Question:
A month ago I have recieved a letter from a large collection agency,
regarding a bill I am currently disputing with a telephone company. On the
back of the letter there was a standart disclosure, that if I am contesting
these charges, I must write within 30 days, or the collection agency will
consider this bill valid. Immidiatelly, I responded to the collection agency,
indicating that this charge is activelly disputed, and that I do not want to
hear from them any more. (Incidentally, the address of the collection agency
was printed twice in the letter --- same address, different zip code. I
assumed this was an attempt to delay the letter's arriving).
Yesterday I recieved (at 8 pm) a call from this collection agency. I informed
the person that I have send them a letter, twice, one is certified, both with
reciete of mailing. After being connected to a manager, I was told that the
address on the letter is the address of a main office, and that I had to write
to a branch office, in a different town, and at this time they did not recieve
my letter.
Does this count as a violation of a Fair Credit Reporting Act? Can I go after
this company for that? Can it be grounds for a class action suite? I am sure
that I am not the only one who has been given a wrong address?
Answer:
-I am not an attorney but do know something about collection agencies.
Their specialty is to drive you crazy any way they can. They just told
you that to get you angry and cause you more work. If it was me, I
would just ignore them. You have the evidence, a certified receipt.
-Oh, probably. Probably not worth the hassle, though. My Chapter 7
will be two years old in February, and still Amex persists in sending
collection letters (on their third agency now). At least they stopped
calling, but we still get a letter each month. I'm ignoring it for
now, since discharge is an absolute defense to a money due action.
Eventually, if I get bored enough, or they start doing more than
sending meaningless little letters, I'll petition the bankruptcy court
to order them to stop.
