thats sounds like a scam sweetie they tried that same crap on my boss

The caller ID was from Capital One. I doubt it's a scam :<

his said the same thing well diff bank but it was a scam to try to get them money

Come to think of it, is it customary for a bank to call and threaten to sue you...?

I'm not sure. That is why I'm asking.

Doesn't sound very professional... or a good business image.

that kinda comment doesnt sound like something that an actual financial institution would say, that an get them in trouble, but ontop of that if you did not sign into any of your parent's debt all you need is to show recipts or some other proof that your belongings are yours and then they can't touch them, or do what Ive seen other of my firends do and get a TRUSTWORTHY friend to store your stuff till this blows over just to be sure that any kind of repo person doesnt take them, if you "gift" furniture, computers or other similar personal assets to someone else before the repo man comes knocking then he can't touch it, I have a friend that did that with his car, he signed to title over to a friend of his for a single dollar so when the divorce guy came over he couldn't do anything about splitting or selling his car cause it legally wasn't his anymore, all he had to do was give her the 50 cents half of the sale that was hers, and of course he "borrowed the car from his friend to get to work, and she couldn't do anything about it cause it wasnt his.

Hope that's semi helpful with at least protecting your personal assets if what you heard was true and comes to pass

It would be nice if I had a trustworthy friend who lived closer than 200 miles away from me >_>

But yes, I do get what you're saying and that was one option I had in mind if hard push came to hard shove.

... putting my things in storage I mean.

i don't think a bank under new regulations can repo your possesions.... the house maybe but your furniture and clothing... no

but check online for the rules the banks fallowor if they call back talke to them about the repo cause a scammer cannot fool you if you ask for the guid lines the bankl has to follow.

and also i think there scammers cause theres no way a banks allowed to be that hostile to you.

but please check cause it could be that its not the bank but the collecter aka repo men calling your family and threatining you.

I do believe it was a collector, even though my father said the caller ID was labeled Capital One. They may have their own built-in collection agency or some such.

well check with state laws or government law on repossession.

but i doubt they would take everything even the clothing your wearing... i think its an illigal scare tactic to drive you nutz

It does sound like it the more I think about it.

well thats good.

First off record the number

Second Call your bank and see if this is true

Third off if above is not true give the bank the number and tell them you are also giving it to the fbi

Fourth call the fbi and give them the details

Fifth Work with your bank and fbi to get this worked out

---

also

Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you or any third parties they contact. For example, they may not:

use threats of violence or harm;
publish a list of names of people who refuse to pay their debts (but they can give this information to the credit reporting companies);
use obscene or profane language; or
repeatedly use the phone to annoy someone.

and

Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, they may not:

try to collect any interest, fee, or other charge on top of the amount you owe unless the contract that created your debt – or your state law – allows the charge;
deposit a post-dated check early;
take or threaten to take your property unless it can be done legally; or
contact you by postcard.

Where do I report a debt collector for an alleged violation?

Report any problems you have with a debt collector to your state Attorney General’s office (www.naag.org) and the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov). Many states have their own debt collection laws that are different from the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Your Attorney General’s office can help you determine your rights under your state’s law.

Thank you! This is helpful information. I will carefully consider it next time and see what happens.

*nose bumps* your welcome *wags tail* Hope it all work out for you, ig not I'll stick you in my closet to live X3

I would go ahead and speak with a lawyer because as long as your parents are making an effort to pay back the loans, the back and credit companies can't file lawsuit. It's a very horrendously commonly used scare tactic they use to get money out of you faster. And if they do take the matter to court, unless your family obviously just doesn't care about paying them back, has made no effort in quite some time to reach an agreed payment plan or anything, the case will be thrown out. Also, another important thing to note, if you reach an agreed payment plan with your lender or creditor but they continue to call you even though you're paying on time, you can file harassment charges on them.

See the creditors do not want to reach any sort of payment plan that isn't on the "Federal Guidelines." They have this minimum payment of like 300 dollars per month and it is the only amount they will accept without taking us to court.

Okay. Well you and your family have a right to eat and have shelter and have transportation. If you and your family make an effort to pay something to the creditors, then they have no grounds to take y'all to court just because they're not getting the amount they want from you. What your family should do is get a lawyer and tell them the problem and what the lawyer will probably do is tell the bank/creditors that if they continue harassing you, you will file a harassment suit against them.

Oh also ask the lawyer about methods to document any phone calls from the creditors like recording phone conversations and such.

I have a telephone hybrid hookup that I can pipe the audio into my desktop computer. However, my father always seems to answer them while I'm not around. I'll have to get him to only answer when I'm here.

We can't afford a lawyer. We've already been to a bankruptcy lawyer back in January. We didn't get any helpful information during the initial free consultation. Everybody at every turn and every corner wants their money immediately. Including lawyers that would be "helping" us and name-only.

Collection agencies have been made to pay big fines when they overstep. One called a persons work and friends. Collection agencies will lie cheat steal when they can get away with it. They will even try to get a person to re-affirm there debt after a bankruptcy making ti sound like the person needs to.

This is going to ramble a bit...

Leros has some good information there.

Several things. If your over 18 your property is yours. Get recipes etc if you can if not its he said she said.

It would have to go to court, now if its over a certain amount it will have to go to Federal court not small claims thats expensive and takes oh up wards of 2 years to get through the court system.

If its a home reposession, thats another thing. Its probably that a bankruptsy attorney could do something.

What kind of loan is it? if its no a mortgage, or a second/third on a mortgage or the house used as collateral, the only way to lose the house is a forced sale and I really doubt they would attempt that in this economy. Lets say they try out of spite. The mortgage holder has first position so a bank forced sale isn't going to bring full value, they wouldn't get anything after the expense of a court fight. An Attorney would recommend bankruptcy, even under a full one you have to be able to live somewhere if you can show you can afford the house payment and there isn't huge amounts of recoverable money from the house. IE it would sell, it would sell for sufficient amount to cover the debts. (Again this economy not so likely).

If your upside down enough they won't work with you then that is an option a bankruptcy. It happens, it will wash off the record in a certain number of years, in one year credit card offers will start up again. Talk to an attorney many give free consultations.

I really think this is cage banging to see what they can get to drop. Another thing that may happen is this. Lets say you don't / aren't going the bankrupt route. You send them 10.00 or 25.00 a month. They cash the checks, you send that amount every month. They take you to court, you tell the court you are paying what you can with the way things are. you have a history of this. The court may say okay interest is set to 0 and you have to continue to pay that amount per month.

They won't go after many thing unless they are really high resale value. IE you have a computer say you use this for work, school, other things and we know a used computer in todays market is going to bring next to nothing is not likely to be removed, no clothes, nor TV's, your movie collection.

Once a decision on say Bankruptcy is decided the attorney will have you stop paying all the debt bills except say the house or house/car (again you have to have transportation). It could take 6 months to a year or more to have it filed and go to court. Oh yeah all attempts at collection are sent to the Attorney.

I will repeat that the agents for a collection agency will lie cheat steal and get away with what they can to try to get anything. Many work on commission (even those working for large banks like capital one). Don't argue with them. Have your plan what you can pay if anything or that you can't. If you can't pay *anything* then contact an Attorney on the bankruptcy. I know its scary but there are limits to what they can do even if the current congress/Senate has made thinks a little harder. Hang in there.

We already talked to a bankruptcy lawyer about this matter whenever my father first had the stroke and was put out of work for 2 months. Not much helpful information was said at all. She didn't really seem to want to deal with us.

Also my father finally has a job now, so we will be able to pay as you said probably 25 dollars per month. But like I said up there, we cannot afford to pay their federally-suggested minimum payment of roughly 300 dollars. So they will definitely still be taking us to court in both the bank and credit card situations.

Sounds like a bad lawyer honestly :( Just like bad (insert profession) I would seek out a different lawyer, See if you can find a recommendation.

i know im 4 hours late, but i just got home.

i know here in canada, it is ILLEGAL to threaten or harrass for the money over the phone. they are REQUIRED to give you anything like that in FORMAL WRITING on paper and signed by a judge before anything can happen.

i had the same thing happen to me over an $8000 student loan. and it happened to alot of people, and the collection agency that was handling the student loans got fined big time and the government recalled all the student loans that they had handed to the agency because of it. now they are happy to be getting my $100 a month towards the loan because i am at least paying it back slowly.

the harrassment was so bad from them that i was getting threatening calls AT WORK when i had never even given them the name of my job.

Well then I think I should move to Canada.

if you do, come to BC. its a little more expensive, but its worth it. never gets too hot or too cold, and if your on the coast, nobody gives a shit if you smoke pot...

you wouldnt believe the number of times ive watched people spark up right beside city hall here

well, most of what was said here is true and the way you guys got called is totally lacking professionalism and ethics. You cannot be harassed in this way even if you are a debtor.

Also, collection agencies will never give any threats like those, unless the employee is a dumbass. Follow the advice given because it really sounds fishy to me >_>

I'll talk to my father at-length about this tonight. We may have to start recording phone calls from now on.

If that was the collections dept of the bank, then telling you they're going to take everything you own happens to be illegal. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/con.....dit/cre18.shtm I would say this both falls under misrepresenting the amount you owe (since they certainly have no clue that the amount you own does or doesn't equal the amount you owe) and possibly the threat to take property since the threatened property significantly exceeds the amount of debt and therefore would be of questionable legality for them to lay full claim to.

I'm beginning to think the phone call was from a scammer, not actually from the bank.

Depends on the bank. Some of them use collections agencies that routinely break the law on a day to day basis. Incidentally, if you record the phone calls, you can sue the collections agency for each violation, $1,000 or more (depending on the state) per violation. In fact, suing for FDCPA violations can often bring in enough money to clear the debt if the agency is being sufficiently pigheaded. I should also note that if your name isn't on the debt, the bank can't take away your possessions. If they try to do that in the lawsuit, you can countersue for malicious prosecution, since you can't be held liable simply because you happen to live in the house and such a claim by the bank would basically be outright fraud.

oh i have an EVIL IDEA...and the reason i call it evil is because it could SINK THEM....but use this as a last resort....Take it to the press..inform them of how the company treated you over the phone provide them proof of this and they will EAT IT UP! one local debt collector company got sunk because the family took it to the press. now this don't always work out but hey...what have ya got to lose? and any company wanting to get the heat off them will offer you a better deal in like..microseconds of seeing the press at their front door asking questions with a live cam..lol

Oh oh OHHH now THIS is an idea.

I just so happen to /work/ at a media outlet. How truly convenient.

From what I know, they have to send ya a paper or sumit that says you are late with payment and stuff like that...

they already did that.

I'm under the impression the phone call was from a scammer at this point.

Most likely, there's full of those.
Did he ask you to give him the money, or the bank?
At least yer smart enough to question things like this :3