PLEASE HELP! Will making arrangements with Original Creditor help my situation??

[mcalabrese79]

This is a loy of info but I promise to keep it as short as possible.

My mother passed away 3 years ago. My 2 younger siblings (one is still under age) received life insurance payouts. MY brother told me that he went to the funeral home and paid the funeral balance off. Well now I'm finding out (RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF CLOSING ON MY HOUSE) that he lied to me and did not do that. The funeral home NEVER contacted me to tell me the balance was outstanding and then just turned it into collections. I still had not heard about it until my finance officer pulled my credit and saw it on there. Now my debt to ratio is through the roof and I can no longer close on the house I JUST HAD BUILT. Needless to say, I'm devestated.

So I called the funeral home last Friday and spoke with the office manager. She was NO help at all. I became aggitated because she said... and I quote... 'your not on the contract and we've been sending the letters to a man'. I asked if there was someone else that could talk to me and she said she would have the funeral home director call me. He never called so on Tuesday, I called again and he answered. We talked about the situation and he seemed a little appalled that his office never called me prior to turning it over. If I would have known that the balance was still there, I would have made some sort of arrangement. He said he never meant to hurt anyone. I requested a copy of the contract and he emailed it to me. I AM ON THE CONTRACT so I have no idea why I was never contacted. He doesnt either. 

He called the collection agency and they said he cant pull the file back because its "Past phase 2" (whatever that means). He called me and said he didnt know how to help me. I told him that I planned on disputing it becasue of SEVERAL inaccuracies and asked if he would work with me directly if I did and he emailed me back and said "I would be more than happy to work with you". 

Here's my questions:

1, If he is working it out with me and I dispute it, does the collection agency HAVE to remove it from my credit since there is an agreement made??

2, The contract never listed a due date on it. Since there is no due date can they still place it?

3, Does anyone know what kind of attorney I should talk to if this gets hairy??

Thanks so much for your input. I'm at witts end and so upset about not being able to close on my house. I only have  3 weeks to get this cleared up.

[Teardrop]

I am extremely sorry that this has happened to you.

Have you tried a Debt Validation (DV) letter to the collection agency?  They have to prove that this is your debt.  Also I would try disputing it with all the CRAs saying the debt isn't yours.  Some of the CRAs may respond very quickly. 

Also you may want to dispute with CFPB submitting the contract the funeral home gave you as supporting evidence that you are not on the contract.

Question how would they have gotten you Personal information to even be able to put this on your credit file.

Good luck

[mcalabrese79]

I have NOOOOO idea how they received my personal info. Its actually a question that I asked but has not been answered. When I asked for the contract, the only thing it had was my name and address. It doesnt have any other personal info. The entire thing is bizarre and disturbing. 

I sent off dispute letters today along with a copy of the contract and its discrepancies. I asked for it to be removed since there was never a due date that was agreed upon and that no one called me to inform me that they had decided that it was due. There are 2 more life insurance policies that have not paid out yet (belonging to my younger sister) however if they would have told me that my brother never satisfied this, I would have made sure it was handled. 

The funeral home director is really a nice man. He said he would do whatever it took to help me get it resolved but I fear that the collection agency will cause a huge problem for me since they are telling him that he cant take the file back. I'm hoping that since the Original Creditor (the funeral home) has worked out an arrangement with me, that the Collection Agency will have no choice but to remove their entry. 

[Shogun]

The collection agency is working for the funerall company.  Unless the debt was sold, then the funeral home still owns the debt and they can pull it back.  Did you sign the contract?  Or did the contract just have  your name on it.

[mcalabrese79]

The contract was signed but all of the relevent info is blank.