topic Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter in Rebuilding Your Credit

ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

bicknar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:59:21 GMT

Greetings everyone,

Has anyone heard of or dealt with ARA Inc. I received a collection letter from them. Second one. First one I searched for the company, and the only thing I could find were fraud comments from people. Right now I'm thinking it's a phishing scam.

Anyway, the letter references a Discover account with a ballance of 1700.00 I haven't had a Discover card in over 20 years. Back then I Probably had lates, settled and closed. However the first deliquency would have been over 20 years ago if this was even mine.

The test of the letter starts.... As agreed your payment of $50.00 is due on or before February 2, 2010. You gotta be kidding me, I've never talked to or ever been in contact with these people and certainly wouldn't agree to anything except that they should validate this first.

Any thoughts? I'm still thinking of ignoring them, or should I DV?

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Jazzzy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:44:46 GMT

I would DV them rather than put up with the aggravation.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

bicknar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:03:52 GMT

Thanks Lynette,

It's a thought. Right now there is nothing posted on my CRs about this. I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to validate. Even if it's legit it would be way out of SOL. It's over 20 years old so I don't know I could dispute or even remember the debt. I wouldn't want to give them ammunition.

I'm more concerned that it's a flakey organization. I guess my question is, what benefit would DV provide me in this case. Right now it's not an aggravation as it's just junk mail. No calls or inconvenience .... yet.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:04:12 GMT

I am dealing with a shady CA like that who calls me. they do not have my addy, or personal info, they jsut have my phone number. And they refuse to speak when I answer.

Something I have read about them is that when they do finally speak they ask you to verify yourself, including giving them your social security number. DON'T!!! If they don't have any info on you then they are a scam. And this sounds like they are either trying to collect junk debt, or they are phishing. I would ignore it since you know you do not actually own a debt. Why verify that they have the correct address if you know its not your account and its not on your report?

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:17:04 GMT

Some complaint here. I held a Discover card in the early nineties. I started receiving collection letters @ 2004. I'm pretty sure that I paid off the debt with a tax check in the mid nineties. Is there any chance that a CA and sue me for the @$10,000 they is now owed? Isn't there a statue of limitations on these kinds of things? Any advice out there?

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:47:13 GMT

If the debt is over 20 years old it cannot be added to your CR and is more than likely way beyond your states SOL.

That does not mean the can't sue you, though in some states it is illegal to bring a suit for a debt that is out of SOL.

If they did try to sue you, you would show up in court and claim expired SOL as your defense.

SOL is the time frame they have to sue you but, they can attempt to try to collect forever.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:49:06 GMT

These people are trying to collect an 11 year old debt. I guess they think we are too stupid to know about the Statute of Limitations.

I thought this was someone else because the original bank was bought by someone I h nev er had an account with. To my horror I found out they have my SS number, but I can't change that.

I have written and here is the address to the company [Edited]. I am also compaling to the regulatory agency in the state and writing a letter to their local newspaper. These people have to be stopped.

[Personal Information Removed]

Hi Writer60! This post was edited to remove personal information, which is prohibited in the terms of service. ~LilMirth, myFICO Moderator

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

RobertEG — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:31:05 GMT

If the SOL has expired and more than 7 1/2 years has expired from the DOFD on the OC account,then I would just send them a cease communication letter under FDCPA 605(c), and forget them. You would have an absolute, affirmative legal defense, and it cannot appear in your CR.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:50:25 GMT

I too received a collection letter from ARA Inc. in regards to a car loan that is 13 years old. I was the co owner and my grandmother (who has been deceased for 13 years) was the primary owner. I did some research before contacted them and only found rip off scam websites about the company. I called on a Saturday and left a message. I received a phone call this morning from a rep who did not sound to sure of what he was saying. He informed of a balance of over $7,000.00 and another $7000.00 in interest. Yeah right. When I started to ask him questions in regards to the validity of the account he started stumbling over his words. He concurred that the debt was from May of 98 but that his office purchased it from CAC in 2010 (could not give a date). I informed him that the SOL is expired and that I have never seen this account on my credit report. He accused me of being aggressive and hung up on me. I'm sending a letter to the p.o. box that is listed on the letter demanding no further contact from this company. I'm also posting a comment on the rip off scam website and contacted the BBB.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:17:08 GMT

There is an agency in every state that overseas collection agencies. I have filed a complaint against this company. Call the governor's office and they will refer you on. You can fill out a form online, but then they send paperwork for you to fill out. We need to put up the heat on these scumbags.

Laura

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:01:18 GMT

I just received a letter from ARA Inc claiming that I owe a creditor from almost 12 years ago...I am pretty sure I paid that debt off, but do not have any record prove it. Any suggestions how I can dispute this? Is this even in the SOL?

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

bicknar — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:45:36 GMT

Hello,

Thanks to everyone's input I followed up on mine and haven't seen or heard a thing since. No marks on the credit report or nothin. Anywho, I would recommend filing any correspondance that they send and not respond. If you can verify independantly that you did in fact pay this debt off then even better in case they get beligerant as they did with me. However yes, Mine was SOL as well and as I was able to verify that I made no payments within any SOL terms I was confident that they were blowing smoke. I was in the same situation, I though I paid that off but it was so long ago I didn't have records or memories.

Let them spin their wheels. You will be amazed at how many violations this company will rack up. My advice is to have fun and don't let them get to you. Not worth worrying or getting upset about. It is quite amusing when you can watch them try to collect on something they know they can not.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:08:29 GMT

I have received collection letters & calls from ARA Inc. I had an account w/Citi Bank over 7 yrs. ago but never paid off. After contacting Citi, I was told There was no balance nor any information on me. I must assume they wrote the acct. off. ACA claims they bught the acct. from City but City told me they do not do that. This must be a scam.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

bicknar — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:32:21 GMT

wow. Haven't been here in ages. But yeah. I sent them a foad letter and never heard back. Good luck.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

maxwell11 — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:36:13 GMT

Received a call from ARA, Inc on May 8 from a Ms. Stone saying that I had a citibank credit card and owed $9,000. When asked when was this from she said 2002. I said I owed nothing and this is way past the SOL. She yelled forget about the SOL and she was going to call my employer. The next day I got an e-mail from myfico.com saying that there was in inquiry from ARA on my credit report. How can they possibly have the access to my credit report? How do I get that inquiry off my report? Can this company do any more harm to me? Should I notify the credit bureaus, ftc and attorney general's office. Their company is located in Illinois. They also have many different names and locations - ARA, Inc., Asset Recovery Assoc. and Financial Credit Services. Apparently they keep changing their names. Do I notify the Illinois Attorney General or the Attorney General of New York, where I live?

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:33:07 GMT

They can attempt to collect on the debt forever. However, the still have to follow the FDCPA.

I would file a formal complaint with the FTC.

You can also send the company a cease and desist letter.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:52:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have received collection letters & calls from ARA Inc. I had an account w/Citi Bank over 7 yrs. ago but never paid off. After contacting Citi, I was told There was no balance nor any information on me. I must assume they wrote the acct. off. ACA claims they bught the acct. from City but City told me they do not do that. This must be a scam.

Chances are pretty high that ARA bought the debt. While there is a good chance they can't collect the debt based on your states statue of limitations, there are at least 6 states that the SOL currently does not apply to, so if you're in one of the states, they can still collect on you.

Also, you say Citi has no information on you at all, so how could the rep know if they sold the debt to ARA? I suspect Citi sold the debt to another "higher class" JDB, then was eventually sold to ARA.

As I said, if you're in one of those 6 states that the SOL does not currently apply to, don't brush it off as a scam. They could possibly take you to court and you're going to have to pay up.

Re: ARA Inc. Received Collection letter

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 22:39:46 GMT

This could be a scam. I listen to a radio show where this exact thing came up. The caller said they had an account closed years ago that was charged off and then she started receiving phone calls regarding the account and told to begin sending money. If you had a discover card 20 years ago you need to call them and make sure the account is really closed and not transferred to anyone else. You would need to find out if there was debt and it was sold but after all these years it is highly unlikely.