Actually its my wife,
She has received two different calls last two on voice mail from Tim Peterson from Reliant recovery. Yesterdays message was you need to call me Tim Peterson from Reliant Recovery by the end of the day, we are reviewing your employment and assets for possible seizing assets to a legal matter. To avoid this serious consequence please call us by the end of the day.
Today she got another message from Tim Peterson this one said we have completed a review of your assets and employment background and ready to seek a judgment against you, If you would like to handle this voluntary call our office by the end of the day.
I called back this #, he told me that this was from a Capital One Card that was opened in 2000 and was charged off in 2001. The charge off amount was 5k he is demanding 8k. I asked him isnt there Statue of Limitations protecting Consumers, he laughed and said No we have a signed contract SOL there is no SOL when there is a written contract. I told him we have a credit report for every year from 2002 and on it it showed it was charged off in 2001. I then made it clear to him I am getting Legal advice on this, he then got all quite and told me he could settle this with a payment plan of 20 dollars a month for 5 years or a lump sum of 1k. I said I will discuss this with my lawyer and asked for his address. He then hung up the phone on me.
I have seen good post on here and recomendations on what to do, my wife saved those messages. She lived in Iowa when she opened it and has lived in MN seince 2001. I called my parents attorney and left a message but he is out on vacation for 2 weeks.
This debt dose not even show up on her credit report anymore.
5 Comments
This is a collection agency and has nothing to do with Capitol One anymore since they discharged the debt in 2001.
You are absolutely right… they are bluffing and already in big trouble.
Save those messages for your lawyer and when Tim Peterson calls back the first thing you should do is ask for his permission to "record any further conversations"…. and see what he has to say about this.
Then tell him that you saved all of his "messages" and that they are being forwarded to your lawyer for review.
http://credit.about.com/od/statuteoflimitations/g/mnsol.htm
The statute of Limitation on a written contract is 6 years for MN. You might want to remind this guy that "reality" is never more than a mouse click and a google search away.
He was lying to you, of course. He has no access to your wife’s employment records. It takes a court order to force an employer to share any info and they would never even talk to him anyway.
In order to get a judgment he would have to be able to sue you in court over this debt and since it is past the SOL he can’t sue you anymore. (and in my opinion, when that happens, you simply don’t owe it anymore).
For fun and to get ready to really deal with this guy:
Google the "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act" and print it out.
Next time this guy calls… you will be ready to pulverize him. He, as of now, owes you money. There are fines up to $1000 for each occurrence when they step over their limits… and he has done so multiple times. Enough to get a lawyer and make his life miserable.
This debt is most likely outside the statute of limitations, which in that case they would be legally powerless over you. There is a statute of limitations for credit card debt, which is the amount of time that they can successfully take legal action against you for the debt. This time period varies for each state. The SOL in MN is 6 years….5 years for Iowa….If the account was charged-off in 2001 and no recent payments were made, then this debt is time-barred (which accounts for their overly aggressive collection techniques).
Technically, a debt collector can come after you forever for defaulted debt…however, once the statute of limitations is up…they’ve lost the power to successfully take legal action. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you can send them a "cease communications" letter and that will be all that you need to do. Per this law they must cease collection activity.
Send the collection agency a letter via Certified Mail + Return Receipt (NOT regular mail) stating:
Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, cease all communications with me about this alleged debt.
This letter has been mailed via Certified Mail with Return Receipt. Receipt of this letter is being officially time stamped.
==========================
* Do not sign your signature on any document that you mail to a debt collector. It could end up on a forged document that can be used against you. Simply type your full name.
If the debt collector calls back, tell them that you have officially sent a certified letter to them to cease communications with you per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Don’t let them scare/bully you into paying this ancient, time-barred debt with bogus threats of arrest or legal action…they can’t do either…they are powerless over you.
do not talk to them anymore.do not tell them ypour wife lives in a different state. do not acknowledge the debt in any way shape form or fashion. the fact that he started at 8k and then wanted $20.00 payments or 1k lump sum means he knew it was out of statute. go ahead and send copies of his voice mails to the ftc and state ag and sue them
I went through something similar as this. I had a credit card that was charged off back in 8/00. I started getting calls from this collection agency (they had purchased the account) stating that they were going to sue me if I didn’t pay. Well I told them the same thing about Statue of Limitations. Well come to find out they did try to sue me but for some reason the case didn’t even make it to court. I do know something about collectors; they will say whatever just to scare you into paying.
My advice to you is when they call again just tell them do what you have to do; chances are they won’t, they’re hoping to scare you into paying. If you agree to a payment arrangment, that re-starts the date all over again. Do not admit to the debt or give them any information to make their job easier. Most junk debt collectors don’t follow federal guidelines because they think no one will fight them on it.
Oh by the way junk debt collectors are collectors who have purchased old debts that are almost impossible to collect simply because the SOL.
Oh one more thing; the only way they can get access to your assets is if they take you to court and win. then you will have a chance to make payment arrangments through the court; if you fail to comply with those arrangments then they can either garnish your wages / get you assets, but the SOL are in you favor I don’t even think this will make it to court.
Good luck I know stuff like this can be stressful
Do NOT agree to anything he offers you, and, pretty much IGNORE this moron and his company. He was thinking he was dealing with a naive person who did not realize that the statute has run out on them to seek a judgment.
He can go chew rocks. DO NOT agree to squat, and in fact, don’t even call them back. They can do nothing to you or the wife. In fact, the card isn’t even showing on her credit report.. lol