I need some help and advice:
I had a Credit Card Debt with MBNA a several years ago that was then bought by Bank of America, it was around $7,000. It was charged off on my report. Now almost 2 years later I got an Arbtration letter from Phillips & Cohen Associates (Newark, De) throught the National Arbitration Forum (NAF Minneapolis, Mn).
I am not even sure that this is the company that bought the account because they refuse to validate the debt. I am in Ohio so I don't think that licensing is required and the statute of limitation is 7 years so I have a few years left to go for that.
Here is what I have done so far:
6/9/2008
Received Arbitration letter from National Arbitration Forum (NAF) and
Phillips & Cohen Associates.
6/25/2008
Sent Phillips& Cohen (copied NAF) a detailed Debt Validation request letter
via certified mail w/return receipt. Quoted FDCP, demanded a cease to phone collection, and stipulated written proof in the form of a signed agreement.(Very strong letter)
8/11/2008
No validation from Phillips & Cohen so I sent a letter demanding that they
stop collection efforts and remove all information from the credit bureaus.
Also copied the credit bureaus and NAF. (also USPS return reciept)
9/22/2008
Despite previous demands in writing that they cease collection and all
correspondence must be by mail, I received 2 very nasty phone calls from
Phillips & Cohen on my home phone.
9/2008
At the end of September I got a letter from NAF stating that they were in receipt of my letter. They then gave the claimant until 10/10/2008 to produce documents for discovery.
10/14/2008
As of this date the claimant "Phillips & Cohen" has not validated and did not respond to the NAF discovery deadline.
They won't validate, didn't respond to discovery from NAF and the collection bureaus won't remove the info.
What do I do now? HELP.
Since you have asked for debt validation and Phillips & Cohen has not yet validated your debt, I don't think that you are liable to that company for repaying back the debt because one month has already passed from the date you have asked for validation. Now I think that you should send them a second letter by certified mail along with a copy of the receipt you got for sending the debt validation request, and inform them that they have violated the FDCP Act and ask them to remove the listing from your credit report. Now wait for 15 days of their receipt of this letter and then send a dispute letter to the credit bureaus asking them to remove the listing from the report.
Until and unless they validate the debt, I think that you should not proceed further towards repaying the debt to them. Validating the debt would mean that they have to prove that they have purchased the debt from MBNA credit cards. If they cannot provide proper validation, they you can always get the listing removed from the credit report by sending a dispute letter to the credit bureaus. You can find a sample dispute letter by visiting the link http://www.creditmagic.org/repair/dispute-letter.html
What would you do?
They did not validate and I won't send them any money until they do. I have already disputed this with the credit bureaus but they will not remove it.
From what I have read arbitration will go on regardless of what I do. So I am unsure of how to proceed. According to the paperwork I have, Phillips & Cohen did not meet the deadline for discovery set by the arbitration company (NAF). So... do I participate in the arbitration and demand that it go in my favor because of lack of discovery, or do I maintain that I object to and reject arbitration because I never agreed to it and this company cannot validate?
Good question here big and I am hoping someone will give you a direct answer. You may have to go to the hearing. The people hearing your case is a set of lawyers and they are not in favor of either side. If you do have to go take all the evidence to show you asked for the validation and did not get it.
I got a letter in the mail saying in the envelope that is certified, but I did not sign anything.
The letter is from Zwicker Associates in behalf of Chase and they are claiming in the NAF. I sent a letter of validation a month ago, they received it, but they never mailed me a validation of debt, can they put me through NAF while they haven't send a validation of debt? What should I do? What comes next?
Hi Firefly
No, unless they validate your debt, they cannot claim it as per the Federal Law and NAF is not an exception to it. As far as I know, National arbitration forum only intermediates between the creditors and the borrowers to make arbitration faster, and less expensive as compared to litigation.
Hi Carol,
Thank you for your answer, should I just ignore it or should I contact them stating that they have not validate the debt.
Hi Firefly
Since you have already received the letter from the creditor as an answer to the debt validation, you can send a second letter telling them that they have violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. These certified letters will help you in the NAF.
student loan
Hi Carol,
I know this is not the right place but I wanted to get your opinion here:
I have a 17 years daughter that will go to college this fall.
Both me and my husband have good income but bad credit, a lot of debt but we always paid our student loans, we don't have bad history with the student loans, car payments and mortgage.
We entered a debt settlement program and now we are out of it.
I am considering bankruptcy for me and my husband but maybe after she gets to college.
I just don't know how can this affect the eligibility to get a student loan for my daughter. If we don't qualify for a parent loan, can she apply on her own, even if she's 17?
FAFSA did not give me anything, they expect me to pay everything. How can I get a loan or what can she do for this year? What do other students with parents in bankruptcy process do to pay for the college?
Any shared experience would be appreciated.
Hi Firefly
Can you tell me how much is your credit score?
As far as I know, if you go for Federal Stafford Loans, there is no credit check, and it is given to undergraduate and graduate students in their own name with no co-signer obligations. Moreover, it has a low interest rate of 6.8% APR.
I would suggest both of you to file bankruptcy only after she has obtained the loan.
480....but I don't know how much will the Federal Stafford Loans will cover, I think there's a limit
If your daughter applies as an independent undergraduate student then as far as I know, she can borrow upto $9500 if she is enrolled in the first year of study. However, for graduate or professional studies, she can borrow upto $20500 each year.
Arbitration Forum
Hi Carol,
I did send the arbitration forum a letter stating that the collection agency had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by not answering my Letter of Debt Validation.
I received 2 letters from the Arbitration Forum, but I don't really understand what do I need to do.
I am attaching the letters.
Thanks in advance,
Arbitration Forum
And this is the second letter, they both came at the same day though...
Thanks again.
Arbitration Forum
I am sorry that I posted to this forum late reference dealing with the National Arbitration Forum but for anyone else who might receive correspondence from this "debt collector" here is how I kicked them in the butt:
My mom received a letter from the NAFstating that they had been retained by NCO Financial Group (a Junk Debt Buyer/collection agency) to arbitrate an alleged debt that they purchased from Capital One. After reading the correspondence, the first thing I did was:
(1) Draft up a Refusal to Arbitrate Letter ( one addressed to NAF and the other was addressed to NCO Financial Group)
(2) I drafted a debt validation letter to NCO Financial and sent it, not to the address sent on the NAF letter but to another NCO office.
(3) I made copies of the debt validation letter and the refusal to arbitrate letter to NCO Financial as well as the certified mail confirmation (to show that NCO Financial had in fact received both documents.) and sent this to NAF. (Also send certified Mail)
(4) My mom received a response from the debt validation letter stating that she did not owe the debt and that they were sending a request to all three credit bureaus to delete their listing from her reports. --
[had they not responded on time, I had already drafted the "Failure to respond to debt validation letter" which would have included my complaint# from the FTC (because I would have reported them and filed a complaint with the FTC) and also cc: my attorney (pre-paid legal attorney) ]
(5) After I received the answer to my debt validation letter stating my mom did not owe anything and that they were closing her account in their office, I immediately sent a copy of the letter to the NAF requesting that they no longer contact her reference any arbitration as continued efforts would be in violation of the FDCPA. NAF sent my mom another letter, so I then:
(6)I sent a letter to NCO Financial Group along with my Complaint # from the FTC explaining that I had reported them for continuing collection activities on an account that had not been validated and that was determined NOT to be mine. ( send priority mail w/ delivery confirmation)
Less than a week after NCO Financial received the letter, my mom received a letter stating that they had requested that all arbitration be stopped and then she received a letter from NAF apologizing about "accidently" sending two letters reference arbitration. About a month after that, my mom received an "order" in the mail from NAF stating that the case had been Dismissed with Prejudice".
On the bottom of all NAF correspondence in the Notice of Arbitration, it states that they are debt collectors attempting to collect a debt..so treat them like one and respond to the notice of arbitration just like I did. Good Luck!
Wow, thank you for sharing, I will definately bookmark this post. Awesome job!
I am glad you came and shared this information with us. I am sure that someone will be able to use it in the future.
Good story and great information. I have one question though. I sent out a DV letter over 60 days ago and did not recieve a response. I stated 30 days in the letter (even though they told me they have 60). Do I follow with this failure to respond letter and if so where can I get a sample of one? I asked a question on here a couple weeks ago about whether I am safe from having to pay this debt sonce they did not validate and if I would win in court sonce they did not but did not recieve much of an answer.
great question fireyone, did you send it certified via return receipt requested? If so, you have the proof that they did recieve it.
You may want to follow up with a failure to respond letter, you should be able to find one here on the forum somewhere if not, Maybe creditadvocate would be gracious enough to share the one she already drafted.
Fireyone,
goodnatured posed a very critical question...Did you send the letter certified mail with return receipt requested? If you did not, then you will need to send a new debt validation letter making sure that you send it with a delivery confirmation service. ( I would would send it priority mail with delivery confirmation to their physical address. I recommend this bc I have noticed a trend of companies refusing to accept mail or sign for certified mail bc they anticipate a dispute of some kind.)
Reference the amount of time that they have to respond to a debt validation letter....THEY WISH THEY HAD 60 DAYS!!! They only have 30 days!!!!
Reference your final question about being safe from continued collection activity, Yes you would be safe from paying the debt until the validation is complete but if you did not send the letter certified mail or with some kind of delivery service to show proof that you sent the first validation letter....You are not safe from continued collection efforts. It is imperative that you resubmit your debt validation letter immediately. Would you win in court?? ( Please be advised that I am not an attorney but theoretically, yes you should win in court provided that you had proof that you requested validation and the company willfully and blatantly failed to comply with the FDCPA. ( A copy of the letter as well as a follow up letter and your mailing confirmations would establish this.) Say if the company tried to take you to court and sue you and you had proof that they never validated your debt, then it would be outstanding to countersue them for $1000.
Questions that I have for you:
(1) How is it that you came to ask for the debt validation...Did you check your credit report and see the company listed or did you receive a collection notice in the mail? ( Even if you received a collection notice in the mail and failed to respond in the 30 days that the notice states, your failure to respond is not an admission that the debt is yours..so my next question is:
(2) Have you checked your credit report? (If not, you need to.)
(3) Is the company an outside collection agency or the in-house collection department of the original creditor?
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