My sister-in-law gave me a number and told me to contact them because they were trying to serve me papers at her address. I contacted them and they threatened me with garnishing my wages if I didnt pay my debt. The debt was for an apartment lease that was defaulted on.
I told them I had no problem paying my portion but that I would not pay for the other 2 people on the lease. They informed me that $1200.00 would clear me of my portion of the lease and that this would keep it from going on my credit.
I paid the $1200.00 by phone. Well that was 03/07/08. On Jan. 21 I got online and was looking at my credit report and there was a charge that I didnt know. I called the collection company which was National Recovery and asked them what this was for, he informed me it was for a lease on an apartment.
I told him there had to be a mistake because this debt was paid last March. He said there was no record of payment, and I told him I would go to my bank and get a printout as proof and fax it to him. My bank records showed that Graham Noble & Associates drafted the $1200.00 out of my account.
He asked me to have them fax him a paid letter. I contacted Graham and he gave me a long acct number and told me to see if they had the numbers entered wrong. So I called National Recovery back and he said they didnt have that acct number.
I called Graham back and he informed me that was not an acct number that it was a credit card number. I said why do you have a credit card number. He said that is the credit card number to the account you settled with us. I told Mr. Bernstein there was a mistake that I had paid for an apartment lease not a credit card.
At this point he became very rude and told me that he knew nothing of an apartment lease that we had paid for a credit card with a balance of $1800.00 and that we settled for $1200.00. I immediately got ugly for the fact that this was not what I was told I was paying almost a year ago, I asked to speak with the person who took my payment and of course they no longer work there.
He said they have never had info on an apartment lease and that he had no way of knowing what they told me I was paying for in March since the call was not recorded and because that person no longer was employed there.
I asked him for the credit card name and he said it was for Household Arbor, and that I lived at 151 Brookwood when I opened the account in Aug. 2002. I told him I have never lived at that address and asked for the full address and he told me in a very rude, accusing way "you tell me what it is" which I got irate since I told him if I knew the address I wouldn't be asking you what it is.
He seemed to get immense pleasure from pushing my buttons and before it was over had me talking very ugly. Anyways, he finally put me through to a Paul Harris who identified himself as an acct manager. I told him what was going on and he told me it was totally off the wall, but that he would look further into it, and told me to keep in touch.
I in the meantime, contacted the apartment complex and asked them who they use to collect if someone defaults. She told me National Recovery and that they have never used anyone else and doesnt know how they got my info. She is how I found out about usacomplaints.com.
Well I went a step further and googled the address they gave me and found that someone with the same name lives there, I contacted Graham to tell them I believed that they had me and this person mixed up. They didnt try to even look to see if that was the case they just went on to tell me that apparently this person used his social security number.
This prompted me to ask " dont you need a signature to open a credit card?". He said they only have to have my info. Well thats scary. Anyway, I have called back to speak with Mr. Harris and he told me to stop calling to give them time to look into it, and told me he doesnt believe they have my money and hung up on me. I am currently trying to locate a lawyer who will file a lawsuit against them but have run into a brick wall since they are in another state.in the meantime, I have went to my sherriffs office and filed a report against the man at the address they gave me for idenity theft, have notified the credit bureaus of fraud alert, I just finished reporting them to the better business bureau of New York.
I as of yesterday paid the $1200.00 for the lease to the correct people that I had thought I had taken care of almost a year ago. What makes this so bad is that we would have never known had we not got online to look at our credit, or until the original collector contacted us. I'm in the business of paying my bills not someone elses. I will find an attorney that will get my money back if it costs me every dime I have. I want people to know they are getting peoples information and tricking them into paying a debt they believe they owe then applying the payment elsewhere. Someone actually asked me why I paid for a credit card that wasnt mine, here is my answer -
Had I been told the $1200 was for a credit card I never owned I would have never given them my bank info, however they told me this took care of an actual debt I had incurred. I tried to do the right thing and have been totally screwed.
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