Creditors Interchange I think Creditors Interchange is Scamming me! ripoff Buffalo New York

I have currently a debt (unknown) with CI. I have retained a Bankruptcy Atty thru my prepaid legal Insurance Firm ARAG. This company (ARAG,in my experience only) has provided me with reputable attorney's with reasonable fees. Any employee should pick up pre-paid legal if available at work for this very situation.

Secondly, fire off those Cease-and-Desists. What are they going to do, sue?! It will just be kicked off to another department with a legally different internal name.

Third, (((REDACTED)))
sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitor's name

Fourth, not all the people you will deal with are bad. I worked for 90 days at NCSC in Overland Park, KS in 1997 in data entry. My job was to process the payments so the collector's would get paid on time. Some were real nice and one, who had the most aggressive collection department, stated that she didn't care about other people's problems, she wanted to get paid. Take that as you may.

Good luck to us all, with hard times in the land of plenty.

did you receive a letter from mbna stating the terms of the settlement ? if not, try to get them to mail you a letter stating the terms and as long as you met them this is settled. Note that CI is known for illegal tactics and they can not threaten to sue you as they do not have a legal dept. i worked in las vegas and what they tell individuals is not legal. i suggest you tape it, which is legal now without telling the collector and send it to the commission that governs collections in your state.
also if the credit card was in a corp name they can not touch personal assets

You don't give enough information. I always advise people to settle with the debt OWNER, not the debt collector - not the same thing.

If you settle with a collection agency, say for 60% of the total debt, that only gets that particular collection agency off your back. The debt owner, can and wil (in most cases) come after you through another (or the same) collection agency in the future.

When you settle with the debt owner, you want a document from the owner that states the debt is ABSOLVED as a result of the settlement - this protects you in the future.

The first order of business is to determine who the CREDITOR (the current owner of the debt) is. This is why it is important for you to send a certified, return receipt requested letter to DEBT COLLECTOR disputing the debt and DEMANDING validation per the FDCPA. The DEBT COLLECTOR is required by law to obtain the validating documents and forward them to you - the burden of proof is on them.

You should not speak over the phone with them about this - other than to get an address to send your dispute/validation letter.

Admit nothing and make no deals with ANYONE until you have received and evaluated the validation documents. If they call and tell you "we don't validate," simply remind them of the requirements of the FDCPA and firmly tell them you will not discuss the matter until you have received the validation documents you have requested and then hang up! NO MORE TALKING.

They KNOW they have to provide the documents when you submit to them a written request. Any conversations by them is merely to coerce you into sending a payment - DO NOT PAY ANYTHING at this point. You need to see the validation documents to determine your next course of action.

Good luck, and get that letter off to them ASAP!!!

You don't give enough information. I always advise people to settle with the debt OWNER, not the debt collector - not the same thing.

If you settle with a collection agency, say for 60% of the total debt, that only gets that particular collection agency off your back. The debt owner, can and wil (in most cases) come after you through another (or the same) collection agency in the future.

When you settle with the debt owner, you want a document from the owner that states the debt is ABSOLVED as a result of the settlement - this protects you in the future.

The first order of business is to determine who the CREDITOR (the current owner of the debt) is. This is why it is important for you to send a certified, return receipt requested letter to DEBT COLLECTOR disputing the debt and DEMANDING validation per the FDCPA. The DEBT COLLECTOR is required by law to obtain the validating documents and forward them to you - the burden of proof is on them.

You should not speak over the phone with them about this - other than to get an address to send your dispute/validation letter.

Admit nothing and make no deals with ANYONE until you have received and evaluated the validation documents. If they call and tell you "we don't validate," simply remind them of the requirements of the FDCPA and firmly tell them you will not discuss the matter until you have received the validation documents you have requested and then hang up! NO MORE TALKING.

They KNOW they have to provide the documents when you submit to them a written request. Any conversations by them is merely to coerce you into sending a payment - DO NOT PAY ANYTHING at this point. You need to see the validation documents to determine your next course of action.

Good luck, and get that letter off to them ASAP!!!

You don't give enough information. I always advise people to settle with the debt OWNER, not the debt collector - not the same thing.

If you settle with a collection agency, say for 60% of the total debt, that only gets that particular collection agency off your back. The debt owner, can and wil (in most cases) come after you through another (or the same) collection agency in the future.

When you settle with the debt owner, you want a document from the owner that states the debt is ABSOLVED as a result of the settlement - this protects you in the future.

The first order of business is to determine who the CREDITOR (the current owner of the debt) is. This is why it is important for you to send a certified, return receipt requested letter to DEBT COLLECTOR disputing the debt and DEMANDING validation per the FDCPA. The DEBT COLLECTOR is required by law to obtain the validating documents and forward them to you - the burden of proof is on them.

You should not speak over the phone with them about this - other than to get an address to send your dispute/validation letter.

Admit nothing and make no deals with ANYONE until you have received and evaluated the validation documents. If they call and tell you "we don't validate," simply remind them of the requirements of the FDCPA and firmly tell them you will not discuss the matter until you have received the validation documents you have requested and then hang up! NO MORE TALKING.

They KNOW they have to provide the documents when you submit to them a written request. Any conversations by them is merely to coerce you into sending a payment - DO NOT PAY ANYTHING at this point. You need to see the validation documents to determine your next course of action.

Good luck, and get that letter off to them ASAP!!!

I contacted mbna direct and discovered that they sold the debt to CI back in October of 2005. Does that change anything? Once they sold it doesn't it now mean that the "creditor" then becomes Creditors Interchange instead of mbna?

My point is this. My wife made an agreement to settle this debt. We held up our end of the bargain and bit the bullet making payments for six months. Shouldn't this debt now be considered "paid"?

OK Here's what you can do to force the collection agency to back off and validate the debt:

FIRST - Read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at http://ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm.

It is important to understand the definitions used in the FDCPA, so I have included that section of the law. Many collectors do not fall under the FDCPA, so please read paragraph 6 and its subparagraphs very carefully:

803. Definitions [15 USC 1692a]
As used in this title --

(1) The term "Commission" means the Federal Trade Commission.

(2) The term "communication" means the conveying of information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.

(3) The term "consumer" means any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt.

(4) The term "creditor" means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another.

(5) The term "debt" means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment.

(6) The term "debt collector" means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section 808(6), such term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. THE TERM DOES NOT INCLUDE --

(A) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;

(B) any person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts;

(C) any officer or employee of the United States or any State to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of his official duties;

(D) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;

(E) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists consumers in the liquidation of their debts by receiving payments from such consumers and distributing such amounts to creditors; and

(F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity (i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a debt which was originated by such person; (iii) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor.

SECOND - send a certified letter, return receipt requested, to the DEBT COLLECTOR to dispute the debt and request written verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor. Also, include a statement stating that you do not wish to be contacted again until you receive all the written debt validation information you have requested.

Once they receive the letter, they must cease all collection efforts until they provide the written information requested. This is in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

THIRD - Once you received the written verification information requested, contact the CREDITOR (who owns the debt) via certified mail to resolve the matter.

Please note that simply sending the letter telling them to leave you alone does not absolve a valid debt. What the letter does do is force them to provide you with written validation of the debt and to stop all collection actions until you receive the information. Once you have the information, you should act on it accordingly by contacting the CREDITOR via certified mail.

Some other notes: Any statute of limitations does not absolve a valid debt; it merely prohibits the creditor from going to court to obtain a money judgment against you. IF there is already a money judgment, the statute of limitations most likely is longer - in New York State it's 20 years.

You can check the statute of limitations for debt in your state at http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html.

In addition, a credit report listing does not in any way determine if a debt is valid or not, or collectible or not that is what courts are for. There are 3 ways a valid debt can be absolved; you pay it off, the creditor forgives it, or bankruptcy court orders it absolved.

Section 809 of the FDCPA covers debt validation nicely:

809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g]

(a) Within five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing --

(1) the amount of the debt;

(2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;

(3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector;

(4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and

(5) a statement that, upon the consumer's written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.

(b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

(c) The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.

Hope this helps.