Actual Case Results Against Debt Collectors
In the past five years, we have worked to put together hundreds of cases for our Clients and their friends and family. These cases resulted in an attorney suing debt collectors, original creditors and the three major credit reporting agencies. Here are the results from just a few of those cases.
CLIENT #1: “DAVID”
[DEBT COLLECTOR VOICEMAIL] “David Jones, this is Phillip Parker calling. I’m calling in reference to service of legal documents scheduled for service today. I will be at your residence at 2:00 p.m. to complete this service process. If you are unavailable, I will be at your place of employment shortly thereafter. If service and identification is not completed today, your paperwork will be surrendered for direct refusal. For your records, call the claimant’s office at 877-957-xxxx. Your case number is 234945. David Jones, I will see you today.”
Result: David received a $10,000 settlement!
CLIENT #2: “JULIA”
[DEBT COLLECTOR VOICEMAIL] “Hello, this is an important message for a Julia Jones. My name is Roger Cook. I’m calling on behalf of the legal claims office. This call is in regards to a civil complaint that is being forwarded for service. Some time-sensitive documents in the form of an FC-100, which is a summons to appear, is being issued to your residence. Please be advised that this matter is attached to your name as well as your social security number. For more information you may contact the following company for more information about this matter. They can be reached at 855-680-xxxx. Your timely response is required to prevent any further actions from being filed against you. Thank you.
Result: Julia received a $9,000 settlement and an $11,000 debt forgiven!
CLIENT #3: “ROSS”
[DEBT COLLECTOR VOICEMAIL] “Hello, I’m calling about an important personal business matter. Please call me back as soon as possible at the following number: 888-889-xxxx. Again, my number is 888-889-xxxx. Thank you. Good Bye.”
Result: Ross received a $9,500 settlement and a $2,300 debt forgiven!
CLIENT #4: “Tammy”
[INACCURATE CREDIT REPORTING] Tammy paid about 22 payments to a collection agency on a past due credit card account. Then, she reached a settlement agreement to settle the remaining balance on the account to zero for a lump sum payment. The collection agency then sold the account to a major debt buyer. The major debt buyer and a sister company reported the account to Tammy’s credit and reported an unpaid balance. Tammy disputed it three times over the next year to the big three bureaus and the major debt buyer and its sister company. None of the companies ever removed it or corrected it. So, we sued all three bureaus, the major debt buyer and its sister company and the original creditor (a major credit card company).
Result: Tammy received a $19,750 settlement, the item finally removed from her credit and another account that the major debt buyer had purchased forgiven and removed from her credit!
CLIENT #5: “John”
[MULTIPLE CASES] After educating John, a high income earner as a mortgage broker in Tennessee, on the misdeeds of collection agencies, John downloaded a call recorder and provided us enough recordings for us to identify more than seven cases against nine different defendants. The violations ranged from a simple failure to state the caller was a debt collector to telling John’s ex-wife about a delinquent account on the financing of engagement he ring he bought for his subsequent fiancé.
Results: John received settlements in six of the seven cases totaling $22,750, another case is currently pending with default judgment expected to be entered soon in an amount greater than $5,000, and he received almost $12,000 in debt forgiveness!
CLIENT #6: “Thomas”
[MULTIPLE CASES] Thomas is a truck driver burdened with several delinquent accounts. On our advice, he downloaded a call recorder app and after providing us a couple weeks’ worth of recordings, we were able to identify five cases against eight different defendants. The violations ranged from simply collecting in a state where the collector did not have a license to do so to telling Thomas that the Sheriff of his county was looking for him and that he was being pursued for defrauding a financial institution.
Results: Thomas received settlements in four of the five cases totaling $22,000, a judgment in another case for more than $11,000 (which we are currently enforcing in Minnesota), almost $2,175 in debt forgiveness and one valid medical account removed from his credit report!
CLIENT #7: “JOHNATHAN”
[CASE #1] Johnathan received a voicemail threatening that he would be sued on the account if he did not return the call that day and make a payment. After we coached him on what to ask and who to call, his one claim case ballooned to a case against two debt buyers and two debt collectors from the Buffalo, New York region.
Result: Johnathan received a settlement of $14,000, forgiveness of a $12,000 credit card debt and removal of the negative item from his credit report.
[CASE #2] The debt buyer that agreed to forgive the debt and remove the item from Johnathan’s credit report failed to remove the item from Johnathan’s credit report and continued to report a balance owed. We drafted a dispute letter specific to this situation for Johnathan to mail to the three credit reporting agencies. After the dispute the item remained on his credit report. So, we sued the two debt buyers, again, on the same account.
Result: Johnathan received a second settlement on the same account in the amount of $4,000 and the item was finally removed from his credit report.
CLIENT # 8: “AMANDA”
[ABUSIVE DEBT COLLECTION] Amanda was an employee at a credit repair company and received a call from a Dallas-based collection company threatening that an audit would be conducted if a payment wasn’t made immediately. Amanda didn’t want to file a case because she was embarrassed by the situation. We researched and determined who the actual creditor was on the account and drafted a lawsuit naming both the creditor and the collection agency as defendants. After emailing it to both companies, the collection agency quickly called to settle without a case ever being filed.
Results: Amanda received a settlement of more than $12,000 and forgiveness of a $4,676 debt.
CLIENT # 9: “SHARON”
[ABUSIVE DEBT COLLECTION] Sharon was contacted and spoke with a debt collector four times before she told him to not call her any more. The collector continued to call to speak with Sharon and also left at least two voice mail messages after her request. In all, Sharon ended up with eleven recordings of phone conversations and voice mail messages from the collector.
The FDCPA attorney to whom we referred Sharon promptly filed a lawsuit. Several weeks later, the collection company responded that they had hired an attorney and were going to fight the suit. A few days later, the collector’s attorney contacted our Client’s attorney and stated to him that our Client was being “less than truthful” and that she had never asked his Client to not call her. Asked why he felt that she hadn’t made the request, the defendant’s attorney stated that he had listened to the recordings and she never made the request.
Our Client’s attorney and the defendant’s attorney exchanged recordings. After much time had passed, the collection company was still unwilling to settle, so our Client’s attorney scheduled a deposition. In the deposition, three employees of the collection company were deposed. Upon hearing the recordings that our Client had made, they soon realized that the recordings had been “doctored”, apparently by the third-party call center that had been contacting Sharon. Apparently, it seems, the defendant’s attorney had either not listened to the recordings or he failed to notice the numerous times Sharon had requested that the collector not call her.
Results: Within days, the collection company offered Sharon a settlement which exceeded $50,000, forgiveness of the debt and removal from her credit report!
These are just a few of the hundreds of FDCPA lawsuits/settlements that Texas Credit Specialists has been able to help our Clients fight back when collectors threatened and harassed them!
Are you receiving calls or voicemail messages from a debt collector? Call, text or email me using the info below.
Thank You!
Ron Reed
(972) 658-3562 DIRECT
Ron.Reed (at) TCS720.com EMAIL
