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About Jack Hall
Expertise
Will answer questions about consumer or small business bankruptcy, foreclosure, evictions, wage garnishment, bank account seizures by creditors, creditor harassment, repossession and/or surrender of vehicles and other personal property, and civil lawsuits seeking to collect credit card and other debts. Can also answer questions relating to debt management and the effect of bankruptcy on one’s credit history. Can discuss the various options an individual or business may have relating to pressing financial difficulties. In addition to sending me an email, You can also call me at this number if you want to discuss any question on the telephone: 915 261-3893

Experience
Over thirty years of experience assisting clients in all aspects of debtor/creditor relationships. This experience has primarily involved assisting individuals and small businesses that are having financial difficulties, and have also had some experience assisting creditors attempting to recover financial losses.

Education/Credentials
Law degree (Juris Doctorate, J.D.); Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees in political science/government

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Collections Law - I'll now ask you...

Expert: Jack Hall - 11/11/2009

Question
because Jason's answer just doesn't cut it. Hope you're more of an "expert" than he is. I'm copying my question & his reply here: Your question was

Hi. I have a debt of just over $5,000 w/ a credit card company- American Express (AE). About a year ago, after not being able to make any payments, they turned me over to a collection agency (CA). I agreed to make monthly payments of $50 on a certain day every month. The first month I made my payment on time. Before the next due date, I started receiving calls %26 mail from a different CA for the same debt. I ignored them for awhile, but finally called one day. I asked why my account had been sent to another CA and they said that AE told them that $50 was not enough. I guess they were tasked with making me pay a higher amount. I got angry and ended the call. Then some time later, I started receiving calls from yet another CA. For months now they have been calling me at home %26 work, and even calling my co-workers! I have not been picking up their calls. I understand I need to call them and work something out, but before I do that, I want to know what my rights are %26 what the California consumer laws say they can %26 can't do. Thanks for your time.

But this is outside of my expertise. ????????????????

Expert: Jason Barnette, Esq.

If you'd like to ask another question in the category, please come to http://www.allexperts.com/el/Collections-Law/

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Thanks,
Allexperts.com

Answer
Not to be too hard on Jason. After all the guy is volunteering his time to help you and it is entirely possible that he may have simply pressed the wrong button (i.e., the one that says “this is outside of my expertise”, that is an option that the experts have to respond if they choose), or he may very well not have a whole lot of experience with the issue your question raises. Either way, it is not productive to criticize him in this context - I suspect if you ask him something else you may get a more positive reply - he probably just didn’t have time to respond to your question when you asked him – maybe he has a trial going right now or something, who knows?

That having been said, resolving your situation is easy - First of all, don’t pay them a dime. Since they turned the debt over to a collection agency, there is a federal law that kicks in that is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Under that law (and I understand that California also has their own more expansive law as well that may allow you to go after the primary creditor itself) if you write a letter to the collection agency and tell them to quit calling you, they have to stop their phone calls. Make your letter something like this.

Put the date
Put the name and address of the bill collector
Re: NOTICE UNDER FCRA/FDCPA; ACCOUNT NUMBER whatever their number is, help them find your file
BE ON NOTICE OF THE FOLLOWING:
DO NOT CONTACT ME FURTHER REGARDING THE COLLECTION OF THIS DISPUTED DEBT;
YOU HAVE MY CORRECT NAME AND ADDRESS, THEREFORE THERE IS NO VALID REASON TO CONTACT ANY THIRD PARTIES REGARDING THIS MATTER;
YOU ARE DIRECTED TO VALIDATE THIS DEBT AS REQUIRED BY THE ABOVE CITED FEDERAL LAW.

Then put your name and address, no phone number. Make a copy and sign it and mail the copy to the bill collector via regular mail – no need to waste 5 dollars for certified on these knuckleheads. You will not hear from them again. If you get a call or letter from another collection agency, send them the same letter with their address on it. If this notice is disregarded, let me know. You will then have a valid lawsuit against THEM.

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