Please help - Atty Lawrence Hecker panicked me

[confuzed]

Hi - thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I am reading the information and posts onsite, but I'm not thinking clearly and the acronyms are confusing.

"Attorney Lawrence Hecker" called me and I returned the call. They say I owe over 8,000 on a credit card account. I did have a Citibank account, I closed it (and all cards) about 14 years ago and thought I paid them all off. I don't even know if the account number they gave is correct.

They said they were starting legal action the next day if I didn't pay, they would send people to my house, garnish my wages and I would lose my job. They had my sister's name too (she has nothing to do with me financially!)

Then they said I could pay only 6,000, but then he put me on hold and came back and said no, he'd gotten in trouble for making that offer, I REALLY owed over 12,000 but they'd let me pay the 8400 in two installments if I gave them a postdated check number NOW.

I was in tears, saying how could I owe that, I don't know anything about it, and he kept threatening to hang up and start the legal proceedings....well, I gave him a check number, I was so panicked. Dumb me.

A day or two later I came out of the fog and thought, "I've just given access to my bank account to someone I don't know for a debt I don't have any reason to believe I owe." I'm just a mess. I called Consumer Credit Counseling and they said to pull my credit records and I did that and guess what - there is no Citibank or Hecker or any debt like that, just some small medical bills which I knew about and am dealing with. (I have Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports.)

CCC said to stop the check so I did, now what do I do? Do I send one of these sample letters requesting verification on the debt? CCC said if the last activity or payment on the debt was more than four years ago, they can't collect it anyway. How do I find out when that last date was, IF the debt is real at all? Why isn't it on my credit report if I owe all this money? (The Hecker guy said the original debt was 3,000 and the rest is all fees and so on.)

I'm just freaking. I don't know what they will do when the check doesn't go through, and I don't want to lose my job. Can Hecker even do these things to someone in California when he's in New Jersey? I know he can't threaten things he has no intent or ability to do - but I don't know how to tell what he can or can't do!

Can anyone help me figure out what to do next?

[willingtocope]

I think you've been scammed.

At the very least, if this is a legitimate collection agency that called you, they committed enough violations of the FDCPA to wind up paying you $8000.

The thing is, you not only gave them a check number, you gave them your bank account number.

I'd suggest you close that account, and open a new one. If you want to use the same bank, tell them you had a check stolen (which you did) and want to make sure the theif doesn't raid your account.

Then...if you hear from these people again...use the DV process. DO NOT talk to them on the phone. They're trained to panic people into doing things they shouldn't.

[confuzed]

I think they are a "legitimate" agency because I see other people on the board have heard from them, and I googled them and saw that they have had lawsuits filed against them for unfair collection practices.

Do you think I should just wait to hear from them again, after stopping the check? Or should I request the information from them now? I have an address they gave me.

I'm scared that the next thing that will happen is garnishment, as they said.

I hate to close the account, it's been open since 1979 and has all my automatic payments coming out, but I can do it.

Can they put this on my credit report NOW? If it isn't on there already?

[willingtocope]

They can't garnish your wages without a court judgement...which they can't get until you're actually summoned to appear in court.

The problem is, these people are really low-life CAs...as evidenced by the suits against them. If they have your account information, they may try to do an electronic check against it. If you have someone at the bank you can trust, and want to talk this over with them, go ahead. You need to make sure that all avenues for them getting at the account are plugged.

If this pops up your CRs now, and you haven't had the account for 14 years, then they will have violated several laws. Doesn't mean they won't do it, just that you'll have reason to sue them.

(Actually, I'm thinking that if they didn't immediately go into your account for funds to cover the check you gave them (...you did say you had second thoughts days later...), it could be that they figured out they had the wrong person. Again, doesn't mean they won't try to take your money...just that you might not hear from them again).

[confuzed]

I forgot to say thank you for answering me. I'm really not thinking clearly about all this.

I'm going down to the bank and talk to them about it this morning. Maybe there's some way to protect the account, I don't know. Or some way to close it but not mess up all the auto stuff (don't want anything legitimate to bounce.)

The "check" was postdated until the 30th which is Monday and I stopped it by phone yesterday, but there's nothing to stop them giving another check number, I guess.

[IHateCAs]

Nice used car salesman tactics there.

We can offer you $6000. Wait let me check with my manager. No I can't go that low, sorry.

[IHateCAs]

In all honesty, I'd close my bank acct and open a new one.

[divemedic]

Close it, open a new one, and if they attempt to charge you for anything, file an ID theft report.

The hassle of restarting your auto payments is nothing compared to the hassle of them taking $5,000 of your money.

[confuzed]

Okay. I opened a new account and moved all my money. I left the old account with a little money in case anything automatic comes through before I can get it all changed over.

B of A said that if they try to use anything other than the check number I gave them (which is now stopped) that it constitutes fraud. I am going to watch the account daily. They can't get the money anyway, because it isn't there.

B of A also suggested that I call Citibank itself to see if they say that I owe them anything, and if so how much. Is that wise?

I'm sort of nervous to do anything at all now, but I sure don't want a subpoena.

[bigjohnstud4200]

You're in California. You are no longer legally liable for anything that old. The statute of limitations has passed. If they take you to court, your affirmative defense is "time-barred" and will be thrown out! If it were me, I would send them a letter, CMRRR, and tell them that you have revoked authorization to draw any amount from your account and if they attempt to you will sue them for violations of the FDCPA. Good thing you found this site, they almost had you!