meehanmama
New Member
Hi there!
I've been reading every thread I can get my hands on... and I feel so ignorant! I had no idea that I had any rights to validate the debt I've been paying on. Hopefully someone can help me out... and let me know If I have a chance to fight this.
Here it goes...
(We Live In TN)
My husband works out of town, and I had recieved a few calls from a collector wanting to verify his address. Since he wouldn't disclose his identity... I didnt disclose my hubby's identity. No harm... No foul.
On 10/24/06... I recieved a call from the collector and my husband was home. They talked for a minute and my husband didnt understand the man... so he had me talk to him. He said he was from the Law Office Of Donald Burak (PA). He instisted that we pay a credit card debt from my hubby's past. I stood my ground for a while stating that I need info showing that he really owes this. The law office stated that he does not have to do that and WILL NOT do so. He said they purchased this account and are now the sole owners of the debt. I stayed strong until he said:
-- "If I dont recieve a good faith payment during this phone call, I have the power to garnish your husbands wages and seize your income tax return. I also see you have a Dodge Grand Caravan..."
This frightened me enough to ask the amount owed and such. He said I owe $18065.23 as of that day. He said we can settle at $10,839. We were ignorant of the SOL laws and had no idea what to do. He made me believe he had a form to enforce garnishment immediately! We have 3 babies and a lot of health problems, so we can't be without our only income.
So, I asked what I can do to keep from being garnished. He said I HAVE to make a good faith payment right now over the phone of 10%. I refused since we dont have that kind of money laying around. I agreed to put $100 on my credit card. So we did that.
I told him the only other money we have is a CD for $1200. He demanded that amount to be due by 10/31/07 (1 week away). He asked how much we can afford each month for our payment agreement. I said it will be hard... but I will try & scrape $100 each month. He said that wasnt acceptable. The lowest amount I can pay is $300 per month. I said thats impossible for us... and he said if we default on this amount, he will garnish all of our wages and sieze our IRS refund. Also, he said that the ONLY WAY for them to recieve payment is through electronic debits from my checking!
I was very upset and felt trapped. He said he is faxing me an agreement and it has to be returned signed via fax before 6:30pm. (This only gave me a few minutes to sign it and send back).
My husband felt awful about this old debt that he was unaware of. I told him I will do everything I can to make some money to pay (Im an at home mom) so we dont lose our van, wages, and IRS refund.
After this, we have had alot of hardships back to back... but I still managed to make the payments. I lost the use of my hands in January due to a medical disease and am just now able to partially use them again. 2 days ago, I googled BURAK... and saw complaints from consumers. After reading for a few hours about old debts and such... I went back and looked at our origional agreement. Here's what I am now seeing...
-- There is no statement giving me ANY rights to validate or dispute.
(I was told I Could NOT validate or dispute this)
-- "This law firm is a debt collector attempting to collect a debt for our client"
(says nothing about owning the debt themselves)
-- "You authorized and requested this firm to effect payments by debit
entries to your bank"
(I didnt request it... it was forced on me)
So, I pulled my husbands credit report... and Transunion has the Credit card info on it. It says:
charged off as bad debt.
Balance = $8504
Date Opened = 12/93
Date Closed = 11/01
Past Due = $3,089 (which is almost exactly what I have paid the law office)
Est Date to be Removed = 06/08
Last date updated = 05/03
There is no entry for this law office... and I dont have a date for 1st delinquecy (for SOL). I am assuming that the removal date is at least 7yrs 1 month since the delinquency date.
With all this said... I am at a loss on what to do. If I had any idea I could validate this debt.,... I would have. Hubby dont remember it and I believe him. This law office lied to me about so many things... I dont even know really where to begin.
Please help this unaware wife of a consumer... I really appreciate it!!!
I've been reading every thread I can get my hands on... and I feel so ignorant! I had no idea that I had any rights to validate the debt I've been paying on. Hopefully someone can help me out... and let me know If I have a chance to fight this.
Here it goes...
(We Live In TN)
My husband works out of town, and I had recieved a few calls from a collector wanting to verify his address. Since he wouldn't disclose his identity... I didnt disclose my hubby's identity. No harm... No foul.
On 10/24/06... I recieved a call from the collector and my husband was home. They talked for a minute and my husband didnt understand the man... so he had me talk to him. He said he was from the Law Office Of Donald Burak (PA). He instisted that we pay a credit card debt from my hubby's past. I stood my ground for a while stating that I need info showing that he really owes this. The law office stated that he does not have to do that and WILL NOT do so. He said they purchased this account and are now the sole owners of the debt. I stayed strong until he said:
-- "If I dont recieve a good faith payment during this phone call, I have the power to garnish your husbands wages and seize your income tax return. I also see you have a Dodge Grand Caravan..."
This frightened me enough to ask the amount owed and such. He said I owe $18065.23 as of that day. He said we can settle at $10,839. We were ignorant of the SOL laws and had no idea what to do. He made me believe he had a form to enforce garnishment immediately! We have 3 babies and a lot of health problems, so we can't be without our only income.
So, I asked what I can do to keep from being garnished. He said I HAVE to make a good faith payment right now over the phone of 10%. I refused since we dont have that kind of money laying around. I agreed to put $100 on my credit card. So we did that.
I told him the only other money we have is a CD for $1200. He demanded that amount to be due by 10/31/07 (1 week away). He asked how much we can afford each month for our payment agreement. I said it will be hard... but I will try & scrape $100 each month. He said that wasnt acceptable. The lowest amount I can pay is $300 per month. I said thats impossible for us... and he said if we default on this amount, he will garnish all of our wages and sieze our IRS refund. Also, he said that the ONLY WAY for them to recieve payment is through electronic debits from my checking!
I was very upset and felt trapped. He said he is faxing me an agreement and it has to be returned signed via fax before 6:30pm. (This only gave me a few minutes to sign it and send back).
My husband felt awful about this old debt that he was unaware of. I told him I will do everything I can to make some money to pay (Im an at home mom) so we dont lose our van, wages, and IRS refund.
After this, we have had alot of hardships back to back... but I still managed to make the payments. I lost the use of my hands in January due to a medical disease and am just now able to partially use them again. 2 days ago, I googled BURAK... and saw complaints from consumers. After reading for a few hours about old debts and such... I went back and looked at our origional agreement. Here's what I am now seeing...
-- There is no statement giving me ANY rights to validate or dispute.
(I was told I Could NOT validate or dispute this)
-- "This law firm is a debt collector attempting to collect a debt for our client"
(says nothing about owning the debt themselves)
-- "You authorized and requested this firm to effect payments by debit
entries to your bank"
(I didnt request it... it was forced on me)
So, I pulled my husbands credit report... and Transunion has the Credit card info on it. It says:
charged off as bad debt.
Balance = $8504
Date Opened = 12/93
Date Closed = 11/01
Past Due = $3,089 (which is almost exactly what I have paid the law office)
Est Date to be Removed = 06/08
Last date updated = 05/03
There is no entry for this law office... and I dont have a date for 1st delinquecy (for SOL). I am assuming that the removal date is at least 7yrs 1 month since the delinquency date.
With all this said... I am at a loss on what to do. If I had any idea I could validate this debt.,... I would have. Hubby dont remember it and I believe him. This law office lied to me about so many things... I dont even know really where to begin.
Please help this unaware wife of a consumer... I really appreciate it!!!
