Being in collections is not the end of the world, but becoming a victim of Identity Theft can be devastating. Even if you have less than perfect credit you are still susceptible. Identity thieves do not steal personal information just for opening new credit accounts they also use it to obtain bank accounts, drivers licenses, duplicate social security number and commit crimes using the victims personal information.
If you are dealing with Midland Credit Management their agents have all of your personal information. For the most part they are Junk Debt Buyers who receive all of your pertinent data from the companies they buy defaulted accounts from. Listen to this short recording snippet of a conversation I had with an agent at MCM.
You will notice she did not even give me her last name and would not answer the question that I proposed to her. Obviously this is not the full recording of this call I edited out other parts of it for sake of brevity. I will post the full recording in the near future as I am not concerned with Identity Theft and it has other points I wish to make in future post.
It is a true travesty that the agents that work for Midland Credit are not allowed to give their last name, chance are they are not even giving their true first name and they have access to all of yours. Not only does this prevent you from finding out more information on who you are speaking with it also does not allow you to name them as a possible suspect if you become a victim of Identity Theft.
The job of a collection agent is not a high skilled job nor are detailed background checks done on the individuals that work at most collection agencies. The main requirement on a collection agency preemployment back ground check is to make sure they are not wanted currently. If even done at all. You would think that they would be screened better but let’s face it usually working at a collection agency is last ditch effort for people to find jobs that does not require manual labor.
The reason that I am not really concerned with Identity Theft is that I use Identity Theft Protection Products to protect my Identity from collection agencies or anyone else wishing to steal it. I don’t hide my name online and you can find a kinds of information about me online. I just do not care.
I have done some research on LVNV Funding Lawsuits today and have found some very interesting bolgs and websites dealing with LVNV Funding Lawsuits. Most are consumers like me trying to get the word out about LVNV Funding, Llc.
One of the best ones I have seen where Heather talks about her struggles with LVNV Funding and their sister companies. While she has not updated it in a while I will contact her if I can and see if she would like to have her case featured here.
Christine over at Credit Suit thinks she is a pro when dealing with LVNV Funding Lawsuits and she may be as she seem to like to sue collection agencies a lot. Just remember she is not an attorney and be real careful if you follow her advice.
If you want to see all the cases filed against LVNV Funding this site is bringing them all to light. It lloks like it updates almost daily with all of the recent lawsuits LVNV Funding Llc has filed against them.
If you raise these a defense to a lawsuit by them it will have their attorney scratching their head. Most collection agencies and Junk Debt Buyers use the cheapest attorney they can find to attempt to get a default judgments. A default judgment is hard to get over turned unless they blow service.
If you are properly served by them, they deliver the notice of suit to you through a service agent or mail, then you must raise a defense less suffer a default judgment. Besides the fact that they will attempt to use false affidavits to prove the debt that they claim you owe they are not entitled to recover damaged they inflicted upon themselves.
Volenti non fit injuria basically states that a willing participant to an act cannot recover damages for an act that they volunteered for. A good example is a boxer cannot sue his opponent because his nose was broken in the match. He was a willing participant. Just as LVNV Funding purchases a non performing asset without you inducing them to do so, you have not caused them any harm they willingly purchased the defaulted account. Which is a perfect lead in for.
Contributory Negligence or Comparative Negligence. Contributory Negligence is an absolute defense and only applies in certain jurisdictions where as Comparative Negligence limits the scope of recovery based on how much the plaintiff is responsible for the damage. These defenses basically do not allow a plaintiff to recover when they caused their own harm. So if LVNV Funding purchased an account that was defaulted and deemed non collectible by the original creditor then they have caused their own damage. If they pay $20 for a $2000 dollar charged off account the only real loss that they may have claim to is $20 which leads us to.
Unjust Enrichment says that if you receive more than what is entitled then you must make restitution. It is not commonly a defense but used to recover money when a mistake is made on part of the part of the plaintiff. As a defense I would use it as a denial such as the plaintiff is not entitled to Unjust Enrichment. Meaning that they cannot claim a loss greater than their actual “real” cost. So in the example above for them to claim a loss of $2000 when they only paid $20 would be Unjust Enrichment for LVNV Funding.
There are so many roads that this leads down and if you do some due diligence you should be able to get any rent a lawyer that LVNV Funding hires to throw his hands in the air and dismiss the case. Just make sure you ask that it is dismissed with prejudice which means that they cannot try to reassert the claim, nor can any other future Junk Debt Buyer.
LVNV Funding, Llc uses Credit Report poisoning as one of their tools to collect debt that is outside of statute of limitations. I was recently contacted by a collection agency that they farm things out to before trying to work an account in house with their internal collection agency Resurgent Capital. In doing a little more research I discovered that they have poisoned my Credit Report.
The way they poison Credit Reports is by changing the date of first major delinquency. Not only is this a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act it is also a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you will look at their entry on my Credit Report you will see the date of last activity listed as 7/2005 with the date of first major delinquency as 8/2007. It is a physical impossibility for the date of first major delinquency to be over two years after the date of last activity, unless we are traveling in a space time continuum. The reason they manipulate the date of first major delinquency is because it resets the seven year reporting period. Meaning that negative credit stays on your Credit Report seven years from the first major delinquency and if they keep resetting this date from the actual date then they keep extending the seven year reporting period.
On the face it is not a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim unless they verify the information as accurate, but it is prima facie evidence of a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Violation. Using a false or deceptive mean to attempt to collect a debt. It may also be construed as libel per se if your Credit Report is accessed by anyone with this denigrating information displayed to them. Especially if you were unable to receive credit or employment due to negative credit.
If you are being sued or harassed by LVNV Funding, Llc you need to order a copy of your credit report. You can then use this as a tool against them if you fight back.
This is not the only way to fight back against LVNV Funding but this should be your first step. Since Equifax is the major Credit Reporting agency in their location you can get a copy of it by visiting the Equifax website. Just click anywhere you Equifax.
Do not go into court with LVNV Funding without it. You can then raise this as a counter claim against them or use it as a negotiating tool.
Make sure you book mark this site so you can follow my progress with them. I will also show you some other things that you can raise against them if they are trying to collect from you in court. I am not an attorney so if you have a serious legal matter with them I do encourage you to seek legal advice. Just remember it is not the end of the world if a Junk Debt Buyer such as LVNV Funding is coming after you. Companies like this use so many illegal collection tactics that it is almost comical.
