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I'm really stuck on what I should do next. For those not familiar with this, in short:
I have an 8 year old judgement with Citifinancial, from a 10 year old debt. After the judgement, they attached a lien on my property.
In the last year I've been getting collection letters from a disreputable CA. I filed a complaint with my state AGs office because the CA isn't licensed in my state. The state sent them a letter at that time ordering them to cease and desist until they get licensed. They have ignored this and still send me letters offering to "settle" this debt. As none of their letters included the 30 day verification notice, as required in the FDPCA, I went ahead and sent them a DV last month. It was a simple one asking them to verify the debt, verify they are legally charged to collect the debt, and verify that they are licensed to collect debts in my state. At the same time I filed a complaint with the FTC for violating the FDCPA rules on dunning letters.
Due to the last statement, I know they cannot verify. As of a few minutes ago, they are still not listed in the State registry of licensed debt collectors.
I might get them to cease and desist however this doesn't solve the orginal problem. I do want to clean this debt up and get the lien removed but I have no clue who I should contact. Should I go back to the OC and see if they can tell me? I really have no plans to deal with this last CA, as they have a reputation of collecting money that isn't owed, collecting on debts they don't own, not applying money they collect to the debts (all of this is outlined in news reports from IL and from the lawsuit filed by the IL AGs office last year in an attempt to shut them down).
Send them an Intent to Sue letter for all of the violations they have/are committing. Maybe that will get their attention.
@guiness56 wrote:Send them an Intent to Sue letter for all of the violations they have/are committing. Maybe that will get their attention.
Apparently the lawsuit from the State of Illinois didn't get their attention, so they probably aren't afraid of me.
I guess the root of the original problem is this: Lets say they don't bother to validate the debt and just stop trying to collect on it. That doesn't make the debt go away. The judgement is still out there and the lien on the property is still there. Somehow I need to find out who I can deal with, legally, to clean this mess up. If they actually purchased the debt, and cannot legally collect it, than I guess the argument could be made that the debt is no longer a problem. I suppose I could look into filing a motion with the court to have the judgement vacated and the lien removed. I don't know if its a situation where if no one contests my motion is has to be granted or not.
I consulted an attorney last month about it and his only suggestion was to just send this CA the money. He supposidly specializes in FDPCA violations in addition to bankrupcy, but I got the impression that as soon as he found out I wasn't interested in bankrupcy, he basically blew me off. I've been trying to find another lawyer to consult, but its not easy in this rural state to find someone who may be familiar with dealing with this type of situation. I should be able to get the lien removed under the State of Maine's homestead exemption laws, which basically say they cannot put a lien on your primary residence if you have less than $45k in equity in the property. I asked the lawyer I consulted about his and he told me that I should have contested the lien when it was first attached. I'll keep searching for a decent lawyer in the mean time.
File complaints with the BBB, FTC and your states AG. Be very specific in details and show documents supporting your claim.
Did they stop trying to collect? Is the judgment still on your CR?