Where do I begin?
My story goes like this:
Back in March I had my first child & didn't get back to work for eight months (November) after she was born so I fell behind on my credit cards. One of which was for Citibank/AT&T Universal.
This was my highest limit credit card that I'd fell behind by 5 or 6 months. Well, it was sold to Unifund CCR partners for collection and while I tried to get back on my feet as I started working again, it wasn't happening. Soon after, by January it was sold to PMGI, LLC or Kenosian & Miele who had filed a lawsuit against me for the amount I owed. I still did NOT have the money to pay and was "in the hole" at this time.
They set a court date of June which I wasn't looking forward to but I had let my mother know of the situation and she agreed to go to court with me and see if they would settle the account. She was willing to let me borrow the money at 0% interest so I could get these vultures off my back.
When we showed up for court in June the lawyer or "wannabe" lawyer they sent was very young and didn't look the least professional or prepared. We spoke to him anyway and asked if he would settle - he did not. He said it was too late; that it had gone to court. I had proof that I did not have the means to pay the debt based on my current wages and other bills at the time but he did not care and didn't care to find out.
The judgement was initiated there for just under $6k. Mind you, my initial balance was somewhere around $3800, after fees and interest they tacked on - you get the picture.
After the judgement was set and I received paperwork in the mail about it I didn't know what to do. I never owned a home, a car or anything for that matter. I had NOTHING to my name. The paperwork showed that the judgement was for about $6k, but that they would be willing to do a payment plan for me.
I agreed to the payment plan, signed the papers and sent them back.
I called them to find out if they would be sending me some kind of statement so I could mail the payments and I was told by Judy (who is very rude & doesn't listen) that the statements are not something they send, but that they'd try to send me something as a courtesy but that it's really up to me to make the payments.
I agreed to a plan of $50/month for the first 6 months of paying back and then $100 for the next 6 months, then $200 for every month afterward 'till the debt was paid.
I didn't receive statements regularly - I got a statement perhaps once every 2-3 months and sometimes I got them after the due date. I was told if I defaulted on my payment they would impose the full judgement. I stayed on top of my payments of course because I didn't want to get stuck with trying to figure out how to pay something I didn't have the means to.
Every time I DID receive a statement, the amount I owed went up by hundreds. The payments I was making weren't making a dent, my balance was constantly going UP.
They said they were only charging me the 10% the courts allowed to charge in interest, but CLEARLY they weren't.
In December I received a letter from the court saying that all my accounts and any accounts tied to my social security number would be levied.
I had been paying Kenosian and Miele on time every month regardless of whether I received a statement from them each month.
I had changed jobs and managed to continue to pay these guys, but they didn't know where I was working anymore.
While I was at work I got a call just before Labor Day 2009 from Ms. Cowans @ x. 322 in the law offices of Kenosian and Miele on my cell phone. She blocked her number and I don't usually answer unknown numbers or blocked calls for that matter but this time I did because I have a 6 year old daughter and I never know if a call can be about her well being. Ms. Cowans verified that it was me on the phone if i was currently working and said that she had been trying to reach me to settle the account because they hadn't gotten any payment since they levied my accounts.
I told her I had NO money to pay them in full and that's why I stopped paying because they levied my accounts even though I was making payments as agreed on.
I told her to call me after 5 because I was working. She agreed to talk to me then.
In the meanwhile I asked my mother to help me pay PMGI/Kenosian in a settlement and my mom agreed to help me pay off the balance @ 30-40% of what I owed, which Ms. Cowans informed me had gone up to just under $15k.
When i spoke to Ms. Cowans after 5pm the first day she contacted me just before Labor day I told her that I spoke to my mother who agreed to help me pay them at 30-40% of the balance and that because I had already paid them at least $2900 this would be more than what they originally came after me for - it should suffice.
I told her I do not have the money to pay them but I would never be able to pay them off at the interest rate they were charging me and that my mom would let me borrow the money at 0% to her. She said she would do everything she could to settle this for me but that she needed to "update" her records otherwise they wouldn't settle and that they would simply proceed to garnish my wages. She asked for my work phone number. I was very skeptical as I had never spoken to Ms. Cowans at this office and I figured they didn't know where I worked so if they had my phone number it was a way to get the process going on garnishing my wages, but she made it seem like I had no option - that if I didn't give her the info she would not be able to settle the account and they would just press on to garnishing my wages. I gave her my number and direct exstension. She promised to get back to me the following day with the answer from "Unifund" who they purchased the account from on what they'd be willing to settle at.
The next day I did get a call from Ms. Cowans who said she had some good news, and some bad news. The "news" being that that the guys that she needed to talk to were out in LAS VEGAS for the labor day holiday and that she would have to get back to me on Tuesday 9/8 the day after the holiday, but that NO garnishment of wages had been started because she didn't have an answer on the settlement.
I never got a call on Tuesday so I followed up myself and she said she hadn't heard back yet but that she would definitely call me back when she had an answer for me.
I got a call on Thursday 9/9 from someone else at that office named Teresa, she called me during working hours and I kindly asked her to call me after 5pm. She never did.
I followed up with Ms. Cowan on Monday, 9/14 since I hadn't heard from her in regards to settling and I had a feeling she was just biding time to start the garnishment process.
She didn't return my call at all Monday 9/14.
I called her today - she picked up and didn't regard the message I'd left for her. She said she didn't have the file anymore, that Teresa who was the originator on the file took it back and was working on it.
I asked her why she didn't call me back after she promised to and she said Teresa had taken it back and was supposed to handle it but that she dropped the ball. I told her Teresa didn't call me back like I requested and Ms. Cowans said that in the file it noted that Teresa tried to reach me on MONDAY 9/14 but could not so she started the garnishment process.
I was infuriated because I was told this would not happen. I asked and made sure this would not happen because I was willing to work with them thankfully to the help of my mother.
Ms. Cowans NEVER called me to let me know what they would settle upon but when I called today - she said it was in the file. I was not notified. They did all this to bide time and find out where I'm working so they could start garnishing my wages. They don't want to settle. I keep getting the run around and I have NO Idea who Teresa is. The "originator" that I spoke to from day one was JUDY - she's still there and giving me the run around today too.
These people are sharks and don't want to settle. They'll do whatever they have to, lie, manipulate - make you think they're willing to work with you for a second just so they can get what they need to be as greedy as they possibly can and put you on the street!
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