I have been in the US Navy for 20 years spending the last four years fighting the global war on terrorism and being separated from my wife and son. I sacrificed the last four years away from my family to ensure my wife and son had a roof over their heads and food to eat. I purchased a house which I ended up foreclosing after my return from Afghanistan "One year - Boots on Ground" in April. Six months later, I received orders to deploy back to the Persian Gulf for 7 months in support of both wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Apparently, Home Owners Association (HOA) forward a balance of $1,389.30 to Alternative Recovery Management (ARM). I received no calls nor letter. I found out I had a negative report on my credit history report. My initial call to ARM put me in touch with a person by the name of Josh. Here is my story as it unfolds chronological as I kept notes after each phone conversation.
On August 20 at 8:40 am, I called (630) 232-2545 spoke with Josh and I worked out a monthly payment of $50.00 shortly afterward someone else picked up the phone and stated he was the lawyer for Alternative Recovery and demanding full payment or have my lawyer contact him. I stated I am not afraid of your scare tactics and hung up on him and based on the conversation I had with Josh I set up a recurring payment of $50.00 with my bank.
August 21st or 24th at approximately 10:00 am, I received a call from Josh. He stated he want to work with me. I said sure, as a matter of fact, I had already schedule a payment of $50.00 based on the phone conversation we had. Josh stated did you get that in writing and I stated, "no". Josh apparently after I initiated the call on August 20 to settle he did an inquiry on my credit report. I know this because I was notified by my bank which I set up credit monitoring. Anyways, Josh stated I had good credit and stated he wanted full payment. I said I dont have the money. He cited I have 5K on my credit card with my bank visa card. I replied, I am using that money to settle with Citibank which I owe 44K on my 2nd mortgage. I am happy to say I settled with CitiBank through Strategic Recovery Group, a collection agency who are true professionals when it comes to collecting. Josh continued with another offer of a 6 month payback of approximately $266 per month. I stated that will not work because I am barely making ends meet and I offered again for $50.00 per month with the intent to increase after I pay off my car. Josh stated, if you make the $50.00 payments for the next 2 years the creditors will not be able to sue me after that. I found it interesting he would say that. I believe that is why he is adamant about getting full restitution immediately.
On August 25 at 2:25pm I called ARM at (619) 469-6194 and spoke with Chris. I stated, "I want to speak with the manager because Josh who I worked with for the past couple of phone conversations is unwilling to work with me". Chris put me on hold and Josh picked up the phone. I stated to Josh, "I want to speak with your manager because you were unwilling to work with me". Josh stated he was the final say and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I told Josh I wanted to settle this account and that he was uneducated (not stupid) but uneducated, you are a collection agency and if someone is offering money you should take it. Josh stated he didnt want my money now and he wanted to see me suffer the consequences. I asked to speak to his manager again. He would not give me his name or number. Josh stated that he was curious why the government is calling regarding my account. I replied, "interesting" I dont know why they are calling your office. Josh stated, you are applying for a government job and you need to settle this account. That being said, he was firm about not letting me speak to his supervisor nor wanted to settle with payments. As he stated before, "he want's to see me suffer the consequences". I thought to myself, what an idiot he is...
Alternative Recovery Management really needs Customer Service training. I believe they would recovery more money for their creditors if they only knew how to speak to people.
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