I received a phone call from a company regarding a debt I had in 2013. The guy contacted me and stated that I had written a check to a payda...

Question

I received a phone call from a company regarding a debt I had in 2013. The guy contacted me and stated that I had written a check to a payday company in 2013 and when it bounced, they were paid to address the issue. The guy never gave me the name of the company in which he works, also stated that he was not a debt collector, rather he was a clerk and then he transferred me over to the "head of legal" in which the "head of legal" told me he was going to have me prosecuted for a bad check, he told me that if I paid the "restitution" amount of $596 (Which the original check amount was $296 after all fees) and told me if I sent in the payment in person at a certified money grahm place before noon they would drop the "charges" otherwise it would be filled and sent over to the commonwealth of KY for procecution.

The question that lies in my head is this, in the state of Ky, a post dated check, such as the kind you give at a payday place, is not considered theft by deception or a "bounced check" also, the state of ky statue of limitations is 1 year for a bad check, this loan was taken out in may of 2013.

So I called them back, I explained what information I had attained, and the man proceeded to tell me he didn't care about my "bullshit" and he was going to turn my account over to the lawyer and have them send it to the commonwealth of KY for prosecution.

I get this is probably a scam, but all at the same time, it does scare me a little bit. They have not called me other than that one time, which is what scares me a little, since most debt collectors tend to call multiple times a day/week.

Please help, thank you.

Answer

You may be correct that it is a scam. It certainly sounds like it. I suggest you ask them to send proof of "chain of title" of the debt or proof of "assignment" to prove they own the debt.

If they send you proof then you may want to settle with them for the original loan amount if they take off the additional charges. I doubt it will be worth your money or time to hire an attorney who will charge more than your debt is worth. Look into the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and you will get some good ideas as to how to respond to debt collectors.

Of course, if you wrote the check then I suggest you settle with them for that amount.

KRS 514.040 covers Theft by Deception and you may access this statute at the following link:

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statutes/statute.aspx?id=19805

I hope this has helped and I wish you all the best.

Thank you,