Collection of Non Payment
Complaint
Perez
Country: United States
WE received a call for senior citizen at this residents staing she owes money for a magizine subscription. But she refuzed to talk to me and wanted that subject she call. She wanted a credit card or Bank Car to debit her card, which she does not have. So she told them they only can get Money Orders from here. ( That what she pays for Items ) and they gave her an address P.O. Box 67015, Harrisburg, PA 17106. To send money order to.
Comments
NRA has been reported to collect on old book and record club accounts (Columbia House, BMG, etc.). As you might expect, a lot of those accounts may not only have been originally opened for people with little or no credit and who may have moved frequently, but also might have been opened with little more identification other than a name and addess, since the "membership" marketers run little risk on a single book or CD shipment or two.
There are other consumer reports of NRA attempting to collect such accounts from people who never opened them. From several complaints it appears that they may just attempt to locate anyone with a similar name and send them a bill. They are fishing for suckers they can intimidate as much as for any actual debtor, since they probably bought an account like this for under 50 cents.
Just because they claim your old address was associated with this account does not mean it ever was. The same databases they can use to locate anyone in some area with a similar name can also bring up old addresses of anyone they decide to send a bill to. Since they know it won't pay to actually obtain any proof of who owes a $50 debt (the sale contract with the original creditor may even prohibit it), they have a strong incentive to lie to every consumer they may have billed for this account.
Since they are apparently calling you, but have failed to send to you the notification letter that FDCPA requires they send within 5 days of their first communications, send them a letter, certified return receipt requested, indicating that you dispute the alleged debt they claim you owe, that you have received no letters from them about this debt as required by FDCPA, and that you demand they send you the name and address of the original creditor, and proof you owe it obtained from the original creditor, or cease all collection activity until they do. Include that it is inconvenient for you to receive their calls at any time and any phone number.
If they continue to call after you confirm their receipt of your letter, send a letter (again, certified return receipt requested), notifying them that they have continued to call you without providing any proof of the alleged debt and in violation of your request to cease calling, and that you are demanding that they cease further communications. Add "CC: FTC, PA AG, <your state AG>" at the bottom, send it, and file complaints with all three for their violations of FDCPA.
If you get any contact after that, find an attorney and sue them. It can cost them a lot more than the $50 they were hoping to con you out of.
kp
This sure as heck isn't me or my mother! LOL
As for whether your son now has a credit report, he probably didn't until NRA submitted this fraudulent account. The record clubs probably don't check credit reports, since many of their customers don't have credit.
Why don't you, as his parent and legal guardian, request them from the three credit reporting agencies, and see what is on them. If there is anything there, erroneous address or DOB, or fraudulent accounts, dispute it with credit reporting agency directly, providing a copy of his birth certificate to them.
If you have problems, contact your state Attorney General.
The letter they sent you was required by FDCPA to have notified you of your right to dispute and request proof of the debt. When you called, they overshadowed that legally required notification by deceiving you into believing you did not have the rights that you have under federal law. Through those deceptive statements, they illegally convinced you to pay a debt you did not owe, defrauding you.
They probably also put a negative mark on your credit reports, damaging your credit scores.
You disputed a debt that was not yours. Under FDCPA, you have the right to dispute debts with debt collectors, and the right to request that they send you validation (proof) that you owe it. If you do that within 30 days of the date you receive their first letter, then they are prohibited from any collection activity against you on the debt until they obtain proof from the original creditor and send it to you.
Their claim that there was nothing you could do was FALSE and DECEPTIVE. Under federal and state laws, you could legally dispute and request validation.
Their claim that you would have to contact BMG Music Services AFTER you paid them to dispute it was also FALSE and DECEPTIVE. FDCPA gives the consumer the right to dispute through the DEBT COLLECTOR, who is responsible for contacting the original creditor to obtain proof. In fact, the original creditor has no obligation to respond to your request for information on this alleged "debt", and all that following their "advice" will get you is dollars in their bank account.
They used FALSE and DECEPTIVE statements to get you to pay a debt you did not owe, in direct violation of federal and state laws. They DEFRAUDED you.
Not only are you out a hundred dollars, on a debt you don't owe, but you probably now have damaged credit on top of that.
Contact your state Attorney General to file a complaint for violating FDCPA and state law, and for defrauding you through illegal deception. Also contact the Pennsylvania Attorney General, and FTC to file similar complaints.
This is key, as it clarifies (and documents through BBB) the line between attempted and actual fraud: Demand that they return your money, since they obtained it through deception and fraud, and through violations of federal debt collection law.
They are a BBB member, and must respond to BBB complaints to remain in good standing. They also can't claim they never heard of you, since you can document the payment.
They will probably lie, claiming you "admitted it was your debt", claiming they "recorded the call" (which you should then ask for, since they will likely "lose" as it would document deception and violation of law), or whatever.
(Note that such claims to others (BBB) that you "admitted the debt", may be an additional FDCPA violation, as FDCPA requires that if you dispute the debt, the debt collector must notify anyone they disclose the debt to that you disputed it.)
You include their (likely) refusal to return your fraudulently taken money as part of your Attorney General complaint, as it makes the damages caused by their fraudulent acts real and material, and not just FDCPA violations for "deception".
Check your credit reports, since you are pushing for both return of your money, and removal of any collection account you don't owe.
I sent a letter asking for validation of this debt, but as yet have not received anything from them. I also demanded they remove the mark on my credit. The next step is to report them to the FTC.
If they verified the reporting as accurate, find an attorney and sue them. Their attempt to collect a bogus sub-$50 debt could cost them much more.
Also contact your state Attorney General, as they are often more responsive than FTC is.
http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=NRA+Group