Hi everyone, I posted this on another forum, but realized that it is better suited to the CC forum. Here's my situation:

I’m totally lost and need some good advice. Long story short, I have an American Express account that just went 30 days past due on Monday. On Tuesday it was sold to Nationwide Credit in BC, Canada. Today (Wed) they contacted several family members even though they have my home phone number.

I was not even aware that this account was in collections and I have yet to receive any written info from them since it just went 30 days. I was stunned when I called the number and realized it was a collection agency. I could not figure out why a 30 day account would be sent to collections. It was the first payment that I had ever been late on…I called American Express and spoke with them and they responded with “We aren’t sure why it went to collections, but we can’t get it back once it is gone.” After several phone calls back and forth from American Express and Nationwide credit, nothing was resolved. AX says that Nationwide can set up a payment plan with me, but Nationwide is unrelenting and are demanding the 4K balance paid in full. I told them that I had every intention of paying, but it would have to be in installments. Of course they suggested that I sell my car, hit up family members, etc. They would not accept my offter to pay installments and become extremely hateful when I requested their address and told them to stop contacting family members. They used every harassment and indimidation technique known to man. I will send a cease and desist letter CMRR first thing tomorrow. However, I have several questions.

1. Since AX no longer has the account and the CA won’t accept my payments, what do I do? Who do I make payments to-do I make payments? Do I wait for something in writing?
2. I own my home and have a car that is worth quite a bit of $ (still making payments), if they sue me, can they get access to my car or home for an unsecured debt judgment in SC (my husband is listed on both, but not the AX account)
3. The rest of my credit is excellent (no lates) if I let this account go, what will be the creditors next step in trying to collect this debt? Should I be expecting to get served for a 4K debt?
4. My husband is active duty military and we are thinking of getting base legal involved. If they file a judgment against me, can it affect his employment (of course the CA told me it would)?

Thanks for any advice. Like I said, I had full intention of paying, but now I don’t know what to do.

moving to the credit forum

Well, are you in the US or Canada? There's a difference in the laws (I'm going to assume you're in the US)



well, by law, the CA MUST contact you IN WRITING within 5 days...

they likely won't.


It depends on your state law...but typically they can go after your bank accounts, etc...

It was likely a mistake on Amex's part...but the CA might sue...I doubt it this quickly, but it's possible. You need to get Amex to pull it back. a regular CSR won't be able to do that though



The CA violated your rights when they told you that...unfortunately, you have no evidence of it....but no...it shouldn't really...but have you looked into the SSRA?




What I'd do is two things:

1. Make the payment TO AMEX...use your last monthly statement...send it to THEM...get up to date with them.
2. WRITE to Amex...explain that you've been contacted by some company claiming that you owe THEM your Amex debt now, and you're confused.
3. Once you get the letter from the CA, fire off DV to them...if you do NOT get a letter from them within a week (which is likely), I'd fire off an unknown debt type letter to them

Thanks for all the advice. I am in South Carolina. I spoke with several people at AX yesterday and could not get anyone (collection dept included) to take back the debt from the CA. I told them over and over again that I had full intention of paying this debt, but that I would not be able to pay the entire amount that the CA was requesting.

I know the CA has a copy of my credit report...the CSR said something to the fact of "You can pay for a 30K car, but you can't pay this balance in full?" I was livid! I'm guessing they know that my husband is in the military and are thinking that they are going to make a quick buck off of us.

It just blows my mind that AX would not take the account back. I sent the DV letter to the CA today. I'm going to wait and see what happens.

Anything else I should be doing?

Also, I checked the SSRA and it doesn't offer us any protection in this case since the debt was incurred after he entered the military.