The Law Center, Providian Financial Rip-Off questionable collection practices, lies about intentions, upcharges over original debt Virgina Beach Virginia

About 5 years ago I had a providian credit card with a $1000.00 limit. My ex-wife got ahold of the card and used it to charge an unscrupulous amount bringing the card to the maximum. (I blame nobody but my ex-wife on that. Things happen and I could not control this debt. The debt was sold to the so called "Law Center" who would call not only me, but my parents, sister, aunts and uncles and explain to my whole family about this debt. They also revealed to my mother that they were taking me to court. I did call them and asked them to refrain from speaking my private business to my family. I also asked them if this was an actual Attorney's office, to which they would not answer but rather would skip around the question many many times. I did not take them seriously after that. Several months later while I was in the process of refinancing my home I saw an opportunity to pay off this old debt, to which reached $1500.00 due to financing. This figure was prominantly displayed on my credit report. I called the "law center" to ask for the payoff amount. They told me if I paid it right then over the phone it would be only $1016.00. I told them about my refinancing situation and that they would recieve payment within 30 days. I also gave them the name and number of the Attorney I had retained to handle this situation. They told me that they had not choice but to take me to County court if I did not pay it within 4 days, and that they paperwork was already filed. They also said that in 30 days the fee would be $3600.00, which was the total of finance charges, fees, paperwork... I could not believe what I was hearing, so I told them that I would have my lawyer contact them. I contacted my Lawyer and he asked me to get their address and fax number. When I called them for that info they REFUSED to give it to me, and just babbled about my "case". (They refer to my debt as a case) And NOW all of a sudden they tell me that they ARE a lawyers office. After 20 minutes of constant arguing about their address and number they finally break down and give me the info. My Attorney sends them a letter asking for the payoff amount and says he is handling it personally. When I recieve my refinancing statement the payoff amount went from $1016.00 to $2200.00. My lawyer claims that they would not budge from that figure. That is $700.00 over what I originally owed! I don't understand how that can do that! This is my main problems with this company...

They got $700.00 more than I originally owed the original creditor, and they went back on their original payoff they told me of $1016.00, all because it took 3 weeks longer to pay them. Heck, they waited 3 years, whats 3 weeks?

They kept refering to my debt as a "case", and told me that they were scheduled to take me to court on the first of the month. Well, of course the 1st came and went and nothing happend, so their scare tactic didn't work. However it was a lie, and that is bad, even for a debt collector.

They are called the "law Center", and after months of asking they would not admit that they were not an attorneys office.

Then all of a sudden they became one, and gave me the name of an attorney that supposably works there named Harry Con. LOL I think that they are a con!

Harry
west haven, Connecticut
U.S.A.