Reader mail: American Agencies won’t quit collecting and reporting 9-year-old disputed debt
Hi Christine,
I just read some of your thread on a fraud forum. I’ve been contacted by American Agencies and told that I owe a phone bill for a number that was never mine, at an address in LA where I never lived, and at a time (2000) when I wasn’t even living in the country!
Despite this, and despite the fact that the statute of limitations runs out after 7 years, they still tell me it’s a valid debt and that I must prove it wasn’t me! It appears the same thing happened to you. I’m wondering what you would advise me to do in the face of their false claims? (They say they continue to report it on my credit report...and will do so until they’ve been paid).
Thank you SO much.
Sincerely,
...
It’s unbelievable how collectors IGNORE the law.
Dispute with the credit bureaus who report the account:
“Please IMMEDIATELY delete the American Agencies collection. It is NOT my account and even if it was, this debt is from 2000 and should have LONG been deleted from my credit reports.”
And if they are calling you, write to American Agencies:
“This is NOT my account. Please do NOT contact me again and immediately delete this collection from my credit reports.”
Please contact me if they don’t delete.
The FTC claims to have investigated American Agencies back in 2003 or so when I sued them—can everybody tell how effective the FTC is? I now document the FTC corruption at http://credit-reporting-collection-ftc-complaints.info/
I hope that many MILLIONS of (near) judgment-proof people will get a clue, stop paying their unsecured debts and leave this corrupt system to let it die.
Posted by Christine on 07/24/2009 at 01:12 PM
2003 Suit (appealed, Experian filed credit reports on PACER) • American Agencies - scummy collectors • (3) Comments • Permalink
I thought I would share my experience with American Agencies. About 10 years ago I moved around quite a bit and in the shuffle I forgot to pay a Pac Bell bill of $280. About 5 years ago I decided to buy a house so I had to clean up my credit. I paid every outstanding debt on my report - some in lump sum, others on payment plans - I have to say every company was very understanding and very willing to work with me. There was one item on my report titled American Agencies, I didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t get them on the phone - their message simply said call back later and hung up on me. Finally about six months later (after buying the house) I got somebody on the phone and they reminded me of my delinquent phone bill. I remembered the $280 bill and asked them what they would settle for in a lump payment, they told me a cool $700 would cover it! I laughed and told the guy that was pretty outrageous and told him I could swing $350 for their trouble. He told me that sounded good but he would have to talk to his manager first and he put me on hold. I was on hold several minutes when a different guy comes on the line and tells me to go ahead with my credit card number! I ask how much the charge will be and he says $700! I tell him he is crazy and I will call back some other time to see if I can talk to someone more reasonable. He tells me that if I wait longer than 30 days the amount will increase - sure buddy - and I hang up. A few months later I call back to see if they are more reasonable and I bring the person on the line up to speed on my case, which they found, and I was told that now I owed them $1200! Again I thought this was hilarious and I told him how outrageous I thought this was. He told me that this wasn’t a laughing matter and maybe I shouldn’t be a dead-beat and pay my bills (he was getting a little angry). Again I laughed and told him to check and see what the original amount was for if he was wondering why this was a laughing matter. He said, and I quote, “I will - I can bring it up right here and...” he trailed off and I said “Ahhh see what did I tell you”. At this point he lost it and began a tirade yelling at me that I was a dead-beat f**ker and he was going to f**king get me and he was going to refer me to his f**king legal department and that I was now f**ked! He then hung up. I forgot about this entire episode when about six months later I got a package from the superior court of California - a lawsuit from American Agencies! In utter disbelief I typed out and sent my reply as warranted by the court confident in getting a just decision. Two months later I was summoned to our companies payroll department - my wages had been garnished for $2200. This amounted to 40% of my wages out of each check, after taxes for over a month. With extreme luck and with help from my parents I managed to pay my bills and stay afloat. The moral of the story is - if it is American Agencies - don’t call back, don’t write, do nothing, nada, or you are, most certainly, hosed.
I can hardly believe this happened to you—but then again, it’s American Agencies.
If you had only subscribed to my CreditFactors site, you would have known how to get a check from THEM. They violated the law so many times, you probably could have gotten a lawyer on retainer.
Unfortunately, the statute of limitation for their FDCPA violations is only 1 year—so it’s probably too late to do something about it.
While the judgment can be reported for 7 years, I hope they deleted the collection by now.
The new American Agencies blog is at http://liarsandcheats.info/american-agencies-debt-collection-practices/
