September 2009     Wish I had found this earlier.  Head in the sand. Didn't answer phone or send Cease Communication Letter or anything. Now I am being sued for $3000 + and have a default notice they are demanding the total of $4900. TI had the usual money problems did not pay on accts charged off. The first doc I have in hand is a summons left on the windshield of my car on a rainy day. Just ignored it and it went away filed on 01-08-07 dismissed on 07-10-07. Dodged that bullet. Now I was served a second time. Found it on the front door of my place on 03-30-09 filed on 09-17-08. Decided to deal with it as it is over the 4 yr SOL in CA and I had found this site. My bad missed the filing deadline for the answer was sick with the flu. With the very helpful help of the free legal assistance offered at the court have filed and served motion to set aside default and default judgment and file an answer. Answer of SOL and improper service. Have received a response back from the Attorney George L Cohn 2850 Artesia Blvd. Suite 201 Redondo Beach CA 90278 (303)-370-3730 Bar#92559. (any one know if related to a Harry Cohn) The document is an amended complaint where they very nicely put the date they are using as last activity on acct. not the one I have but hey if they want to argue let them. And here is where I think the best part. The date I have according to my credit reports is 30days past as of May2003. I also have a collection notice from The law office of John P Fry P.C. dated 06-29-2004. But in the amended complaint they use the date of 05-31-2004 witch is 4yr 3month and 17 days prior to the date of the filing of the suit. This is past the 4yr SOL. Now waiting for the hearing at the end of month to hopefully finish this thing. I am representing myself wish me luck.

And second item worth mentioning is I have a settlement offer and collection notice from a completely different company. Allied Interstate and the creditor is listed as LVNV Funding original creditor the same as the one Atlantic Credit and finance is collecting on. The settlement amount of $812.50 on a bal of $3250.01.

May be I should contact someone to sue the pants off them? But witch one? I Know how about them both.

Any way will post an update when this is over.

May 2009     This attorney (Sessons and Rogers, PA) collects for Atlantic Credit and Finance. They issue civil summons, and when ask to verify the debt, they refuse to do so, but instead continue to send legal documents they claim has already been filed with the courts. I have responded to everything they have sent me, the last item being a request for summary judgment, with them indicating that I had refused to respond to a "request for information". As it turned out the deadline to get this request in had had not passed. I sent my response to the court indicating that the above information was false with a copy of their letter showing that the deadline to respond had not passed. In addition, I responded to the statements on the request for summary judgment, basically denying all of the allegations. I have not heard anything from this as of yet. I also included documents showing that I made request for verification of debt, which they have refused to give me. I really don't know at this time what will happen with this case.

February 2009    amazed at the amount of people getting screwed over by these guys. My wife had the same problem we picked up their wolf ticket and ran with it. Needless to say we won!! The judge threw it out.

January 2009     was first contacted by them by phone in November 2008. I got a letter from them dated November 19,2008 stating that they now owned my account from HSBC (GM Card). Before the 30-day period was over, I sent them a debt validation letter. About 31-32 days later, I received a letter from them stating just my basic account information. I checked my credit reports again and found that they had added the debt onto my Transunion report. I've just sent a certified letter today stating that they need to remove this from my report since they did not sufficiently show that they own the debt and that I owe the money to them or I will file a lawsuit. We'll see what happens from here on.

January 2009     I was just served a summons to court by Atlantic Credit and Finance as an assignee of HSBC for $9800.00 What do I have to do now? I also believe the law firm named here contacted one of my neighbors at the end of November about this via phone and also sent the the case out to some resolution firm two weeks ago from whom I received a letter to pay up front for arbitration. What is you advice? Should I contact my attorney?  Yes.

December 2008  A collector from Atlantic Credit has called us night and day posing as an attorney. I know he is posing because he talks trash and comes across as uneducated. The legal terms he uses are ridiculous. We have sent three letters yet he calls my family and coworkers several times a day. This is aggravating and embarrassing do you have any advice?

The state you live in allows one party consent to tape calls. You need to tape all future calls. When he calls again, ask him why he continues to contact you at work and your family after he was notified to stop. Atlantic owner Richard E. Woolwine, III is still paying off on lawsuits, according to my contacts. The best way to strike back at them is by getting tapes that will put money in your pocket and likely pay your attorney fees. The lawyer I will refer you to is highly qualified to get you justice over this illegal and disgusting collector. No one should suffer debt collector abuse, I hope you benefit monetarily by the inability of Atlantic Credit to reign in their slimy collectors.

December 2008  Back in 2004, when I was unemployed they called me. I had been making regular payments on an old debt they picked up that Discover card had written off in 1993. They called and I told the woman I had lost my job. She pressured me and I agreed I could send $200. She refused to accept that and wanted $700. I kept telling her I couldn't agree to that amount because I would be lying. When I started crying she called me a baby and said that was probably why i was in debt. I hung up and she called back repeatedly, sometimes leaving messages.

October 2008  Atlantic Credit and Finance/Juliana G Robertson Attorney At Law  I checked the website for the Indiana State Bar Association. There is a link there to search the roll the attorneys and view their current status. Juliana G Robertson is in good standing and has no current or past disciplinary actions against her. That amazes me considering they way she practices. Maybe consumers are just plain scared to file a complaint against the very questionable collection practices of this attorney. One of her employees told me today that they are too busy to send out statements to anyone!

September 2008  I keep getting calls from these people. I have told them that the person they are looking for doesn't live here and asked them to remove my name and phone number. Yea right. They go form being a friend to down right nasty and threatening. I was told that I could be held responsible for this account if I didn't tell them about this person they where looking for and then in the same sentence they said I could pay the debt and collect from this person huh? This last call the 1st person told how nice I sounded and he was sure I could help him find his old friend, when he couldn't get what he wanted he put this other person on the phone that told me he was a lawyer and that he would take me to court and get the information or payment. I get these calls all the time and have tried to block their numbers each time they call but they just come up with more phone numbers to call from. I an looking into what I can do to stop these calls but so far nobody wants to take them on.

August 2008  I have been fighting with these people for months. They ignore the law and do not respond to correspondence, except to file a document in court and add the fees to the amount they claim you owe. They don't accept certified letters. I finally just paid them to avoid in further fees and to stay out of court. I have requested a complete statement of the account they say is mine and they have ignored that request. The so called verification of the account was very weak and had information that anyone could have gotten. They provided no proof that the account was actually mine and refused to correspond with me. So, if you hear from Atlantic Credit and Finance deal with them BEFORE they send it to their lawyer, because they law firm is out to get whatever they can and just keeps tacking on fees.

July 2008  I am being sued by them. Sheriff delivered the papers yesterday. So they do try and sue. They are saying the amount is 8900 and I am sure more than half has been padded with fees. So a warning to anyone that has them calling you. They do sue. And I hope they won't win.

April 2008   I couldn't agree more the staff at Atlantic Credit & Finance call and act as if they are your friend. Then they "tag team" you when you don't give them the information you want. The next person comes on as the "shark" and is as mean as ever. I finally wrote them a letter in March '08 for them to stop calling me per the The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) applies to personal, family, and household debts. This includes money you owe for the purchase of a car, for medical care, or for charge accounts. The FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from engaging in unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices while collecting these debts. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:

Debt collectors may contact you only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Debt collectors may not contact you at work if they know your employer disapproves.
Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you.
Debt collectors may not lie when collecting debts, such as falsely implying that you have committed a crime.
Debt collectors must identify themselves to you on the phone.
Debt collectors must stop contacting you if you ask them to do so in writing.

I have not heard from them since I wrote my letter. You do have rights so exercise them! This company did everything against the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and they knew it!!

March 2008   I just wanted to give my experiences with Atlantic Credit and Finance. They bought a credit card debt I had with GM Card (Household Bank). I did not know that Household had sold the debt to Atlantic until I called GM Card and they referred me to Atlantic. I called Atlantic and they said they were under the impression that I had filed for bankruptcy (I hadn't) so that is why they had never contacted me prior to my calling them. I set up a reasonable payment plan with them and made a couple of payments before I again was laid off. I called them back and explained the situation and they were very understanding about the situation. They actually said that I should call them back if my situation improved. I called them a couple of times after that and they were always polite and civil. I spoke to John Wright most of the time I called. They never called me even one time. The only communication I received was the confirmation letter when I had set up the payment plan last spring. The situation is now that I am going to file for bankruptcy and I called Mr Wright and told him that. He accepted that and was still very civil and polite about it. It is never pleasant to deal with such places but I just wanted to say that my experiences were no way close to the horror stories I had heard about Atlantic.

2007   I read your OPINIONS about Atlantic Credit & Finance. There are certain things that you put in your funny little page. You said ACF lies, harrasses and threats people into giving in to pay their debts. You called ACF a cockroach that needs to be crushed. That ACF employees are really bad people and Kelly Woolwine's goons wear Orange Jumpsuits?  (Remainder redacted for violation of rules - no email address to confirm)

2007   I have been receiving calls from this company. They call asking for a person that has nothing to do with my address, my phone number, or my finances. They pretend that they are a personal friend of the person they are calling for, saying" hi, this is Chrissy, is "so and so" (I choose to not publish the persons identity. They have it bad enough I'm sure being hunted by these goons) home? I'm a friend of hers & need to talk to her" Needless to say, we have received numerous calls for this person from several different Collection Services, and so we are hip to their practices. We immediately tell them to stop calling. We are told they will continue to call until they reach this
person, even though they are told it is the wrong number. They leave messages on our machine stating that if we are not the person they are looking for to stop listening to the message otherwise continuing to listen acknowledges that we are in fact that person.  I refuse to confirm my information to them to prove that I am not the person they are looking for. IF they behave this despicably so far, why would I trust them with more info? I pay my bills and find it horrifying that I am treated like this in the privacy of my own home. At this point I hope they never find the person they are looking for and never get the money they seek. And it still won't be enough to satisfy me for the way my husband & I have been spoken to and treated by these leeches.

 2007   Atlantic Credit and Finance has circulated a disputed debt to numerous other agencies and attorneys to pursue me at the same time. I have been issued an un-filed summons and complaint from a local attorney-collector who claims ACF is their client, WHILE receiving calls and dunning letters from two other collectors for the same account.

Also be careful to check your credit reports. AC&F, through their agents, has dinged "hard-inquiries" my credit report more than a dozen times. Problem is; if the account is finally settled or dismissed - the damage continues for a period of up to two-years. I am currently in the process of filing suit against one of their agents and I will get more detail through discovery and interrogatories or depositions.

Also, if you are getting a LOT of phone calls from different collectors and don't know why, it could be this company. I placed a call logger on my telephone line at the end of 2005 and the start of 2006 which logged up to 26 calls per day from 3 different collectors or attorneys of AC&F (including J.P.Frye who sometimes called 3 or more times within seconds of each other). The logger I placed on the line actually answered the phone, informed them of how many times they've called, and the amount of time since their last call, etc. While it was providing them this information, it would get interrupted by other calls for the same account. Aside from being comical, it is completely illegal.

I will have my day in court very soon, and will include the AG in my complaint, who under Washington State statute has the authority to force ACF to re-pay EVERY PENNY of every account they have collected from consumers in the state without being licensed as a collection agency. Oddly enough, they HAVE to be licensed in Washington State before they can bring suit against anyone!

Note for others: Check your consumer reports, check the laws in your state. If a license is required for collection agencies, and they don't have one - REPORT IT to your attorney general and the FTC. Also report it to the board that governs collection agencies. Contact an attorney to protect your rights and DO NOT MAKE ILLEGAL PRACTICES PROFITABLE FOR THESE FOLKS!

budhibbs.com