Rant and rave

[rivkat]

Argh. In 1997, my checkbook was stolen. I cancelled the checks, and in 1998 closed the account. Turns out, in 1999 someone forged two of the checks. In 2001, a collection agency tracked me down; I submitted an affidavit of fraud, and that should have been it. But no; the store at which the forger used the checks went bankrupt, and (no one will admit this, but it's clearly what happened) they lost the records of which accounts receivable were actually closed and a new collection agency contacted me about the "bad checks that [I] passed," language both understandable and infuriating. Now, of course, after 7 years I don't have any records and I'm really upset. Also, they got the name of the issuing bank wrong, so the bank has no record of the (nonexistent) account. I'm probably overreacting, but we're about to close on the house and financial curveballs like this really scare me.

I'm just going to assume that if you're here and you're fannish, you've heard about Lanning's new SV story, which I just devoured. So instead I will point you to yahtzee63's incredible Edward Scissorhands/Lemony Snicket crossover, so good that I begin to believe Mr. Snicket has cleverly disguised himself as the noted XF/Angel/Alias/XMM writer. Knowledge of Snicket is a plus, but I don't think you need to know anything about Edward to adore this story.

Comments

[tesla321.livejournal.com]

Threaten a suit under the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, and one under the Federal Credit Reporting Acts. It used to be $1000 a pop.

aka Denise,
also practicing indigent defense in Alabama

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I need to ask some colleagues what my rights are. The big difficulty is that I didn't keep a copy of the stuff from last time, so even though it's true that they can't come after me twice, at the moment it's just my word that they came after me before. And the store has gone bankrupt, so there are no records. If I knew what collection agency it was the first time, I might be able to contact them -- but again I would need to have kept the letter, which I foolishly didn't.

I may never throw out a piece of paper again.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

you don't need proof to threaten a suit. sadly. but in your case, fill out an affidavit (stating that the original was lost) along with all the facts you can dredge up - bury them in details), attach it to a very legal looking letter, demand they resolve this within 10 days. Also advise them you will be seeking -- oh, I don't know try tortious interference and see if you can toss in some damages there as well.

And don't forget to sign it Esq.

Other ideas if you don't to carry the war home to their front door: use the credit bureaus (Equifax etc) to start the process of them correcting it as well.

If it were me, I'd start calling everyone I could find at the new collection agency -- I'd start with Customer relations with a stop at their legal dept.

I feel your pain

[iocaste212.livejournal.com]

I opened a new checking acct a few years ago and someone at the bank, or at the check place, actually ran a duplicate set of checks, and started spending like mad. I was getting chased by Luis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, etc. Took forever to straighten out, and to this day I still get occasional threatening letters.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec!

Also, if it helps leaven the angst, I will share the ultimate bad-credit tale of all time, which truly happened to two people in my New Orleans book club:

Judith met her husband while they were both grad students in London in the 1960s. Dick was about to leave for a six-month research stint in Africa, and he and Judith got married in a big rush right before that. She went around happily changing her account names everywhere to Mrs. Barton, so all would be in order before they left.

They left. They returned six months later. And among their correspondence were huge -- huge as in tens of thousands of dollars -- bills from Harrod's, for extravagant purchases made while they were in Africa. Clearly it was a mistake, and they took the bills in. Harrod's first policy was that Harrod's did not make mistakes, but after proof was offered that these people were in Africa and NOT London at the time, the store finally agreed to doublecheck.

What happened?

Turned out that, on the same day Judith went in and changed her account name to "Mrs. Richard Barton," somebody else went in and changed her account name to "Mrs. Richard Burton."

And so they had six months' of Liz Taylor's impulse spending on their tab.

[batdina.livejournal.com]

Any chance a virtual copy of the affidavit still exists somewhere? in an office computer backup file in the great law offices in the sky? I assume it contains information on which checks, which bank, etc.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

It's possible, if I knew the name of the first collection agency, which I don't; you can see it's a big mess.

Wholly crap Batman!

[ballisticliz.livejournal.com]

I hate collection agencies, they're so retarded! *I love Lanning's newist story*

Sometimes life really makes you think WTF?

See I guess we all really just need alot of shoe boxes, many many shoe boxes. Why? Well for all the paper stuff we have to keep on everying. So go buy more shoes! *LOL*

LB