Sears - Bill Collectors - ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

[llbriteyes]

I am so angry I could spit! Opening what I thought was a bill today, I saw it was from a collection agency representing Sears. We paid off Sears THREE YEARS AGO!

I called the collection agency, and explained to them that we kept our Sears open when we filed bankruptcy about ten years ago. In Jan. 2002, we couldn't afford to keep it any longer, and were offered an amount to settle it out. $1445.00!!!!! We paid it. Thought nothing more about it until this bill comes.

When I talked to *Carl* he tried to give me a really hard time. I told him it had been settled. He said he didn't have any proof of that, and that I owed it. I asked him why AFTER THREE YEARS they were just getting around to dunning me for it. He had no answer. It doesn't even show on my credit report anymore! So he said he'd "check into it" and get back with me on Tuesday. HA!

When he calls back on Tuesday and tells me I DO owe it, and I know he will, I will give him my attorney's name and phone number.

He *said* that I couldn't say cease and desist on the phone, I had to do it in writing. Is that right?

Linda

[justinenycole26]

NO! You CAN order them to C&D over the phone, but it will be your word against theirs and they will lie. You need to send a C&D letter certified return receipt. Don't even bother talking to them on the phone again.
When you settled with Sears, did you get anything in writing? More than likely they accepted your settlement then turned the rest over to a CA. When you accept a settlement offer, make sure you get it in writing and that they are not going to try to collect the rest.
Call Sears. Ask them if they indeed turned this over to a CA and if so, why. You will need a supervisor, the regular CSRs won't have a clue.
Good luck!

[annie169]

I can't believe someone else is having problems with Sears. Hubby had a CC with them like 15 years ago. He owed on it and just let it go (this was before we met). Well they came after him 6 years ago and his mom paid it for him because he was living with her, being her caretaker, yard man, etc. We don't have the check or anything because she paid it and passed away over a year ago.

[Tasha405]

We had a Sears card a few years ago and we will never have another one! They are handy to have but man their interest rates are through the roof and it seems like your payments get you no where. They used to call and drive us crazy over our account when DH lost his job. I hope you can get it all worked out! (((Hugs)))

[mrssnoop1]

we had a card years agp also. We charged a ac and while they put that on our bill the also tacked on a freezer that we never got nor wanted.

My parente applied for a card and they had wonderful credit. Sears said my parents would have to put the house up to secure the card!!!!!

[schsa]

Sears has already been through one federal action for their charge and collections tactics. As said before tell the to cease and desist. Send a letter, certified and overnight if necessary to the collections agency. You can find examples of these letters on line.

Then contact Sears and find out what their problem is and if the pursue this matter you are going to sue them because they did accept settlement.

[llbriteyes]

Sears has already been through one federal action for their charge and collections tactics. As said before tell the to cease and desist. Send a letter, certified and overnight if necessary to the collections agency. You can find examples of these letters on line.

Then contact Sears and find out what their problem is and if the pursue this matter you are going to sue them because they did accept settlement.

The thing is, the guy from the collection agency says there is no PROOF that the $1445.00 was a settlement. They just show it as a payment. I don't remember if I settled directly with them or with Sears. Of course that was three years ago, so I don't have any paperwork to prove my point. Except that our credit report doesn't even SHOW it. Not good, not bad, not settled.

I will contact Sears on Monday and try to pre-empt the collectors call. It really ticks me off when I have to do other people's jobs!

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I fully intend to apply it.

Linda

[mesue]

Here is the problem I foresee and I hope I am wrong. If you settled with them they should have sent you a letter stating that is the amount of money they will accept and give you so many days to pay it. And you should have a returned check saying the amount on it with proof Sears cashed it. The problem with settling with credit card companies is that if you don't have a letter saying paid in full then you are just up a creek without a paddle. I tried to settle with Sears and they said sure but then refused to send me a letter, I knew they were just going to apply the amount to the bill and keep billing me. Finally they sent me a letter and I sent them a check. Now after reading this I am going to have to go through my files and start looking for my stuff since I will probably be hearing from them too.

[mrssnoop1]

When my dh was in the Navy we had to file bankruptcy because his ship went into drydock and then changed homeport 2 times in 6 months. The trustee will have all that informatuion on file. If you used a lawyer he might also. If you can't remember the trustee's name the lawyer will have it too. I'm assuming all bankruptcy cases have a trustee like ours did.

[schsa]

If you went through bankruptsy there have to be files somewhere on what the final outcome was. Call your lawyer who handled the bankruptsy and check with the courts. Someone has the paperwork.