I fell behind with Capital One last year, when I was temporarily unemployed. I made attempts to work with anyone and everyone we owed money to during that time, and Capital One alone refused to work out any kind of arrangement... So they went unpaid.
By November I was working again, and began trying to make amends. At this point I had already begun receiving calls from the Alliance One number, but was told each time that I was speaking to a Capital One representative. It wasn't until October, I think, that they began to correctly identify themselves as Alliance One. I don't know what prompted the change. I tried to be polite, but language barriers (I speak very Southern English, and all of the reps I spoke to were Indian, so we had trouble understanding each other) and the reps complete refusal to accept anything but a full payment of the $900 I owed kept me from accomplishing anything.
I was able to make a $400 payment at the end of November (Capital One counted it toward my December bill). Thanks to late fees and overage charges, this brought my account balance, according to Capital One, down to $750, and satisfied their "minimum payment" requirements.
I wasn't able to make more than the minimum this month (about $30), which apparently only covered the overage fee I was charged, because my balance is still showing as $750, though my payment was received, noted, and credited to my account.
While I'm clearly still in a mess with Capital One (which is, admittedly, of my own making, and which I take full responsibility for), I am satisfying their payment requirements. You'd THINK that would stop the collection calls, right? Except, of course, that it hasn't.
Despite the fact that A1 has never communicated with me in writing (just calls, first claiming to be Capital One, now correctly identifying themselves as Alliance One, but both from the same number) and have not called my cell phone number since November, they continually call my husband on his cell. They won't talk to him about the account, because his name's not on it, but they refuse to stop calling him.
I answered for him today, and tried to be as polite as I could. I started by telling her that my number hadn't changed, and that they needed to stop calling my husband. She said "we can call whoever we want as long as we want, until you pay us." I told her that no, in fact, she couldn't, and repeated that she was to stop calling my husband. She didn't reply.
I then informed her (as I had the dozens of times they called me under their own name last fall) that I was making all transaction directly through Capital One, and would not make payments to them. I told her not to call again (at which point she repeated that she could call whenever she wanted). I asked for my account number (As I've received no written communication, I have no idea what it is) and she refused, stating that she didn't have to give me anything. I repeated my request and also asked for the company's mailing address, but she ignored me, asking 'When will you bring your account current? You can't work with Capital One until they tell us you can! When will you pay?"
At that point I was too frustrated to think straight, so I told her they'd be receiving a cease communications letter via certified mail, and reminded her not to call again before hanging up.
So, questions: what exactly is Alliance One's relationship to Capital One? I googled the company's address, but how do I go about sending the cease communications letter when I don't know my account number? I know that I have the right to deal with the original creditor (they certainly haven't complained about receiving my money) but how do I get that across to A1 when they seem to be going out of their way to deal with everyone BUT me? I desperately want this to stop, but don't know what my next step should be. Any advice you can give would be really appreciated. One thing's for sure... I know what will NEVER be in my wallet again!
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