Negotiating or Settling with Liberty Acquisitions LLC a Junk Debt Buyer
I had a credit card with Wells Fargo that was charged off and sold around 3 years ago. Wells Fargo reported the charge off on my credit and reported a zero balance. I called Wells Fargo to settle the debt recently and they said they sold the debt to Absolute Resolutions. I called them and they sold the debt to Liberty Acquisitions.
So far I've never received a letter from Liberty Acquisitions, and when I called them to see if they owned the debt, they said they did but said they sent a letter to an address on my credit report, which happens to be an incorrect address. I decided to see if they would be willing to settle on my original $6k debt, now at $7k with interest.
Liberty agreed to accept a little over $2k to settle and sent a settlement letter by mail and email. Now I'm worried about paying them because they did say that they are a non-reporting agency and have no control over what Wells Fargo reports. I've got the cashiers check, copies of everything and just not sure I want to send the check. Now I'm thinking I should have made them validate the debt, if I do that, the date will pass when the funds are to be received.
Should I make them validate the debt being they are a junk debt buyer even though I've got the settlement letter?
—Paul
Following the chain of communication you completed, settling the old Wells Fargo debt with Liberty Acquisitions LLC makes sense. The savings on the deal you negotiated with them is significant and inline with what I would target.
Requesting debt validation from Liberty Acquisitions.
Sending a request to Liberty for them to validate the debt is certainly your right. And it is a good option for someone who:
- Is not sure about the debt being their own.
- The accuracy of the balance being collected.
- In some cases as part of negotiating and settling
- You know the debt is yours, and the balance due is correct, but cannot do anything to resolve it because of limited resources.
You have already verified with Wells Fargo that they sold it to Absolute Resolutions Corporation. That was followed by Absolute Resolution confirming they sold it to Liberty Acquisitions LLC. The balance reduction on the table through settlement is pretty good, and about a third of the original balance owed to Wells Fargo. If your goal is to settle the account and move on, you are in a great position to do that.
How Wells Fargo shows on your credit report.
I could read your concern about following through with the settlement a couple different ways. The one I assume is the correct interpretation is that you were expecting to get the Wells Fargo account updated on your credit report. But that is not on the table.
Your Wells Fargo account should be showing the credit card account as charged off and zero balance owed. Is that what you see? If not, that can be fixed. Once Wells Fargo sold the debt to Absolute Resolution, no money was owed to Wells any longer, and should have been updated to reflect that.
If Absolute Resolutions Corp is showing on your credit report, it is also owed no money, as they sold the rights and ownership of your debt to Liberty Acquisitions.
Liberty cannot have any affect on how the account is being reported other than what they send the bureaus themselves. Is Liberty Acquisitions LLC showing on your credit report at all?
If you can answer the above questions in a comment reply below I can offer more feedback. Anyone with questions about resolving debt with Liberty, or even Absolute Resolution Corporation, is welcome to post questions and concerns in the comments.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Im trying to fix my credit and liberty acq never answerd their phone snd i want to get a jmt settled and reported as paid
Do you know the name of the collection law firm Liberty Acquisitions used to sue you? You can look that up in the court record. You may want to start there. Let me know if everyone is non responsive after a week or three and lets go from there.
I paid my debt with liberty over eight years ago. My credit is still in the negative. What the heck.
A paid collection from 8 years ago should not be on your credit reports at all. Is Liberty Acquisition still showing up on your reports?
A year ago I got unconscious and fainted when I was in work so someone around me admitted me in the hospital. After I got cured I applied for charity for the hospital bills.
Six months before I opened a bank account to maintain my credit level and get a bank loan for my higher studies.
I maintained my credit level very carefully.
Now I have got some unpaid bills from the hospital. When I call them they say that they don’t come under charity so you have to pay them.
I don’t own that much money to pay.
Now my credit score says that its too poor.
I’m confused whether it affects my loan for my higher studies?
How can I remove those bills from my bank account?
Unpaid debts can impact your ability to get student loans approved.
What are the balances owed?
Is Liberty Acquisitions involved in any of the collection?
Hello,
I received a notice of garnishee from Liberty Acquisitions. They are going to take from my paychek $633.62, for this month and the rest of the money next month until a complete balance of $1,095.00. I called my HR department because I didn’t understand this, I didn’t receive any previous notification, or court citation; and the most important part the Social Security Number they have is not my SSN. The person in the HR says that she doesn’t know waht to do since this is a court order even she realized that SSN is not my. I called Liberty Acquisitions, they are not anymore under that name now they are Jefferson Capital Systems. I tried to explain the lady my situation she was very rude! She requested a copy of my personal information, I denied to provide my documents and I honestly become very upset for this because is not my debt and she was rude and confirm that they are going to take my money and there is nothing that I can do!
The debt is to Ladies Fitness from 2007.
Please any advice!
I would want to look at my options to get any court action – I had no clue about – voided. And if the debt is not mine, dig into what my consumer rights are. I can refer you to a consumer law attorney for a no cost consult if you like. What is the name of a large city near you?
Hi,
My brother recently received a summons from absolute resolutions which is a debt buyer agency.
They are suing for 3345.26 on an HSBC account that was closed in 2013 with a charge off.
His credit report does not show a charge off in that amount nor does it show any debt to resolute acqusitions. The only HSBC entry on his credit report shows $0 with a note that says charge off.
When we called HSBC they said they do not have any information and they would forward an inquiry to the recovery department to try and find out more information.
We have filed a consumer credit transaction written answer in response to the filed complaint denying the allegations as this is the first he has been contacted about the problem
How valid are these complaints brought forth by companies that purchase debt?
How often do they go all the way to a court appearance?
Best,
Rachel
The charge off and now zero balance reporting by HSBC is what you should see with a sold debt.
Debt buyer lawsuits are validly filed in the thousands every day. They are not all able to back up their claims meeting the rules of best evidence, or meet other legal defense challenges, but the claims are not made from thin air.
Debt collection lawsuits will regularly go all the way to a court appearance when you defend them. The reason so few reach that stage is that most people do not respond to the lawsuit, or when they do, the response is not sufficient to survive summary judgment.
What is your brothers goal with this account?
Please provide a short list of attorneys experienced in negotiations with collection companies. Thank you.
Denise, Can you provide more details for what you have going on, and the city and state you live in?
You can call me if that works better. I can be reached at 800-939-8357, choose option 2. Leave a message if you get my voice mail so I know to return your call.
My wife and I are working on getting financed for a home loan. When our credit report was pulled it was noted that she had a Judgment against her from Liberty Acquisitions. There is no report of any credit cards being send to collections on either one of our credit reports. They only item in collection was a medical bill. When we contacted LA (now Jefferson Capital?) they stated it was from a Chase credit card that was opened in 2006. Again, there is no record of either one of us opening or having a Chase card in the credit history. When we called the court house with the docket number they gave us the phone number to Jefferson Capital. If we look on the country public records website however there is no record of judgment against my wife. The original judgement was for around $1900. When my wife contacted Jefferson Capital they said that do to interest the new charge is over $5,000 and if we wanted to settle they would accept $4200.
We are in the final stages of purchasing a house and need to try to resolve this quickly. I do not want to fork over that kind of cash for something that we do not have any knowledge of. Is it possible to have a judgement from credit card debt and not have it show up on your credit report? Any other advice is welcome.
Thanks!
It is possible to have a judgment and it not appear on your credit reports due to age. And it is not impossible to have a mondo screw up where you are sued for a debt that is not even yours.
It is not clear from what you shared, so first things first, did you have a Chase credit card ever, and did you stop paying it?
The answer to that question will guide the rest of my feedback that will be actionable no matter what your answer is.
Hello,
I had a judgment entered against me by LA, the thing is that I never received a summons for this judgment, and I’m currently living in Colorado (where the judgment was entered). I recently received documentation from Liberty informing me that I had a judgment entered against me, and that they wanted their money.
I called them to dispute the case because at the time of the judgment the debt was more than 7 years old. They rebuffed me by telling me that the ‘debt clock’ was reset when they received their judgment. I told them that I had no money to pay them with (which I honestly do not), and now they are suing me to drag me into court in order to levy my bank accounts (I am self-employed).
My monthly income is right around $900.00, I have no assets to speak of (not even a car)…and if they levy my bank account I am certain that it will turn me on to the street. I do not have money for a lawyer, and I could afford to pay them $100.00 a month, but from what I read here that is a moot point.
Should I be getting my affairs in order and preparing to go into a homeless shelter? Or do you think they’d be willing to take the $100.00 a month and not go after my accounts?
Operate from a pure cash basis until you get this resolved.
Colorado offers zero exemption from bank levy.
Is the judgment against you personally? Do you have a bank account in your business name?
I had the same problem and called this attorney (see below), Dan Vedra, in Denver who has a lot of experience tangling with Liberty.He deals with Consumer Protection. His fees are super low and I paid only about 30% of what LA was hounding me for with all their additional fees tacked on. The important thing is to have a response to their summons or they can levy $ from your account if you are a no show or have response.. He knows all their tricks and works hard for the consumer. I highly recommend him. Good luck!
https://www.vwfirm.com/contact-us/
I have also received two summons from Liberty Acquisition Servicing LLC out of Golden, CO. I have hired an attorney in Denver suggested in an above post. It was also for supposed Wells Fargo accounts and Wells Fargo has zero balances on these accounts as well. I have also had calls to their ‘attorney’ and they push settling right away. Gee, wonder why?
Will let you know of the outcome. My court date was set as June 18th but attorney is filing a response soon. It only takes a Google search to see how Liberty Acquisition operates. (See Ripoff Reports)
They hope that they will get a default judgement against you since most people are terrified when they receive a summons and may no be able to afford a lawyer or know how to respond to these guys. My attorney basically said, “Don’t encourage their strong arm scare tactics by settling.” It seems they are in violation of some pretty basic consumer protection laws.
Good luck everyone!!
I received a summons from LA, they sent the other letter to an old address. It’s a debt of 1000 from Wells Fargo DDR checking account. But the thing is we still bank with Wells Fargo and neither I nor my wife can recall anything like this being charged off? The lawyer said they buy a pool of debt and that most likely an answer to the summons will be suffice. Reading here I see its easy to settle with LA but what if the debt is not familiar. I called Wells Fargo, nothing. I called who they sell their debts to, nothing. I call LA and they say they are the 3rd buyer. I’ve also read that in court, they need original documentation to get the judgement, which Wells Fargo communicated to me they do not have. They have name, address, social, and account number, how can this be enough to prove this debt belongs to my wife and I in the courts? It’s 3 months shy of the 6years SOL as well. We are answering tomorrow with deny of each and every allegation on the summons in our “Answer” to the court. The lawyer said most likely it will be dismissed, I was not as confident as him. I did call LA, and they specifically told me not to file an answer, to just set up a payment plan. That lends me to believe making them prove this debt is something they do not really want to do and don’t have to because of the amount of block suing they are doing? Also Mr. Thomas Potter does not reside here, and the lawyer checked him on the bar website as its against the Law to file in Oregon courts if not licensed here, which he is but has his CO PO BOX address – so it’s a phone in court job most likely. After what I have stated, what outcomes or steps should I prepare for. How can they prove this debt is ours when I can’t recall it or trace it whatsoever? And Wells Fargo stated LA does not have the original paperwork or copies I would have signed if the account was legit? It’s seems like they are counting on defaults and playing with the odds of a consumer being informed of their rights and not? Oh, and LA said I can’t ask for more info because I missed that first letter, as I asked them for verification of the debt and the phone jockey got all personally involved and started getting defensive. Their behavior suggests they try to avoid court to me. The lawyer said it will be dismissed or they will give it their best shot in court and that’s the risk that if a judge believes them, you will pay their new costs too?
Once sued, requesting validation from Liberty Acquisitions is not going to be affective. You can get far better mileage from the discovery process and forcing the issues you are already aware of – how can they prove a debt they have from Wells Fargo, when Wells Fargo cannot prove the debt to Liberty Acquisitions?
Are you in a position to be able to hire the attorney you have been talking with? Is the attorney experienced with debt defense in Oregon courts?
yes the attorney had handled cases before. He said they rarely have the documentation to prove the debt. These were his exact words, I don’t know this to be true from my own research. The question is La is saying they have a debt that I cannot locate or am unaware of, which was what got me calling Wells Fargo and their debt buyers. yes I cannot get verification as its a lawsuit now, I understand this. I want to know how many of these cases are won by LA?
They seem to want to settle and my only course to find out is to go to court and ask them to prove the debt is ours – since I missed the verify opportunity after not getting their letter. it’s seems most on your site are aware of their debts and are seeking advice about settling. Besides my name, ss, address, and account number, will they have actual documentation of this account and our signatures showing this debt to be valid in court? Our lawyer said doubtful with a bulk debt buyer like LA.
Kristian – Debt buyer lawsuits are routinely beaten back by experienced consumer law attorneys whose practices focus in this area. When it comes to settling with Liberty Acquisitions, as opposed to defending this, it can boil down to costs. Assume you can settle for 40% of the balance they say is owed. Will the attorney fees be less than that?
For my part, if I were being sued for a debt I do not fully recognize, I would defend it all the way.
Reading all these stories scare me a bit.
I received a letter to pay an old bill with Liberty trying to settle at 40% lower than what was originally owed. Although I don’t want to pay this bill as the original debt “Wells Fargo” shouldn’t have charged me in the first place; however, when you review the contract language they have the right (I guess). Anyway, I want to settle this but I am nervous after reading these posts. If I pay it and the letter states paying the “discounted” amount will settle it, they cannot legal come back for more correct?
I am a Oregon resident
Your help is appreciated.
I would have to see the letter Liberty sent you to give the type of feedback you are asking about. Read this post about what to look for in a settlement letter, and compare the details I highlight with your letter.
From the little you shared, the letter already contains a couple of key elements.
If you settle per an agreement and meet your side of the bargain (keep a copy of the letter and proof that you paid), no, they cannot come back for more, and nor can anyone else. If something like that happened it would be from an error, and can be dealt with quickly. You can post an update if anything strange happens and get some quick insights on dealing with it.
We recieved a letter from Liberty Acquisitions about a month ago, stating my husband owed a debt to US cellular. Over the course of the month I forgot about the letter and didn’t call them. This morning we get a knock on the door and my husband is served supposedly a court summons, regarding this debt. We have only ever received one notification of this get through liberty and not even a month after receiving the letter they supposedly are sending my husband court. The document doesn’t seem legit it doesn’t have a case number or docket number there’s no County stamp On it. What I be correct in thinking that this is just a way for them to scare us into contacting them ?
You may live in a state where the local rules are a bit different than most other county’s. Where are you?
What is your goal with this debt?