In July of this year I received a letter from the law firm of Daniels & Norelli, P.C. Stating they would like me to contact them regarding a Providian charge card. I already am paying on a Providian charge card with another law office, so I was confused—I thought Daniels & Norelli meant the same one I was already paying on. When I asked them in a letter, the attorney Jim Scully provided a credit card number that was different from the one I actually had. When I called Providian, they had neither the credit card number nor my social security number on their computer system, so they could not verify that the debt was mine. I never had two Providian cards. Please note previous history:
The last time I was contacted about this was by a "law firm" calling themselves Golden, Wexler and Sarnese. They locked up my bank account, claimed they had a "default" judgment against me for which I never received a summons, and as a result I could not get any funds out of the bank. When I called and asked them what this was about, they claimed I owed this Providian credit card that I never had. I attempted to explain to them that the number differed from the card I physically had on my possession and that I did not have two Providian cards, but they began verbally abusing me, threatening me by stating they would "chase me until I died, " and then because they would not send verification and were threatening me, I was scared enough to offer to pay them on a payment arrangement just to get them off my back. They would not agree with a payment arrangement of 100.00 a month, nor would they send me anything in writing, and proceeded to garnish my paycheck for 6.00 a week (?!). I quit the job three months later to attend college in another country, forwarded my address and did not hear anything more from anyone, until this July, when Daniels and Norelli have been trying to get me to pay for the Providian card I never had. They also refuse to send me any written documentation that would legitimize the attempt to collect, and have inferred to me that they sent a verification letter to me, so have lost the 90 day FDCPA and FCRA rights that would be afforded to me. I never got the letter—so Mr. Scully is saying I have no rights and I have to pay the judgment.
I requested an investigation from all three credit reporting agencies:
1. Transunion has deleted the judgment.
2. Equifax verified the judgment.
3. Experian has deleted the judgment.
So now I'm really confused. Two say they can't verify the debt or the judgment and one says they can. The card number Daniels & Norelli are trying to collect on appeared NOWHERE on my credit report as an open item—before the investigation or after—only the judgment sits on my report. The name on the judgment and the company Daniels & Norelli seem to be representing is Colorado Capital Investments, another company that is listed on various consumer advocacy websites as unethical debt collection practitioners who have been cited for re-aging items on consumers' credit reports in order to take them out of out of statute status in order to be able to collect on them "legally."
Both these companies have unsavoury reputations. I have filed a complaint with the New York Attorney General's office as of a month ago and have received no reply. I have prepared a letter to send to the Attorney Grievance Committee of the New York Bar Association in the hopes I will receive some kind of evidence that will shed some light as to why Colorado Capital Investments would chase me, stalk me through my bank accounts, all for an amount that is under 4,000.00.
Although Jim Scully at Daniels & Norelli voluntarily suspended collection on this account (but has of yet forwarded no paperwork detailing that this debt is legitimate), I am unsure what to do next. I am afraid, although they have not threatened to do so yet, if I don't try to pay it just to get them off my back Daniels & Norelli also will try to garnish my paycheck. I can't use the bank because I'm afraid they're going to try to lock it up like Golden, Wexler and Sarnese did. I feel very violated, and feel that I have had absolutely no recall or no rights whatsoever during this FOUR YEAR process that keeps going nowhere. Daniels & Norelli keep popping up on various consumer advocacy websites (like Bud Hibbs) for being a "rip-off" agency, whose owners are real estate attorneys, and who have absolutely no debt collection law or FDCPA law experience, so I am afraid that I'm going to get taken to the cleaners by this "law firm." Efforts to contact the owners George Norelli and Fred Daniels have been unsuccessful—George merely forwarded my mail to James Scully—who was only recently inducted to the New York State Bar Association. I have no idea what he got his law degree in, but clearly, since he is not pressing this issue, I suspect he also has no collections law experience which is why he isn't in a big hurry to resolve this with me.
Can someone please help me? I have contacted two lawyers from the NACA who decided when they found out I had no money, that they couldn't help me—Providian has no cardholder agreement because they destroy them after 5-7 years, so I can't prove it isn't mine, but they (Daniels & Norelli) can't seem to prove it is either. I just KNOW what is going on here is very wrong and I do not understand why I cannot get a lawyer to help me understand what's going on and what I ought to do. I am not in the habit of creating debt.
Thank you.
Diane
New Carlisle, Ohio
U.S.A.
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