Blah Friday....

It's Friday and I'm still stuck in Knoxville TN on business... Although the country down here is just beautiful, the weather is great (65 degrees - clear skies - no wind), it's kind of a blah day. I miss my family terribly and cannot wait to get home. At this point it looks like I won't be leaving here until Sat morning and then I have an 8 hour drive ahead of me. At least the drive isn't too bad and there are some great Christian Music stations down here. This trip has been pretty productive and I think we did some things to really help out the plant and provide our customers with some much needed information.

On a more personal note - I want to warn those of you who read this about a company out there called AFNI Collections. Yesterday, my friend that I am staying with - we'll call him Kidd Rock because he looks just like him - received a collections letter from these people. They stated that he had been sent to collections for a phone bill for over $3000 from another state where he used to live. What really started us thinking was that the phone number didn't look familiar, he had never had a phone in his name when he lived there, and supposedly the phone was disconnected for non-payment in 1998!! They are trying to collect this from him for a 9 year old bill!!!! He called the phone number and got an 87 year old lady who says she has had this phone forever and doesn't know anything about the bill or collection issue. When he called AFNI, they were very rude, wouldn't give him any information other than the fact that they had ALL of his personal information on file!! They had his parents name and address, they had his birthdate, his SS#, everything! The rep from AFNI got very snotty with Kidd and even tried to settle the debt over the phone for $1600. Kidd finally hung up on him. Afterwords we got on the internet and looked this place up. There are thousands of complaints posted all over the internet about these guys. They are sending out bogus collection letters and trying collect. The funny thing about all this was that every letter was almost exactly the same. Around $3000 - collection for a phone bill from the same telephone company - same letter - same situation. There were hundreds of posts from the area where I live, so for what ever reason these guys are targeting our area! Please be aware!!

If you receive one of these letters, here is what you should do:
(in my humble opinion - I'm not a lawyer)

1. DO NOT CALL AFNI - they were very sly on the phone and pulled some personal information from Kidd that they wouldn't have had. They also tried very subtle ways to get him to say that this WAS his debt because they were recording the call. Besides that, you should never talk to these kinds of people on the phone. You need documentation, documentation and more documentation. Everything should be in writing and send via registered mail so you have a signature.

2. Write two letters and send them to AFNI. The first letter is called a Letter of Validation. This basically is saying, I don't beleive this debt is mine and before you can proceed with any type of collection, you must send me proof that it is. Also in this letter, kindly ask them to also send proof that they are a ligitimate collection agency (including license number) and all information pertaining to your account. The second letter is a Cease Letter. This letter is basically to tell them that you have sent a Letter of Validation and that they are forbidden to call you or harrass you in any way until they provide ALL of the information that you have requested. Also clearly state that all phone calls from them will be recorded and that if they do try to contact you in any way prior to sending the information, that they are violating several laws and that you will prosecute. End this paragraph with "My legal representative has been notified of this matter." Typically you will never hear from them again.

3. Contact a lawyer and let them know what is happening - preferably in writting. You do not need a consultation (no fees), just simply tell them that if AFNI continues that you would be interested in pursuing this further. All you are doing here is basically getting your foot in the door with the lawyer and keeping yourself honest - you did tell them that you notified your legal rep, right?

4. Sit back and KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT. The wonderful people at AFNI have been known to slap negative information on your credit report after you have done steps 1,2 & 3 above. They won't contact you, they won't let you know, they will just give you negative information on your report. THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!!! They cannot do that without letting you know that they are going to do this! And the nice thing is that they cannot let you know that they are going to do that without sending you the informtion you asked for - why you ask? Because in your Cease letter you told them that they are not allowed to contact you in any way without first providing the informtion you asked for! At this point you need to go back to your lawyer. Many many people have settled with these guys for thousands of dollars without ever going to court. Once your lawyer contacts them, they will back off - since they broke the law - and they will be happy to settle by paying your lawyer fees and giving you a little bit of cash to keep from going to court.

Isn't it amazing that this could even happen!?!?!??!

I've rambled enough... Have a great day!!!!!!