Good luck getting a dime out of ME

I had a nice little sphincter pucker on Wednesday. A call came through on my cell, from a number I did not recognize. A recorded voice spoke when I answered. "Please hold for an important call for (deeper, computerized voice) Daniel... Joseph... Free-chee... (back to recording) If you are... (deeper, computerized voice) Daniel... Joseph... Free-chee... (back to recording) please, press 1."

I pressed one. A man came on the line, introducing himself as a representative of the Law Firm of Lots of Important Sounding Last Names. He wanted first to confirm that I was the Daniel Fritschie he was looking for. Odds were good seeing as there are only two other Daniel Fritschies on the planet. He wanted to confirm my social security number, but I waited to see if he would start reciting the numbers first. He didn't, instead choosing to confirm my birthdate. I was the Daniel Fritschie he was looking for.

He started spouting out some legal crap about the Saturn SL2 I turned in five years ago, and he was trying to collect on the balloon payment that GMAC said that I owed them.

A little backstory: In 2003, I was leasing this Saturn, and the balloon payment was fast approaching. I had three options:

Pay the balloon payment and keep the car.
Trade the car in on a new lease.
Turn the car in and not owe the balloon payment.

I tried with all my might to get the money for the balloon payment, or at the very least, refinance it. I took extra hours at work, worked part time at other jobs, but I was still coming up short. So, I decided at the last minute to exercise option #3. The deadline for turning in the car was on a Sunday, so I dealt with GMAC on Friday, who told me I could fax in the proper paperwork, which I did.

I spent all day Saturday with a friend driving down to Little Rock to pick up the truck I was gonna borrow from my parents. On Sunday, we turned in the car to the Tulsa Saturn dealership. It was after hours at this point, so I left the vehicle there with a note explaining the situation and the confirmation number from GMAC.

A couple weeks later, I got a letter from GMAC informing me that they marked the car off as a repossession, that I still owed the balloon payment, plus repair fees, minus what it will go for at auction. A few panicked phone calls later, GMAC effectively stonewalled me. They said I had no legal recourse, and I owed them the money.

After about a year and a half, the phone calls and the letters stopped. It still sat there as a big melanoma on my credit report, but I stood firm in my refusal to pay for a car I was not driving. This past fall, the debt got written off of my credit report, and I finally qualified for a new car loan.

About this time, I started getting some last chance letters trying to collect on that balloon payment. I ignored the letters altogether. In fact, any mail that isn't a utility bill or handwritten addressed direct to me, goes right in the recycle bin.

Back to the phone call. The guy on the phone kept informing me that they are filing legal action and anything I said was being recorded and could be used as evidence against me in court. I answered his questions without admitting to any wrong doing. GMAC didn't hold up their end of the bargain, unless they could get me my old car back, then they weren't gonna see a dime from me.

The man asked if i was gainfully employed. I told him that I was employed, but not gainfully. He threatened to garnish my wages, I told him he could try. You can't get blood from a turnip, I told him.

The more he pressed, the more I had to restate that I'm not answering any more questions until I consulted an attorney. We ended our phone conversation. I started to panic a bit. Outside, on my third cigarette, I bitched about the phone call to a co-worker, and she said it sounded like a scam. I went back inside, Googled the phone number and company name, and the first thirty links were from fraud alert web sites. They were trying to scam me.

Turns out, when a bad debt gets written off, the information gets "lost", and these scammers "find" this information and attempt to collect on the debt on behalf of their "client". I also found out that no one in the legal profession can depose you over the phone, and no one announces over the phone that they are filing a lawsuit. If these guys had a leg to stand on, then I would be served with official papers.

I got another letter from them today, and I'm gonna use it to file a complaint with every agency that covers this kind of thing. And if they call me again, I'm gonna refer them to my attorney, Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma Attorney General.