I'll admit that I was young and stupid and drove without insurance. I got a ticket in King County and was directed to Alliance One to make payment arrangements with them in 2007. I did so with a large down payment of $200.00 (10% of the accounts I had in their office) then $150.00 per month to follow.
I lost my job in 2008 so I contacted A.O. To make different arrangements, they refused and suspended my license without telling me and I never received notification.in March they garnished my bank account for $92 and some change from my unemployment check. I called to set up a new payment plan and was again refused. I also told them that the funds they had taken were from unemployment which is illegal to garnish and they refused to give me the documentation needed to get those funds back.in June with a down payment of an addition $200.00 they finally let me set payment arrangements on my accounts for $75 per month because I was unemployed.
In 2010 I called to get a print out of my accounts as my balance wasn't going down on my accounts and was told I needed to submit my request in writing. At the time I was working for a collection agency and had learned several things about the FDCPA and how collections are really suppose to work.
I sent a letter to them with no response so I sent a second letter to them, the BBB and the Attorney Generals office. Still no response. I then sent them 3 certified letters, which were all signed for and never received a response. So I called again. This time I got a gentleman who told me my balance was over $4000 and I was very upset. His manager came to the line and I was told that the first person I talked to was wrong, that my balance was approximately $2700. Then I asked for print outs and verification of debt on all my accounts as well as payment information on all my payments since 2007 because my 10% down was $200.00 and I just couldn't understand why my balance was increasing while I was making my payments. Even with the 1% interest rate per month there is no reason my balance shouldn't have been dropping. I never received the information and still haven't received it to this day. I didn't stop my payments because I couldn't afford to loose my license again and NO ONE could help me.
Now this month I received a letter stating I owed only $58 on my accounts in my payment arrangement and would be paid in full on that account but I had others in the office that I needed to set arrangements on. I called 11-7-11 to ask for my balance and was told I could keep my $75 per month payment on my balance of $1839.68 but they would be applying the payment to my newer ticket first as King County is planning on taking there business away from them and they wanted to get as much from me on it before that happened. I told them NO! Apply my payment to my oldest account first (by law that is what they are supposed to do) and I would contact King County and settle my account with them.
Imagine my surprise today, after talking to 4 people who work for King County District Court, that I in fact didn't owe King County a dime! They were paid in full. That was $1131.03 that I definitely didn't have to spend on something I didn't owe. So I took matters in my own hands. I paid directly to Cascade District Court for the balance on my ticket there $277.00. Alliance One told me the balance was $551.82 on that account with their fees and interest.
I called Alliance One to let them know I didn't owe King County a dime and they told me to prove it. Thank you Luther! It isn't the debtors responsibility to prove they don't owe a debt; it is by law the collection agency's obligation to prove that the debt is owed and they couldn't do that. That's why I never received any documentation on what I owed or verification of my debt when requested.
Thankfully after 3 hours on the phone today an awesome supervisor called Alliance One and couldn't get a live person on the phone but left a message to remove my accounts from their office and not contact me again. So here I sit. Yesterday I supposedly owed those LIARS $1839.68 today I don't owe them a dime. However I wonder how much of my money they have just been pocketing, and who really protects the people when State Agencies are using a company like this to collect for them.
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