In September I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. I moved my bank from Fort Sill National Bank (who had been skimming money from my account) and transferred it to Navy Federal Credit Union, one of two banks on my base (Camp Hansen). At the time, I Signed up for a Visa Rewards card from the bank.By December of that year, I had run the card to max, and worked to pay it off in three months. I did so.
About a year-and-a-half after I had paid it off, I began getting mail to my home of record. My mother said that the bank was sending credit card statements. I went to the local bank with a copy of several statements saying allotments had been set up and the debt paid, and showed it to them. I requested an investigation and they promised to do one. I never heard from them again, and I figured it had been settled.
Fast forward to March. I was unable to use my card or withdraw money. I went to the bank off Piney Green (Camp Lejeune, NC) and wanted to know what was going on. I was told I still had an outstanding debt of over $900.00 on the card and would be unable to withdraw any funds on my card until I had paid off what was "past due" (at the time, around $64.00). I said I would pay, but I wanted an investigation done because I had requested one two years prior and had not heard from them since. KEep in mind, I was 23 and hadn't even heard of a credit report before. I didn't know what to do or anything. The woman took the same statements I provided before, told me she'd look into it, and that would be that.
Six months later, I'm out of the service. I'm getting mail saying I still owe money, so I ignored them. Starting in December, I began getting seven or more phone calls a day from the bank. As a standing policy, I do not answer phone calls that show up as "unknown" on my phone. This kept occurring for months, and I'd simple delete my inbox. Anyone who knows me knows I don't listen to my voicemail to begin with, so... Yeah. Anyways, I digress.
Last week, on Wednesday, I received two text messages. That was the last straw, because how could the bank know if I have free texting? They could have been running up charges on my phone. I called the bank and requested to speak to someone. I was handed over to a Carol. I explained the situation, and was told that since i Had made payments prior to this point, there was no possible way that I could claim I had paid off the debt. She called me, to my face, a liar ("I find it hard to believe your story, sir."). I requested that no more phone calls be made and that I would be writing a written letter to the bank disputing the claim. She kept pushing me to pay (I'm currently unemployed, I have no funds to pay off this debt), and finally I said it was done and hung up. She called back ten seconds later and left a voicemail, saying I had to call back immediately. I ignored it.
About six hours later, I received another call. This was from Jason.in the voicemail, he said I had to call back with-in thirty minutes, because is "was the only window present to help each other". I called back, requested him, and when he answered I explained what had happened earlier that day, and by federal law an oral request requires that the contacts stop for seven days. Furthermore, I would be sending a letter out the next day disputing the claim. He refused to stop talking, and finally I hung up the phone.
Today, on Monday, I have received two calls from the bank before noon. One was from the same Jason from last week. At this point, I decided to write this to inform people that the company is violating federal law in terms of debt collection.
0 comments