Hi there kids... well, what's new in the world of Samurai? I have these scavengers after me and they won't leave me alone!

In early 2000, I moved from New York to the great state of Tennessee. This was in March. Anyways, in August, I get a call from the power company here in New York, Niagara Mohawk, stating that i owed them about $1000 in an unpaid bill between May and September of 2000. I stated that I was never a resident of the address given, nor had I been a resident of New York state since March of 2000. They asked me to send them copies of something official, a couple of pay stubs, copy of my license, that sort of thing, which I did.

Flash forward to a couple of years ago... I get a call from this Portfolio Debt Recovery or something... the number is out of Delano Florida. Now, they are trying to recover $5000. I told the idiot on the other end of the phone the same thing, sent them copies of all the official stuff. A year or so goes by and they try again in the fall of last year. Told them that I had had enough and I was getting an attorney involved. The bitch on the other end basically says, 'go right ahead. we're still getting that money' (which they had 'tabulated' to be $8000). I tell her to basically do an anatomically impossible act and send them a registered mail letter stating cease and desist. So here we are on friday night... i have a message from these people AGAIN!!!

fuck me sideways! What next?
the statute of limitations on a bill like this is 6 years in New York. It has been close to 9 since it was opened... i am really having enough of all this.

On top of that, I noticed that on the bill for my student loan, the company handling it keeps tacking on $430 each month in 'fees'. At this rate, the loan will be $40,000 before I pay it back!!!

Fuck.

Hell, you get out of bankruptcy in 7 years. What they're doing to you is severe douchebaggery that needs to be stopped. Call a lawyer. Or a hit-man.

I don't know about the laws in the states, but in Canada the timing starts from the last payment. That is why they harass you and suggest you pay as much as you can as a good faith gesture. I have had people say to me, just pay $5.00 and we won't take you to court. They will say anything to try to convince you to give them some money.

I doubt you have given them any money, because they are in the wrong, but it is something that is good to know. Giving them as little as a dollar can really screw you.

I am glad I got out of that. I paid off all of my debts, except for one. It was for 23,000.00. I was paying it, but I asked them for a break down of the interest they charge. They said it was their policy not to provide that information. I said it is my policy not to pay people who won't provide that information. We had a calls like this everyday for a few weeks. Then they stopped calling. That was 6 years ago. It is very odd, they would have continued to get money if not for that silly policy of theirs. I think I should be free and clear of that credit blurp in a year or so.

For anyone having student loan issues in Canada, this is a great site http://www.canadas...ebt.ca/default.asp It lays out the laws regarding collections, how to deal with specific collection agencies, etc.

last spring, my wages were garnished for my student loan. They were taking close to $400 a month, which really put a dent in my budget. I was closing to losing my car and not being able to pay my half of the mortgage, so i fought the garnishment and won. The collection people were very not happy with me over that. But I was pretty confident that I could pay what was left on the loan, $1500, and be done with it... I've noticed that the past two bills have this $430 'fee' attached to them... i talked to Shael tonight and she says I need to call Department of Education and see what gives?

Lawsuit I smell...A very big one to. Of course in your favor.

Most credit agencies will make a settlement for the debt if you will pay the settlement in full. It is typically about %50 of the outstanding debt. I don't know if these ones will because you pissed them off. When I had one get down to to $2000.00 I told them I would pay $50.00 a month for infinity or pay off half now if they scratched the rest. They went for the latter and I went, with cash, in person and made them sign a form that my debt was paid in full.

Also be sure to ask them for a complete statement of accounts from the time that they took the debt before you try to strike any deals. I would remove any of their silly fees from that accounting. Give them a hard time. Make them only correspond with you in writing. The more time you take up, the less your debt is worth to them. Also, remember that they buy your debt for pennies on the dollar and have likely already made a significant profit off of you.

I told him he needs to go call the DoE and tell them that this bunch of bastards is charging him not only the debt, but an exorbitant fee for collection, which may be illegal.

Scavenger collectors are supposed to settle for a portion of the debt collected. Usually that's the contractual agreement. I've never seen anyone charge a payment of 42 dollars, and then charge 420 dollars a month in fees which aren't even enumerated line by line on the statement.

When anyone charges you anything, you are allowed, by law, to get a list of the charges on an itemized statement, how much they are and what they are for. Even in debt collection.

If Sam goes to the DoE, there's a chance that they might not know what this collection agent is doing. If they don't and they find out and they don't like it...well...there goes the contract with this bunch of assholes. Because there's a chance that the collection agent would keep the 420 dollars, and only send the 42 dollars to the DoE and I'm sure they wouldn't like that very much. I'm guessing that's the arrangement with this issue.

Originally, they agreed to drop the interest and only ask for the principle back to get it cleaned up. They just want this little piddly thing off their books, they have bigger fish to fry, like some suckers, like me, that owe them upwards of 20K, with extenuating circumstances, which is why it's not getting paid. So I can't see the DoE asking for 420 dollars in interest and penalties a month when they agreed to accept the judgment amount, which was significantly less than the original amount with 10+ years of interest racked up on it.

Shael