Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey
Can a collections agency sue me for perjury?
A few months ago, a collections agency bullied me into giving them my bank information--but the man I talked to said ''Can you take out this much at once?'' I said ''I don't know''. He said ''then you need to call your bank before we do that and then call us back.'' And I said ''Okay.'' I did some research on the company (they are a very shady one) and decided that I would go the credit counseling route. I started things, thinking nothing would come of it. Later,the agency called and said the payment didn't go through. What payment, he told me I had to call them back ''before we can do this'', and I *DID NOT* authorize a withdrawal. She told me that I had committed perjury, and that I should ''seek out an attorney'' because she was now going to expedite my case.
I called the credit counseling service, was told that the collections agency was trying to scare me, and that they would not take me to court over $866. She told me I probably had a case against them. Again, I thought that was the end of it. A few weeks later, another collections agency called to collect on the identical amount/account, so I figured the first collections agency had sold my account. I'm going to talk with a bankruptcy lawyer--but am I in danger of perjury charges too?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Can a collections agency sue me for perjury?
Your credit counselor was correct, the collection agency was just trying to scare you.
You did not commit perjury. One commits perjury when they swear UNDER OATH to one thing and it is later proven false or they later swear to a different story.
They were just trying to scare you and probably violated the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act in doing so.
Let me guess, was it NCO?
As far as bankruptcy goes, once you file all credit collection efforts against you must stop. You will no longer recieve harrassing phone calls.
Good Luck!!
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