harrasement

[hnmburke]

What is the name of your state? PA

I have a credit card dept from 2001, It is now with a company call Attorney Heckers office in Robbinsville NJ. The address is as follows. 1 AAA dr. Suit 103 Robbinsville Nj 08691. The first time they contacted me I told them that I Could not pay in full and offfered to send them monthly payments that i could afford they stated that that was not exceptable and that I would have to give them posted dated check for the amount they stated. I refused to give them this information and stated that I would talk to my attorney about this. I hung up and with in seconds a guy called me back and started to call me every name he could possible think of.
The next time I received phone call from them I stated that I wanted to record the conversation due to the fact that I was tring to come to some kind of comprimise with payment arangement. They hung up on me.
Today I called them after calling the original holder of the debt. I tried to make some type of arangement and they would not even list or accept anything from me. They state that they are going to sue me for this debt and that He (this came from a lady named Mrs. Scott) he (the attorny) was going to make sure that there was aleast $1500 in legal fees attached to the amount I owe and that He would contact my employer and make sure they knew I was in Debt she also replied he stated that he would make sure this never came off of my Credit report and that If i did not give them a post dated check by the 31 1st i would be sorry (or i had the oppotion of putting it on another credit card.) Help me please as I contacted the attorney generals office to file a complaint and Need to know if I actually have a complaint.

 

[olgethorpe]

Absolutely...

You do indeed have a valid complaint. These folks have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act about 16 different ways. However, since you didn't actually record their calls...its their word against yours at this point, so you really don't have any proof.

So...you've got two choices.

If you're up to talking with them on the phone again, begin every conversations with "I'm recording this"...even if they call you back. And do get a recorder...at some point they'll step over the line on tape, and you can then use the tape as proof in small claims courts.

Second choice is to send them a Debt Validation letter with instructions that you will only discuss this matter in writing and they are to cease calling you. (They may legally call you one more time to tell you what their next step will be).

You can find a lot more info on how to deal with these idiots at

www.creditinfocenter.com

Good Luck...

 

[hnmburke]

Harrassment

Pa
Thanks for your reply as they just called me at my place of employment and stated that they would call once a day every day as the law states they can.
HELP

 

[olgethorpe]

Okay...

If you send them a DV with a Cease & Desist paragraph, they CANNOT continue to call you at work. If they do, you can sue them for violations of the FDCPA....learn your rights! Go to the other site I mentioned....

 

[hnmburke]

harrassement

If you send them a DV with a Cease & Desist paragraph, they CANNOT continue to call you at work. If they do, you can sue them for violations of the FDCPA....learn your rights! Go to the other site I mentioned....

I have gone to that site and tring read up on my rights, however in the mean time they are calling here at work and they are faxing stuff here. I am filling a complaint with attorny generals office. and sending them the letter you stated i should send them true hope this works.

 

[Prpledrms23]

Have you employer get on the phone and tell them calls are not allowed at work, in the meantime, until you can get that c&d letter out. They have been forewarned!!!

 

[olgethorpe]

Be sure..

Be sure to send the letter Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested...it'll cost you about $5, but its your proof you sent it. The sooner you send it the sooner they'll stop calling.

Keep the Fax stuff...assuming the fax machine is out in the open for anyone to see, that's a violation of the FDCPA..."informing 3rd parties of their collection efforts".

Thats the way these CAs make their money...they hassle and intimidate people who don't know their rights into doing things they don't need to do.

Yes, you may have owed the original creditor, but that doesn't give these guys the right to put your health and job in danger. The FDCPA won't get you out of owing money, but it will make these bottom feeder play fair.

And remember, if the OC has charged off the debt, the US Taxpayer has already compensated them for their "loss" and if they sold it to the CA, the CA paid pennies on the dollar for the right to hassle you...you don't owe them nearly as much as the say.

 

[JETX]

Thanks for your reply as they just called me at my place of employment and stated that they would call once a day every day as the law states they can.

And of course, that is also a lie on their part... and subject to possible action.

Next time they contact you advise them that they are to NOT contact you at work again, and that if they do, they are in violation of the following in the FDCPA:
"§ 805. Communication in connection with debt collection [15 USC 1692c]
(a) COMMUNICATION WITH THE CONSUMER GENERALLY. Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt -
(1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o'clock antimeridian and before 9 o'clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer's location;
(2) if the debt collector knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of, or can readily ascertain, such attorney's name and address, unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the debt collector or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or
(3) at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication."

Keep records of their call (time/date/name, if possible) and that you provided them the above notice. If they call again in violation, keep the same records and add it to their long list of violations.

BTW, the full FDCPA can be read online at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm

In addition to the violations of federal laws, it appears that their conduct is also a violation of your state (PA) FDCPA laws.
"The Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law under 73 P.S. § 201-1 et seq., and the Debt Collection Trade Practices under 37 P.S. § 303.1 et. seq., establish prohibitions for certain unlawful and deceptive acts or practices in consumer transactions and debt collection activities for a creditor or debt collector in the State of Pennsylvania. The provisions contained in 37 P.S. § 303.1 et. seq., include communications and contacts with debtors, locator information, mandatory disclosure, disputed debts, and bona fide errors. In all other respect, the State of Pennsylvania generally adopts the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692(o).

The Office of Attorney General and the Bureau of Consumer Protection division of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are the agencies involved in the enforcement activities concerning the consumer protection and debt collection practices laws. The address and telephone number of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Bureau of Consumer Protection 14th Floor, Strawberry Square Harrisburg, PA 17120 Tel: (717) 787-9707 Fax: (717) 787-1190

Finally, I did a search of the NJ licensed attorneys and was unable to find one with the last name 'Heckers'. Are you sure that was his name??
I did find where an attorney, actually a bankruptcy trustee was located in the address you provided, but in suite 101. His name is Michael B. Kaplan... but nothing on suite 103 as you show.

 

[olgethorpe]

Someone snuck in there...

Unless your boss has been in this situation before or is a particularly nice person, be careful of putting them on the phone. The reason CAs do this, is so that the employer will pressure the debtor to do something about it. And, it sounds like this CA might just be nasty enough to give your boss a hard time.

 

[hnmburke]

Harrassement

PA
Thanks for all the information, and as far as the name goes, Here is another complaint on this forum with the same company
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=188823
This I had to find by looking up TJA assocates. and got a phone # that was a toll call to 1609-689-3939 They gave me the toll free # 1-800-884-0860
I will be typing this letter this evening and sending it out on tuesday. I truely can not belive that They actually can do this.
And also how do I find out how much they paid for the account as originally was sold to Arrow Finacial, then to Collins Financial then to This place so how can my original debt be 298, know it is 958.17, ( and they state that Providien has given them this to collect on their behalf?
Oh yeah when the phone calls 1st started I had told them that I wanted to do every thing in writing and that I wanted their address to send them this type of letter and they said the law allows them to call no matter what.
I would really like to see people like this out of buiness ( knowing my luck it is some kind of knee breaking place LOL)

 

[bigun]

Plus, they can't garnish wages for CC debt in Pa. Contacting your employer is pure harrassment.
I'd keep complaing to the AG and send them copies of those faxes.
You might also start looking for a lawyer. www.naca.net is an organization of consumer lawyers that may help.

 

[hnmburke]

Harassement

PA,
They kept to there promise to call once a day every day, As they just call me at work again and the left me a voice mail stating that they are getting ready to put legal actions on me and that I needed to call asap and they would give me Western Union information to settle this matter.
I have sent out the letter to have them stop calling me but My place of employment is getting upset with me because of all of this, What Can I do to help easy the tension with my employers?
Can I actually sue this company for all of this stuff or what?

 

[olgethorpe]

Well..

Once you receive the green card back from the certified letter its proof that they received your "do not call...only communciate in wrting" letter. They may then call you one more time to tell you what they're going to do from there. They should then cease all communication until the validate the debt. Any further calls or letters or derogs on your credit report are indeed grounds for small claims suits under the FDCPA.

 

[bigun]

Overnight that C&D letter.

 

[hnmburke]

harrassment

PA
Thanks for your offer to help I am currently meeting with a lawyer the begining of next week. As far as a phone log I have been letting them leave me voice mails so that I have a recorded documentation that can be accessed from anywhere and listed to.
there was two other people on this fourm that had the same company calling them and giving them greif. I was tring to get in touch with them to see about getting to gether and doing something.
Thanks again