money order on a certain day of each month priority mail (only costs a few bucks) to honor any agreement the creditor provides you in writing.Good luck.

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