I became involved with this company at the beginning of October. My first contact was a very high strung woman named Nina Brown who asked me if I was aware of the pending lawsuit against me for defrauding Chase bank. I had an unpaid credit account with Chase that was closed at the beginning of the year. The debt is legitimate but this was the first I had heard of a collection attempt on the account by a third party collector. These bottom feeders had obviously brought this bad debt.
She proceeded to tell me that the lawsuit would proceed and they would garnish my wages and seize any assets I have if I did not pay the 5900 dollar balance on the account with her on he phone NOW. I told her that I did want to have this cleared up, but that I would have to make a couple of phone calls to see if I could get that together. She kept screaming at me and telling me that any hang up would result in her marking the account 'refusal to pay'. I kept repeating that I was not refusing to pay, but did need to check the status of a few things financially to see if I could pull the money together. She kept saying 'well we can go ahead and conference call your bank right now so they can give us your information'. She was instant that I conference call my bank and if I couldn't then I did not have the money and she would proceed with the lawsuit. I finally told her that I was not willing to do anything like that and we hung up. I was extremely upset after hanging up with her.
Within moments I received another phone call from another agent with National Enterprise Systems, Al Johnson. (BTW, I think it is very shady that everyone in this company has very common last names: johnson, Brown, Jones and the like). Mr. Johnson was much calmer and quickly told me that I should ignore what the other agent said and I could settle the account for 3600 dollars. I told him I was not sure I had that and I would have to get off the phone and make some calls to see what I was able to do. He told me that it would be fine and to call him back by Friday to let him know what I wanted to do.
I did call him back stating that I was interested in th settlement but would need something in writing first. He said okay and then incessantly called me telling me that he had sent the letter, that should have received it and he needed an answer on what I wanted to do. He badgered me several times about my checking account information saying that they had to have the information to 'hold my file'. I told him I would get back to him. Well, that was not enough because he began to call every hour on he hour. I was ridiculous!
Also, at the beginning of the month he had initially contacted my parents at their house trying to get in touch with me. How he got their number I can only imagine. After this contact, my parents told me they wanted to have nothing to do with it and I told him explicitly not to contact them regarding the matter since I am 26 years old and the responsibility is mine. Here comes the BIG ONE...
After not answering the incessant phone calls for about a week, because I was drafting my debt validation letter to them and had heard NOT to talk to them on the phone, He called my parents again. Mr. Johnson told my parents that I had a debt of 5900 dollars that could be settled right now for 1500 dollars. Mr. Johnson told my mother that I had asked him to call them to take care of the balance, which I NEVER DID!
After speaking with my mother and almost getting her credit card number, my father took the phone to try to see what was going on. They told him that the account could be settled right now for an overnighted payment of 3600 dollars. With that my father tore into him and told him outright that he was breaking the law.
My father later called back and got the company's name and address so that he could file a report with the better business bureau in both my state, Georgia, and Ohio. Magically, the incessant phone calls did not occur for a day. This morning I was contacted by a new agent named Mitch who wanted to help me settle my account. Needless to say, I told him to wait for my letter and that I no longer wanted to be contacted by phone and hung up. Of course, he called right back...
This company has broken the law numerous times and violated almost every section of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (read this if you haven't already). I am at the point where I want to pursue a lawsuit against them and know that I have a great case based on their actions and total disregard for the law. I would be willing to participate in a class action lawsuit against them as well. This kind of behavior can not be tolerated! WE, as consumers, have a right to not be harassed. This company needs to be brought down and I would love to have a hand in their downfall.
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