Most of us have had to deal with a case of the "shorts" and have probably even gotten more than a few phone calls from a credit card company or debt collection agency.  But the following is a real horror story.

 

Debt collector's phone threat: 'You're not going to have nothing'

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Sheryl Harris

Plain Dealer Columnist

 

ONLINE: Hear the recording that shocked Sheryl Harris at cleveland.com/weekenddiary.

 

""""""""""""

 

They threatened to haul her into court.

 

That's what a debt collector said when she got Elaine Estes on the phone: "There's pending litigation being filed against you. . . . Apparently right now they're coming to serve you some papers and you'll have to go to court."

 

Well, it wasn't true.

 

More column at:

http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/business/1156582010303530.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

 

This story made me angry, lol.

 

A few years ago, I got a letter in the mail from a collections agency because I subscribed to a magazine, and when it came up for renewal, I didn't resubscribe, but they kept sending the magazine and then I got this collections letter, and I was PISSED. I believe this is illegal in Ohio, and when I saw this story, I wished I had thrown this in Conde Nast's face at the time.

The best thing that can happen to an educated debtor is for a company to violate the FDCPA like this...it's a get-out-of-debt-free card, with normally a $1200 + attorney fees kicker thrown in.  They can't threaten to take action they don't intend to take; they can't lie; they can't reveal information to a third party - all of those are violations of federal law.  If this happens to you, document it, record conversations, retain all your correspondence, then get an attorney and cash in.

 

And, by the way, they can't take what you don't have.  The only way I know of that you can go to jail over a debt is if a judgement is rendered against you, and you fail to appear at a court-ordered Judgement Debtor Exam.

 

All a debitor have to do is force you into bankruptcy, how ever they know they will not get thier money if they do something like that. They could get a judgement and garnish your wages. 

 

All of those things would happen before anyone goes to jail..lol

If the statements described in this article are true, then this NES company has committed blatant violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  The debtors would be entitled to at least $1,000 damages plus their attorneys fees.