Semi-OT: Being "sued" by collection agencies in MoCo/MD--how does it work? (Midland: good credit)

[superseiyan]

To my MoCo folks, have any of you heard of either CRS solutions or "Mitland and financial"/Midland Credit Management? I spent time on the phone with someone from CRS solutions that says "Mitland & Financial" suing. I genuinely don't know what they are referring to.

Also they were not able to give me a specific original creditor, they say "it doesn't matter", they run through some sort of list of institutions I didn't recognize. They are saying Montgomery County will garnish wages.

The only way to stop it would've been to make a settlement immediately while I was on the phone.

As a background:

• They say the debt went delinquent in February 2011.
• I've been sent repeated warnings (the address they gave me was actually an address I haven't lived at for about 10 years).
• According to them, because the mail was sent certified, even if it's at the old address, it means I've committed fraud and I've committed a felony, according to the person on the phone.
• They wouldn't e-mail me anything, or send anything to my new address because "I've already been warned".
• The person was irritated with me because "I've already committed a felony" since my address is different from where the information was sent. And also since the loan is the loan, so I haven't paid it, "so it's a felony".
• The person on the phone also had my new current address in their file that they red back to me. So how come they have my new address; how come I haven't received anything here; and how come they wont' send anything more???

Weird. I have good credit, with no delinquencies. It took me a while to work up to this point--how does one deal with such a situation? The problem is that I haven't SEEN anything or any paper work. And yet the county will start garnishing wages in a few days apparently (really? without a warning?). Weird.

I'm not trying to be clever--I really don't know what the debt is referring to.

Have any of you in the area run into either this situation, or either two?

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by superseiyan

Weird. I have good credit, with no delinquencies. It took me a while to work up to this point--how does one deal with such a situation? The problem is that I haven't SEEN anything or any paper work. And yet the county will start garnishing wages in a few days apparently (really? without a warning?). Weird.

I'm not trying to be clever--I really don't know what the debt is referring to.

Have any of you in the area run into either this situation, or either two?

This has all the trappings of a scam to get your credit card number. I would ignore it.

BTW, do you work for the County? If so, could you ask them what their policy on garnishments is? Last I knew, there has to be a court judgment before a garnishment. (One exception might be a child-support debt.)

[kjg1963]

It is a huge scam. Your wages cannot be garnished unless you have a judgement. They won't give you any information on the debt because they are hoping you will panic and just pay them. Ignore them. They will continue to call but do not talk to them. A debt is not a felony. They need to provide you with written documentation of the supposed debt.

[bufflove]

Originally Posted by superseiyan

To my MoCo folks, have any of you heard of either CRS solutions or "Mitland and financial"/Midland Credit Management? I spent time on the phone with someone from CRS solutions that says "Mitland & Financial" suing. I genuinely don't know what they are referring to.

Also they were not able to give me a specific original creditor, they say "it doesn't matter", they run through some sort of list of institutions I didn't recognize. They are saying Montgomery County will garnish wages.

The only way to stop it would've been to make a settlement immediately while I was on the phone.

As a background:

• They say the debt went delinquent in February 2011.
• I've been sent repeated warnings (the address they gave me was actually an address I haven't lived at for about 10 years).
• According to them, because the mail was sent certified, even if it's at the old address, it means I've committed fraud and I've committed a felony, according to the person on the phone.
• They wouldn't e-mail me anything, or send anything to my new address because "I've already been warned".
• The person was irritated with me because "I've already committed a felony" since my address is different from where the information was sent. And also since the loan is the loan, so I haven't paid it, "so it's a felony".
• The person on the phone also had my new current address in their file that they red back to me. So how come they have my new address; how come I haven't received anything here; and how come they wont' send anything more???

Weird. I have good credit, with no delinquencies. It took me a while to work up to this point--how does one deal with such a situation? The problem is that I haven't SEEN anything or any paper work. And yet the county will start garnishing wages in a few days apparently (really? without a warning?). Weird.

I'm not trying to be clever--I really don't know what the debt is referring to.

Have any of you in the area run into either this situation, or either two?

Umm, this is very obviously a scam. Check your credit score (creditkarma.com is free) on a regular basis to put your mind at ease.

[AeroGuyDC]

Definitely a scam.

[superseiyan]

Thanks guys. I didn't pay them of course, but wanted to make sure about the "felony" and the "garnishment" stuff.

[kjg1963]

Yep, I've had them threaten to show up at my job and that I better contact my HR dept to let them know. They told me they were contacting my company to garnish my checks at 40%. Sorry, gotta have a court order to garnish wages. I've had them say I am a co-defendent with Joe Blow (not real name) who is actually an ex in-law that I haven't spoken to in 20 years much less had any financial dealings with. I've been told I committed check fraud and that the sheriff was coming to get me.

It is scary that they have so much information on me (address, place of employ, relatives, etc.) but it is all used to scare you into giving them payment.