Complaint Review: Bronson & Migliaccio LLP; Collect America; Worldwide Asett Purchasing II Llc; West Asett Mgt - Glen Burnie Maryland

About 2 years ago I received a call from Joel Cooper with Bronson & Migliaccio for collection on a credit card which was a joint account. I agreed to a payment arrangement with them and later was forced to ask the case worker to lower my payments due to hardship. Economical issues as well as medical were taking their toll on me in more ways than one. I was told that the account was with Direct Merchants Bank Mastercard of which no account number was provided at the time. This card had been purchased by HSBC Services while still in good terms (I now find out that HSBC is Direct Merchants Bank). This collection agency called my house and my job on a regular basis. I was always asked to post date checks in a particular amount and date with a bogus check number attached to it. While working with this particular case worker he seemed empathetic to my situation and continued to try his best to work with me during these difficult times.

Within the past few months, MR Cooper has either resigned or been terminated and another case worker is handling my account by the name of Brandy of which she constantly refers me to someone else in the company.

Her supervisor MS Griffin advised me that I must agree immediately to a settlement on the account in two payments and/or take a lesser settlement in one payment. This all was proposed to me last week and I was given until the 28th of February to pay up in full or they would pursue legal action.

Also, I contacted the original creditor which was Direct Merchants Bank and was referred to HSBC which stated they did not have any information on the account from Direct Merchants and that they showed that HSBC always held the account of which they are a party to.

I was told that the account had been charged off and sold to World Asett Purchasing II, llc of which is now West Asett Management. After multiple attempts to contact this company I am told they have no interest in the account and that the account was being handled by Collect America. I proceeded to call them and reached Operator #10 and was told that they were only an answering service and had no information on any accounts whatsoever. I was referred by her to the law office of Bronson & Migliaccio of which I had already spoke to previously regarding the account and my personal situation and past history of payment with them and was once again referred to someone else by Brandy named Gretchen I believe of whom was very rude and non-understanding and stated I had no other recourse but to pay in full regardless of how I get the money, (if I had the money I would be more than glad to pay them). She also stated that interest would begin to acrue as of present which previously was not the agreement as I was told that no interest was being applied by MR Cooper. I wrote them a letter via email and explained that I had to make arrangements with my multiple physicians to make payments in the small amount of $5.OO per month just to be able to make it. The woman stated that she would connect me with one of the attorneys as it is obvious this is going to go legal anyway and hung up on me.

I have contacted the FDCPA and my local agency and am awaiting forms to be sent out. I told them I am on a short leash and did not know if I had time for them to process the claims but will give it my best effort.

These individuals look at my credit report without permission from me and the credit bureaus reports do not even indicate the original debtor. I was trying to clarify with them if the credit bureau is notified how would they know what account to apply to as Direct Merchants Bank does not appear on my report nor does any of the others mentioned except for HSBC.

I currently hold two credit cards with HSBC in very good standing, one of which I have held since 2002. Why would HSBC if they are operating Direct Merchants Bank extend credit to me even after the account is sold for collection. I do not believe that the account was in default when I was issued the transfer credit card from HSBC to replace Direct Merchants Bank. The account was sold by HSBC on April of 2007 to a company that no longer owns the account and/or is not in business under the same name.

It is my understanding that a request for apost-dated check with the knowledge of insufficient funds of the individual by the collection agency is an illegal practice. I have been told to post date checks up to 6 months at a time of which it is my understanding that the debt collection agency is not to accept a post-dated check for more than 5 days based on section 808 of the FDCPA. Also, is this not false representation or implication that the communication is from an attorney when in actuallity these are individuals paid to do collections.

I feel that the process of this company at this point has become abusive and could contribute to my loss of job, home, bankruptcy, as well as an invasion of my privacy rights. Also, since the account is totally a joint account of which I informed the debt collection agency, why has the second party not been pursued for at least a portion of the afor mentioned debt? Would this not be fair practice? Why do they need to look at my credit report when they refuse and are not obligated by law to report payment history and payment agreements, this makes no sense at all.

Why will they not provide specifics regarding the account information on request and state they are working for a particular client in the collection of the debt when in fact they are the sole owner as to the best of my knowledge. I do believe this is misrepresentation as the individuals that I have spoken with named on the settlement proposal no longer have any interest on this claim and will not profit from any settlement or receive any payment.

What is it going to take to get this clarified. This is ridiculous!

Would someone please tell me what to do before the time is up?

The clock is ticking away!

Tj

Bristol, Tennessee

U.S.A.

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