Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Texas

For a few years I have been having trouble paying a Capital One credit card. It has been in and out of collections as every time I am able to pay it down to its limit they take it out of collections, but it only takes a month of nonpayment or not enough payment to put it back in collections. In March of 2010, I made big payments to collections to bring the balance down some but became unemployed and could not pay enough to get it out of collected. I tried paying what I could throughout the year. In December of 201, I was able to scheduled a payment. I scheduled one for the end of December, but the agent wanted a small payment, so I made a $5.00 payment. I gave them my bank account number, which is 8 digits long and my routing number. They set up a check number as I do not use checks, and that was that.

The payment was scheduled for December 5 and I saw the deduction on my bank account December 8. Towards the end of December I my pay was not enough to cover my payment, so I had to cancel it but told them I could reschedule for Jan 15, 2011. Since it was too far ahead they told me to call back. I called back and the agent was insistent on making a payment on Jan 12. I told them no I did not have the money until the 15. They still insisted, so I made it for the 12 and 15, but I eventually cancelled the Jan 12 payment as I knew I could not afford it. I was told at that time the payment on Jan 15 needed to be made or I would be sent to charge off. I said not a problem it would be made. When the payment for Jan 15 was made, I also made one for Jan 30. The agent asked if I would be using the same bank account information that was on file, the one from December's payment. I said yes. That was the end of that.

On Jan 19, I checked my bank account to see if the payment had been deducted, but there was nothing showing yet. I contacted the collection agency (Allied) to find out what happened, and they said to give it 7-14 days to post, so I waited. On January 21, I checked and found nothing posted on my bank account. I contacted the collection agency again and was told not worry that they received payment. On Jan 29, the payment was still not showing on my bank account, so I called my bank. I was told by the agent at the bank that it was showing on my account that on Jan 19 I believe, the collection agency tried deducting the payment from my account, but it was returned due to the account not being found. The agent said this usually meant the wrong bank account number was used. I said they used the same bank account number that they had on file and was used for December's payment. The bank agent said there is another longer digit bank number that should be used when making a payment, it is the regular bank account number with some extra numbers. I did not know this as I make payments online and use my regular payment. This was a phone payment I made and had no problems with the account number in December, so I was very confused.

I contacted the collection agency only to find out my account had been charged off due to nonpayment. I was directed to the charge off department of Capital One. I spoke with an individual that told me it was charged off for nonpayment. I explained the situation to her, and all she could do was file a dispute. She tried connecting with the dispute department multiple times with no luck. She said she would send an e-mail to the department letting them know what happened, and they would contact me. No other information was given. I told her that I had a payment scheduled for Jan 31 and needed it cancelled until this was settled, and she said she would do it. I really did not have a good feeling about it all.

I contacted the collection agency to find out what information they used, and after much holding and being transferred to the wrong department, I was finally told that they could only view the last four digits of the bank number used, which were correct. I contacted the charge off department again and asked if I could speak to the dispute department but was told they did not give out their number, and they tried transferring me multiple times with no answer. I just wanted to find out when I would get a call, and they said it could take up to 30 days for the dispute, so I had to wait.

In the meantime, while waiting for the dispute investigation to be figure out, I received a letter from the charge off agent stating "thank you for your Jan 31 payment..." This was the payment that was to have been canceled. I immediately called and found out that she emailed the dispute department to cancel the payment, and they must not have. Now, my initial thought was, "If this agent had explained the situation to the dispute department about the account number not working, why did they attempt to take payment?" I knew at that point that the agent did not tell the correct story to the dispute department. A week after that letter, my thoughts were confirmed. I received a letter from the dispute department stating they did an investigation and I owed $2,000 + and needed to call to make payment. Now, this was not my dispute. I know how much I owe. There was nothing in that letter regarding the situation.

I immediately began contacting the number given for an agent in the dispute department. In one day I called 3 times leaving messages every time. I never received call backs. This was pretty much how it went for the rest of the time. When I finally got through to the individual that I was given the number to call, I told her the situation all over again. She then stated that the e-mail she received from the beginning did not state what I had just told her, and what I just told her changed everything. They had actually investigated the fact that they tried taking payment Jan 31 and couldn't, so they assumed I just owed the full balance. When she realized this was an error, she spoke with a manager, and I was informed that if I could get proof from my bank that it was a bank account error and pay the original amount owed that they could reinstate my account to collections. This conversation was towards the end of February as it took so long to get a hold of this individual to begin with.

Well, I went to my bank and had trouble getting a letter as what was initially told to me by the bang agent could no longer be verified. I spoke with 3 different individuals that could not find a single remark on my account. After the four attempt, I was able to find an agent that could see the unsuccessful payment. She asked what I wanted in the letter and said they could fax it over to Capital One. I gave her the fax number given to me by the dispute agent. A few days later I was called by the bank stating they had tried numerous times without success to fax the letter to Capital One. The number was a bad number, so I told them to mail me the letter and I would mail it to Capital One.

I immediately started contacting the dispute agent to get an address to send it directly to her. This took about a week or so as again all I would get was a voicemail with no returned call. I tried calling the regular number given without the agents extension and seeing if I could get someone else but then I was taken back to her extension. When they did send me to someone else, they too did not answer or return my call. I just kept having to call until I got an answer. When I reached the individual, I told her the number she gave was bad, and I needed a physical address to send the letter. I then wrote a letter, such as this one, explaining the entire situation as I did not know who would be receiving my mail, and I sent the letter with the bank letter by certified mail with receipt.

When they received the letter they called (amazingly) and stated that she received the letter and as soon as payment was made (date was not given) I would be reinstated. I told her I could make the payment March 31. She said to go ahead and call HER back on March 31 to make payment. She then gave me her number and extension to call her directly (I already had it), but I took it anyway. A few days after that conversation I received a letter with the agents information that I needed to contact her to make payment.

On March 31, I contacted the agent to make payment and of course received voicemail and left a message. Now, this has been three months of dealing this situation. By this point, I was so tired of dealing with it and did not call again and awaited her call. Nothing ever came. I called again April 15 and also received voicemail. I tried again and finally reached the agent and told her I needed to make that payment. She stated I could make it but my account would not be reinstated because it was past March 31. Now I am being told that I have to settle or pay down the balance. II told her I did call but didn't get an answer or call back and what was I supposed to do about that. She said (after all these months and letters from her) that I could have made the payment with anyone. I told her I was never told that, and she just did not care. She tried telling me I didn't even call, and I told her I did AND left messages that never got returned. She still did not care. This has really made me feel like I did all that work for nothing and made a fool of myself believing they were going to fix this situation that was not my fault to begin with. I feel duped.

For one, when I asked them for proof (just like they did) that my account would be reinstated, they said they couldn't do that because it would have to go through legal and take too long. Then I was not given any date to pay this, but then they decided March 31 would be the date after I gave them that. What if I had said April 15? Then I was never told I could contact someone else. The correspondence I received was from this agent. When I called the main number, she was the one I was directed to. Even when I told her I would make payment, she gave me her number and her extension to call, so why would I think I could call someone else? Why would I want to call someone else? They would not know what was going on, and how am I to know that they would not take the money and not reinstate me. Now, due to an error that was not my fault and an unanswered and unreturned phone call, i'm completely with no options other than to settle (which I don't want to do) or just arrange payments to pay down the balance. Going on principal, I feel I should seek legal services to see what my options are, but at the same time, I'm so tired of doing all this and dealing with Capital One that I'm thinking of just making payments to pay the balance. I have never not wanted to pay the balance, but I feel it is unfair to be punished for errors that were not my doing.

What can I do? What options do I have? Is there anything that can be done legally? Is there anything I can just do on my own without getting legal involved? If I have to get legal involved what kind of lawyer do I need? Any advice I can get on this situation is appreciated.

Thank you,

Lee

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