I've also had calls from these people regarding a Chase credit card account. Chase has not informed me that they sold my account to this company, so I have no reason to open their mail. I get 10-30 pieces of junk mail a day, and they all go in the trash without opening.
June 1st, I talked to someone named Douglas Burdlebow (sp?) from Creditor's Interchange. He was reluctant to tell me his company name. When I questioned them about who this company is, he told me they are working for Chase bank to collect on my account. I asked if they purchased the account from Chase several times, and he talked around it and would not answer. Just kept saying they work for Chase in various ways. I ended the conversation as he would not answer my questions.
Today, June 6th, I received a call from a woman named Sarah Johnson from CI. A friend of the family first answered the phone, and although I don't know what the exact conversation was, she mentioned something about being from the Attorney General's Office. She started off by telling me how easy she was to talk to, which she repeated several times in the conversation. Personally, I don't find liars easy to talk to.
I also asked her who the company is and explained to her that if my mortgage company sells my account to another company, they send a letter to let me know that and introduce the name of the company. I see no reason to discuss my personal account with Chase bank with anyone other than Chase. I informed her that I hadn't read the letter because I don't read junk mail. I tried to get the phone and address of the company, and she cut me off several times.
She kept trying to talk over me and was very snotty (granted, so was I). She kept talking about something called a "mini-miranda" indicating that she was writing a letter to Chase and sending my account back there because I was uncooperative, and that I was now in big trouble. She didn't directly say that, it was implied in her nasty loud voice as she rattled off a lot of legal jargon at me.
Since I was not sure what 'mini-miranda' was, I looked it up on the internet. Its Section 807(11) of the FDCPA. It requires that a debt collector state in their first conversation with you and in writing (which must be sent out within five days of acquiring the account if I remember correctly) the following: "This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for this purpose."
Neither Sarah or Douglas made such a statement to me in their phonecalls, and as yet, I've seen no letter from them. She stated that, by law, they cannot put their company name on an envelope "to protect their privacy and the privacy of the individual." Whether or not this is true, I have no idea, but I kinda doubt it.
She also would not tell me when I directly asked her if her company had purchased the account from Chase, like Douglas, talking around the question and taking on a threatening attitude. After she spouted all her legalese, I attempted to get her address and phone a second time and she hung up on me.
End of story. Just note that they are very deceptive, and they are definitely a debt collector and subject to FDCPA rules. If I were to call Chase, they'd say "who?"
Jean
Franklin, Wisconsin
U.S.A.