Being threatened to be sued.

[willwar14]

So this really sketchy Law office called “NRA Legal Services” or something like that, is threatening to do a judgement for like $850 on a debt they claim is from 2012 but was really from 2011, my state's SOL is 4 years, so I know it has expired (this is for my mom btw), back in mid 2011 a family member did a bunch of stuff as ID theft and this was a result of that. Should we just pay the debt to avoid anything? It is worth noting, that they called my moms phone #, and my phone # (have family plan) and its a recorded message and with press 1 to speak to someone, and when my mom's like ok I will pay it if you guys can send a bill in the mail, and I will pay it in full, and then they start getting really nasty when we ask for physical proof. They say that they have sent things in the mail but we have no recieved anything in the last 2 years and probally longer (can't remember exactly whos who, there was a lot of stuff that they did). Thanks all for input.

[creditguy]

This just sounds like a scare tactic to get you to pay. There has to be a lawsuit to have a judgement. Has a lawsuit been filed? for this amount of money I highly doubt they will file suit. If they do you simply go to court and present the last payment date and if it's passed the SOL there will be no judgement against your mom. Your mom should never agree to pay anything, just simply state send me a letter and I'll look at it. Also send them a cease and desist letter asking them not to call you or your mom, only do business in writing. And if this is all a result of a family member committing ID theft, than that's something that needs to be dealt with sooner better than later, there is no need to have baddies that aren't yours and paying bills that aren't yours.

[willwar14]

We havn't recieved any paperwork, so I figured it was just a scaring tactic, and they refused to give their address or anything, which is what made me think that. "What she said was "This was a result of ID theft from a family member, if you send me a bill in the mail, ill see about paying it" (She has paid everything to avoid legal action to be taken against the person who stole her ID (family members are hard to do stuff like this).

[creditguy]

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@willwar14 wrote:

We havn't recieved any paperwork, so I figured it was just a scaring tactic, and they refused to give their address or anything, which is what made me think that. "What she said was "This was a result of ID theft from a family member, if you send me a bill in the mail, ill see about paying it" (She has paid everything to avoid legal action to be taken against the person who stole her ID (family members are hard to do stuff like this).

I get that. Just don't let her pay to something you have no idea is legitimate or not, not saying it's not but there's too many scammers and less than honest collectors out there. Either way I wouldn't worry about any legal action and she shouldn't either. sorry she had to deal with this. 

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[Anonymous]

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@willwar14 wrote:

We havn't recieved any paperwork, so I figured it was just a scaring tactic, and they refused to give their address or anything, which is what made me think that. "What she said was "This was a result of ID theft from a family member, if you send me a bill in the mail, ill see about paying it" (She has paid everything to avoid legal action to be taken against the person who stole her ID (family members are hard to do stuff like this).

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What were the specific circumstances of the ID Theft? She does not have to point out a suspect to claim ID theft has occurred. She only needs to point out that debt collectors are pursuing her for something she can legally say she never authorized - as long as she never benefitted from it in any way. Thats ALL she needs to assert in an ID Theft report.

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@willwar14 wrote:

We havn't recieved any paperwork, so I figured it was just a scaring tactic, and they refused to give their address or anything, which is what made me think that. "What she said was "This was a result of ID theft from a family member, if you send me a bill in the mail, ill see about paying it" (She has paid everything to avoid legal action to be taken against the person who stole her ID (family members are hard to do stuff like this).

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What were the specific circumstances of the ID Theft? She does not have to point out a suspect to claim ID theft has occurred. She only needs to point out that debt collectors are pursuing her for something she can legally say she never authorized - as long as she never benefitted from it in any way. Thats ALL she needs to assert in an ID Theft report.

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Agreed.

OP it is also a violation of the FDCPA to make threats to sue without any intention to actually follow thru its considered an abusive tactic.

[RobertEG]

An ID theft report is a report filed with a law enforcement agency that asserts that you did not authorize the account/transaction, and thus any assertion of a debt must be based on someone else having obtained/authroized the account/transaction using your name.

The FCRA accepts an identity theft (police) report because it carries criminal penalties for any knowingly false statements made therein.

Yes, there is no need, when contacting law enforcement, to identify a suspected culprit, but reality is that you are filing a report with the police, who investigate alleged crimes.

You are almost assured to be asked by the polcie officer taking the report for your disclosure of any known facts relevant to your assertion, and thus their investigation.

At that point, it would most likely be considered a knowingly false statement not to identify your family member as the suspect if you are aware of their involvement.

Thus, I would presume going in that if you file a police report, you are likely to be required to identify your family member if you know of their involvement.

[willwar14]

Before I start off this post my dad was also a victim, so if my parents were to go through the whole process of filing poliece reports and all that stuff (it was my sister that did all this, she was 14 at the time, lived with us, so the address and everything match), would any crimnal charges be filed or would anything happen to her? I mean she's now fully realized what she has done, and paid my parents back for almost everything that she did that was ID theft, but its family..

For example: she opened a credit account with gettington/fhut and charged up 2 iPods, and had them shipped to the house, she would go get the mail and everything. She was on a family plan with our phones so when she would call to activate cards and stuff there wouldn't be any problems because it would be in their names. By the time my parents relized what was going on it was too late and they didn't want her to go to jail or "juvie" so they just took all the hits.

[RobertEG]

Once you file a report, it is in the hands of law enforcement to determine the resources they will apply to any investigation, and then if they feel they have sufficient basis, to recomment any prosecution to your state's attorney.

I would venture that even investigation, let alone prosecution, of the acts of a minor sister would not be high on the list of priorities by any police force or district attorney.

It may well simply be relegated to a file folder.