Around 10 years ago I learned a valuable lesson: borrowing money at 28.975% compound interest (plus points) on an interest first loan makes it impossible to pay off.
I had borrowed around $2,000 from a lovely company called ITT Industrial Indemnity. After paying just over $4,000 to them and still having most of what I borrowed still left to pay, something interesting happened:
They sold the loan.
Another company, Household Finance Corporation purchased all of ITT’s loans. Unfortunately, during the purchase of the loan, HFC neglected to send out letters to the debtors stating that they had purchased the loans, a violation of FTC rules (specifically Title 15, Chapter 41, Subchapter V, Section 1962g of United States Code).
I’m sure most people who were affected by this buyout weren’t savvy on the law. I know I wasn’t. But I did know that if your loan was sold to another company, the purchasing company was required to send you a letter within 30 days of the purchase to inform you that you now owed your soul to them.
This started a big fight between HFC and me. I kept requesting the letter stating they had purchased my loan, and they kept telling me they didn’t have to provide anything. They stated that if I didn’t pay them immediately, they would sue me. I told them to go for it. I never heard from them again and thought it was done..
About 4 years ago another company called the Sagres Corporation contacted me and made an attempt to collect on the same debt. I explained that since the previous company had broken the law and refused to correct their actions (honestly, I would have paid them if they had), the debt was null and void. They suggested that they might sue me. Of course, by this point I was older and much wiser and asked that they tell me flat out if they intended to sue me or not so I could prepare my legal defence (if they say they will, and they don’t within 30 days, you can sue them to recoup your legal costs). I sent them a letter of stating that I disputed the debt within the 30 days required by the Fair Debt Collection Act and told them they could no longer call my place of work or my relatives, a request they are required by law to honor. They didn’t. After receiving some encouragement from my attorney, they dropped it (and once again, I thought it was done).
Three weeks ago I got a letter from a new company, PRM Financial Services, stating that they had purchased the debt and were making an attempt to collect on it. They were creative, making it look like a credit card offer (honestly, I didn’t realize what it was until I read the fine print). So, I fired off yet another letter explaining exactly what had transpired previously and requested, once again, that they cease all attempts to collect on this “unlawful debt”, remove any trace of it from my credit report, and under no circumstances sell it to another agency in the future.
I got the following reply yesterday:
Dear Mr. Parsons:
We apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you. We are writing to inform you that all collection efforts on this account will be terminated. Also in no way should this account resurrect in the future. We do no report our customers to the credit bureau, so there should be nothing with delinquent, as it relates to this debt.
If you have any further Questions, do not hesitate to give us a call. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jake Richardson
PRM Financial Services, Inc.
Litigation Specialist
WOW!!
Of course, I’m pulling my credit report in 2 weeks to verify. I’m not exactly trusting when it comes to collection agencies.
