Harassment
Complaint
Debra M. Persiano
Country: United States
I got a call today at home from a man stating he was a process server for Collin County DA's Office and he is with the Sheriff's office and needed to come serve a warrant on me. I was shocked and asked why? He stated do you live ....are you still at this address are you now at this address and I stated who are you? He again, stated he was from the county going to serve court papers on me today. He gave me a toll free number for what he stated was the county's office which is 1 866.872.6116 gave me a case no. which he called a Cause No. 008307-TX. I called the number was transferred to a Mr. Fisher's office who stated that law suite in the amount of $6,214.24 was filed in Collin Co., Tx and that warrant was out for me. He then after back and forth said let me get more information from my secretary and state this was for an outstanding debt in from Capital One a credit card that I obtained several years back and had disputes over interest charges etc. He stated that if I did not want to go to court or jail that I could pay $1,951.00 in full by end of business today and this matter could be cleared up. I explained that I recently lost my job etc. Anyway, he stated that I needed to call him back by EOB today or they will serve the papers. Ok, so that was a heads up for me. I called the DA's office nothing is filed on me as of today, after searching PMG it is clear that they do not practice best practices for collections and have been in trouble for this before back in 2004. I need someone to give me advise. I want to pay off my debt, I don't want this type of collections to continue this upset me, made my blood pressure raise, this type of collections are not the right thing to do. Had they called and ask to make arrangements or give me an opportunity to clear the matter, rather then threaten me by taken legal action, or harassment stating they are sending a sheriff over today. This is wrong, bad business, and should not continue this company is bad news.
Comments
A.r.m
HGG
Before that the last one was for a cc I applied for in 2010. My first call was on fridAy march 11th
HGG is a DBA for PMG, registered with Riverside County about 1 year ago.
Both names are part of the Corona cluster.
It is also improbable that a normal debt collector would have pulled your credit reports, and be not only calling you just 1 day later, but already claiming they had "sued" (remember, the "evidence" is with the "attorney"?), and somehow (by "magic"?) the "account" is in the hands of a local attorney, and the "summons" for the suit is already in the hands of a "process server", calling you to "serve" it.
It's also improbable that they sent you something "in November", yet only pulled your credit reports (twice) now and not back in November, just before calling you. Sounds like just another talk-off. They sure have lots of talk-offs, all ready for anyone who might want proof. That indicates they are expecting to have to use them.
More likely there is no "attorney", no "lawsuit", no "process server", and the call is just to reel you in, and get you to call them. All that work implies they have no "debt", at least none they have any right to collect.
Normal debt collector practice would be to review various accounts as part of a purchased or assigned portfolio, pull credit reports and skip trace to locate, maybe call various numbers to try to find the right person, send the FDCPA "g" letter to stay legal, and probably months later hand off accounts they couldn't collect by phone calls or letters to a local attorney, who takes a cut they would rather not share.
Attorneys cost too much, win or lose, and real debt collectors don't want to give up their profit to an attorney if they don't have to. Once the account is in the hands of a real attorney, and suit filed, they have no incentive to "discount" the debt down to a fraction of its alleged amount, as the attorney would still want his cut.
All of the above point to this as fake, a shake-down, using your own credit reports to determine you are vulnerable to this scam, and to determine the particular debt to pretend to collect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvGV2f2-PE8
15 min later
They changed their tone after I said my attorney wants to talk to them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OSTDMoo0WU
2 hours later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq5ljU1h_mU
So I'm sending a VOD demand and see what happens
I asked him 4 times for validation on the first call , He changed his tone from the 1st call that he was Sueing to the 3rd call saying I wasn't
Certified validation of debt letter should be fine, as it establishes that you are disputing the debt in accordance with FDCPA, and that per FDCPA since you have sent this within 30 days of their first contact (you never have received any letter) they should cease collection until they send you proof. Don't expect this result, however, based on other complaints, but might as well set them up.
" I waive all litigation and would like it to be sent to arbitrAtion and that I dispute all debt. I was told to do this by a relative was this a good or bad idea"
That is both premature, and probably legally irrelevant. Either your HSBC contract allows for arbitration, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then your statement is irrelevant, as you have no way to force them to agree. If it does, no point in choosing arbitration over court before you even know you have been sued, and if you have been sued, just sending them a letter regarding arbitration may not be sufficient to move this case from court to arbitration, if there even is a lawsuit. Not even clear who would arbitrate, since NAF may be out of that business due the MN AG's lawsuit, and many credit card contracts specified NAF. Result might be that arbitration clause might be void. All that is a question for an attorney.
Not clear the "waive all litigation" is even binding; that's also a question for an attorney, but the problem is it marks you as naive, and just the sucker they are looking for. Remember, everything points to this as a scam, including numerous practices violating FDCPA, including abusive and deceptive collection.
With a scam, you are dealing with sociopathic con artists, not law abiding debt collectors. They really don't care what they say to get your money. What they say, and what you say is completely irrelevant, just banter to get your money. Whatever demand or proof you have, they will just counter it by making up more BS. This is not a debate, nor is it some argument you win by logic, proof, or anything else. They will keep doing it until either you give up and pay them, you tell them to F*** off, or you sue them.
Even though the "debt" is probably not owed to these crooks, you can now expect even more abusive and threatening calls, maybe focussed on the "lawsuit", or maybe weaving in this "arbitration" into the story, but more likely claiming "criminal fraud" or similar accusations. Remember, for every argument you have, they had a prepared counter, and they have done this thousands of times more than you have.
You just painted a target on yourself, and spread chum to attract the sharks. Either you like that sort of thing, or you better learn how to turn what is likely to come to your advantage, as they are likely to violate every debt collection law under the sun as they play you for a sucker and a rube. Expect the amount of this "debt" to rise as well, as they figure they can con you for more.
Also, keep in mind that even if the "debt" itself were to be adjudicated through arbitration in accordance with a credit card agreement, that need not apply to a countersuit for violations of FDCPA. Although they will probably try to throw this "waive all litigation" back at you, FDCPA specifically gives the consumer various rights, including the right to sue for violations "in any court of competent jurisdiction", and therefore even voluntary "waivers" would probably not be binding, particularly in connection with deceptive and abusive collection.
You are living in the House of Games, playing poker with an adversary that gets to bluff with no consequences, has lots of practice doing so, and you have just told them they are free to do so any way they want. You have given drugs to a drug addict (and maybe literally).
Your best play in this evolving "game" is to get an attorney, NOW, to represent you, and to deal with the additional likely FDCPA violations by suing them. You aren't looking for an attorney to "negotiate" over this "debt" for which so far they have presented no evidence of any legitimate right to collect. You are looking for an attorney that likes to sue debt collectors that lie, cheat, defraud, and steal, on contingency.
You might look for attorneys in your state with experience in FDCPA litigation through www.naca.net
Or based on the nature of the activity out of Corona, you might contact Pete Barry, at Barry and Slade, who teached an FDCPA bootcamp for other consumer attorneys across the country, to see if he can recommend an attorney in your state.
http://www.lawpoint.com/
You could never play this way with your buddies that you play with every week. You would get wiped out.
That is why on all the consumer forums (here, 800notes, whocallsme, etc.) you find their shill posts attempting to counter the real consumer complaints reporting illegal and deceptive collection attempts, including reports of attempting to collect on unowed "debts", and their standard pattern of "process server" call, often to relatives, referring back to the Corona location.
A similar pattern has shown up in connection with several other phony "debt collectors" around the country, caught running fraudulent collection rackets, including the Boyland operations out of Buffalo that were reported on Dateline and shut down by the NY AG.
All of those are violations of FDCPA.
There is a legal saying, "You can't unring a bell." Once they violated, backing away does not undo the violation. They violate, you can sue, regardless of what they do later.
Better yet here are some numbers I have of them:
866-872-5070
866-872-8399
877-798-9712
Block them Sons of b*&*(!
Have you read the previous post. you need to call the corona police dept.
They are looking for victims of the corona debt scam.
THIS IS ALL FRAUD.
DO NOT GIVE THEM A PENNY.
IF THEY CALL AGAIN RECORD IT.
"they also said it has been sold 5 times before this but i never once got a call from those companys"
And yet your bank never contacted you in all those 5 years, even though they had no problem finding you the first time, when you DID settle with them.
They can make up and claim anything they want on the phone, as long as you have no way to check it out. They are sure trying to fill in "details" to sound "legitimate". Note their choice of details: "sold 5 times" trying to imply you have no chance to unwind this "error" so you have to pay them even though you settled with your bank. Simplest explanation is they are lying.
"if this is legit how can they sue me for what ive already paid off back in 06. "
If they could actually sue, why make all the illegal threats, rather than just suing you? No attorney would risk such illegal threats, for fear of being sued or disbarred. Maybe they can't sue, so all they can do is threaten. (In many states, a debt last paid in 2006 is past the statute of limitations.)
"called my mother threating "
Amazing how often they are reported to call relatives first, even though FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from disclosing debt details to third parties. They couldn't be that bad at skip-tracing unless they worked at it. But if their goal is to panic you into paying without demanding proof you owe anything, threatening your mother is a great way to do it.
Indications from other complaints are that they are just liars, cheats, and con artists pulling consumer credit reports to find old accounts to make up fake "debts", then pretending they have the right to collect or have sued you.
Contact the FTC to file a fraud complaint, and since they are located in Corona CA, contact the Riverside office of the FBI. Also contact the Corona Police Department, to see what they say. Please report back any information you receive from the FTC, the FBI, or the Police.