Third Party Disclosure by U.S. bank collections?
I put a friend on my credit card, long story short, he used my money w/o my permission and I have (over time) accumlated in facebook msgs him saying he owes me money and will pay me back but doesn't actually do it... he has paid me 350 dollars but that is the money I had to pay to the lendor to keep my account from getting charged off. However, we did sit down discuss the terms of paying back and he said that he will pay me 100 a week and we never got around to that. I was out of the country the time that he used my credit card. my limit on the card was $7000. He used $3500. When I first came to know about this he told me he had sent in $500 dollars and kept up with the payments. When I checked a few weeks later, no money had been sent in whatsoever ever since the first transaction and my account was in collections. It is not a 3rd party collections, it hasn't charged off yet and it hopefully won't get charged off. It is U.S. Bank collections department thats collecting on it. They called me and verified information. I was told I was responsible for the charges since I'm the primary account holder. Then they asked me who all they were allowed to speak with in regards to this account and I told them ONLY me. I told them to not call my so called friend and not to discuss anything with him. I strictly asked them not to do so. I missed 2 payments because I do not have a job yet (Ohio's unemployment rates are skyrocketting, no jobs whatsoever). So they called my house, couldn't find me cuz i'm a student i'm usually on campus and I do not have lunch/gas money let alone money for a cellphone. So they called my friend's cell which I had asked them NOT to call and they asked him if he was ME and he answered yes and without verifying anything like SSN or Address or anything else... they discussed the details with him. He msged me on facebook and was like your bank called me and discussed some things with me. They told me you missed a payment for two months and you need to pay that in order to stay in the hardship program. WTFFF! Isn't that a 3rd party disclosure? Is U.S. bank collections regulated by the FDCPA rules and guidelines which are enforced by the FTC? Is a lawsuit a possibility and if it is what are my chances because clearly someone who stole from me knows the ongoings of my personal life? What should I do? What should be my next step? Should I file a police report against my friend for pretending to be me and invading my privacy? I am really worried because I'm not sure what all other details the collections department discussed with my friend... Please tell me if there is a way out of this and what I can do to U.S. bank for disclosing my personal information to a third person.
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1 :
Even if a lawsuit is a possibility, I do not think that you would receive any money from it. The bank could always countersue for whatever you owe them, and, even if the judge ruled that they did anything wrong (which might or might not be the case), they could ask the judge to say that because you owe more for the unpaid credit card bills than they owe you for whatever they did, they do not have to pay you anything.
2 :
I couldn't wade thru your whole post -- paragraphs would make it easier to read. The FDCPA applies to third party collection agencies. US bank is the original creditor and does not have to comply with the FDCPA.
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