Q: What happens if you don’t file bankruptcy but still have credit card debt or loans at the bank? A: You owe them. Q: A collection agency sent my debt to a lawyer with a court date do I have to acknowledge it? A: No, but you will then lose by default. Q: Do I …
Sometimes I get reader questions that don’t have enough information for a big answer. So here are some rapid-fire questions and answers. Q: Can a collection agency take money out of an account that is not the debtors? A: If the debtor is not a signer on the account and the account is in the …
Question: Dear Steve, I graduated from a university in 2012 and wasn’t able to receive my degree until I paid my debt I owe to the college. I recently contacted the credit and collection department of the college to see if I can be put on a repayment schedule. I was told by the representative …
An Account From a Real-Life Collector I arrive at work with a long list of people to call, knowing that if all goes well, I may call 125 people today. Today, I’ll hear stories of businesses gone sour, failed marriages and terrible illnesses. I’ll hear outright lies: “The check’s in the mail,” or “The stamp …
The last defendant in the MTA debt collection scheme has pleaded guilty. Paul Anthony Vasquez pleaded guilty on January 17, 2012 to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering. Vasquez also agreed to pay full restitution and forfeit assets seized by federal agents, including over $950,000 in cash and a 1.5 carat …
Defendants in a payday lending case have been ordered to pay more than $294,000 for illegal garnishment of consumers’ paychecks. A federal court has ordered, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one of the individuals behind a payday lending scheme and two companies he controlled to pay $294,536 for illegally trying to …
“Dear Steve, 19 year old student, no credit history. in late April, early May I attempted to sell a macbook computer on ebay, which I was in possession of, it sold, however I didn’t realize the time period to ship, I was in the midst of taking my first finals of my 1st year. The …
When you are in debt, sometimes you may feel that you are a “sitting duck” waiting for the debt collector to call. What you may not realize, however, is that there are laws which protect debtors from collection practices that you may find troublesome or harassing. The federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (hereafter referred …
Arvin “Dear Steve, I opened an account with HSBC in 2004 for $1,600. I have been making my monthly payments even more than the minimum monthly payment required. However, due to my current financial hardship, I was not able to pay monthly. The interest rate is 23.80% and penalties kept adding to my account in …
For decades, credit-card companies and other firms would eventually give up after attempting to collect from deadbeat customers. Now, companies are packaging and selling many of those overdue accounts for pennies on the dollar to debt collectors. The collectors then aggressively pursue the debtors to repay, or they turn around and resell those same debts …