Small claims question for Moderators

[corkyduckfan]

         This is difficult one.  I don't really know where to start.  I think I want to file a small claims suit against Dell Financial Services.  I paid them off through CareOne.  When I started, the balance was $268.  Dell accepted $15 payments for many months.  Dell could have asked for more money then $15, but never did.  Upon reading the FCRA and the FDCPA, Dell accepted the conditions by cashing CareOne's checks.  After paying Dell off, I checked my report like a year or so later and much to my suprise it showed severely late and a balance of $369.  I did, of course dispute this with Dell, the CRA's, BBB, attorney general, FTC, etc, etc, etc,.  Dell stands by their breaking of the laws to protect consumers such as myself.  Here is what Dell Financial Services did in a nutshell.  They accepted my $15 payments through CareOne and cashed all of those checks every month.  On top of that, Dell then tacked on a $25 fee every month because I was not making a high enough payment in relation to my principal balance according to Dell.  When I talked to CareOne, they said Dell gave them no problems when they suggested the low payments.  They said that Dell did not try to haggle at all.  Well, upon HUNDREDS of hours of research, Dell accepted the payments each and every time that they cashed the checks and it was and is not legal to tack on a 25 fee of any kind when you yourself were the one to negotiate the payment. 

      I had a couple consultations with a lawyer and they feel like a have a good case.  Unfortunately, they now want a $500 retainer fee to take Dell to task.  That doesn't really make sense because it is only showing a $369 balance to begin with.  On this site and many other sites, I have read that at this point, a consumer should take the corporation to task and file a small claims suit and the big company will not even show up.  That is great, but my understanding is that I cannot sue Dell in the state of WA because they are out of state.  Dell Financial Services is located in Austin, TX.  I am very frustrated and confused about what I can do at this point.  It will tear me apart to let these scumbags get away with this.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

[corkyduckfan]

Come on ladies and gentlemen.  Are you serious?  Nobody has any advice or help for this.  Geez, I am kind of suprised.

[Anonymous]

What is CareOne?  Some sort of consumer credit counseling?

Do you have anything in writing that says that Dell agreed to the payment structure?  Sounds like Dell is an OC for you.  Do you have your original contract that shows penalities, etc.?  I think your original agreement will give you a good starting point . . .

Why did you think you had paid Dell off?  Do you have something that shows the balance going down?

The better dispute may be with Care One if they represented something to you that was not true--like the fact that you had paid something off when you did not . . .

Good luck!

[corkyduckfan]

Yes, CareOne is a debt management company that actually is pretty reputable.  They have been around awhile and are in good standing with the BBB.  CareOne calls all of the creditors on my behalf and the creditors either accept or deny CareOne's offer.  I had like 9 different creditors in this program and I had absolutely no problem with any other company other than Dell Financial.  What CareOne had me do was gather all of my most recent invoices/bill from all of my bad debts and give them the balance.  CareOne then turns around and calls the original creditors and tries to get all of the companies to settle for between 6-8% instead of the 20-24% I was paying.  CareOne pulled a certain amount of money out of my checking each month and then dispursed checks(which I have proof of) to all of these creditors.  Allow me to say that this program worked awesome and CareOne was very professional.  Dell was and is the problem.  CareOne can't help that Dell broke the law.  Here is where Dell Financial Services broke the FDCPA and the FCRA.  They did not have to accept the $15 a month.  They could have asked for more and would have got it.  But by cashing all of the checks that CareOne sent, Dell was agreeing to the verbal contract between themselves and CareOne.  At least according to the laws that I have read, it was up to Dell to arrange a payment that suited their alleged contracts principal balance.  They were accepting $15 yet charging me a bullcrap $25 fee for not meeting enough of the principal balance.  That is tacitly illegal and slimy.  Trust me, it is not a coincidence that I had no problems with the other 8 companies, but did have a problem with Dell.  Does anyone know a good lawyer for consumers?  Can I take Dell Financial Services to small claims or not?  It isn't clear at this point to me.