Yesterday I received a phone call from "Unknown". I answered, and they asked if I knew ________ (person I am in a relationship with, let's call them A). I said I was familiar with them. The woman said she was with F&M Capital, and that they were a law firm and looking to file a case against A. She gave me a phone number and name of the person to call, and asked if I could have A call them.
As a disclaimer, I am aware of the fact that A has some bills in collections. A is working on paying them off. So I called the number to see what this was about, since A was at work. A man answered the phone and asked what I was calling about. I wanted to know why I had been called, as I have no legal ties to A. The man claimed they ran a background check and that I came up as a possible associate. I find this hard to believe, and if they ran a background check on A, they could get a phone number for them. I asked what they were interested in, and the man explained that A owes money on a military loan from 2013 and that this law firm is looking to file a case against A because they believe A is in possession of stolen property and is defrauding the military. I asked what the property was, and the man explained that it was furniture. I told him A is not in possession of the furniture. So then the tune changed, and the guy started focusing on just the loan. He claimed this was a new case and they wanted to take care of it quickly. I asked why they had not mailed A any documentation regarding the matter, as they are required by law to do so (validate the debt). He claimed that just the other day they sent a letter via certified mail to an address that A hasn't lived at in years. I explained that A has been receiving mail at their new address without any problems, so why wasn't the letter forwarded then? If they had done a background check on him recently to get my phone number, surely they could get his correct address.
As time went on, the man became more hostile, and told me the call was being recorded in an attempt to scare me. He shamed A for not getting this taken care of. I said that how could this be a new case, if you called A's mother about this several weeks ago and made the same claims. The guy changed his story and said this was not a new case, and that charges would be filed by the end of the day (I know they claimed this when they called A's mom). I kept repeating that they needed to mail him validation of the debt, and the guy said A is violating law, and "this isn't some Discover card".
The last time they called, they had made the claims about filing charges. A went to the police station the same day to see if there were charges, and there were not. A also spoke to the collections company on the phone, and they wanted him to verify social security number, and make payment over the phone. A said the woman got belligerent and was screaming at him and hung up on him when he wouldn't comply.
On A's credit report, there appears to be a military loan owed, but the collections agency in possession of it is not F&M. I looked F&M up, and they have several complaints and lawsuits against them for their tactics.
A wants to take care of what is in collections, but this company seems to be impossible to work with. A will not make a payment over the phone, and I have seen online that people have made payments to this company on things owed, only to have more money added to what is due over time.
Is there anything that can be done?
*edit for a typo
Submitted June 22, 2018 at 09:03AM by OtherwiseSuccotash https://ift.tt/2yygZUK
