     Eric (Acalla) | Monday, April 16, 2001 - 07:45 am 
A few years ago, I left school and work to help someone run a dotcom company. We got a joint CC account from AMEX to help with the business but I was the main account on it since the other guy did not have good credit (supposily from an accident he had in the past). It had a 3K limit that we run up and started paying on. Now, here is where this gets bad.
I left the company when this guy got sued for taking some money from his girlfriend and not paying her back. I was trying to still be on his good side and was trying to get him to pay off this CC bill (since most of the debt now was personal stuff he charged). I did not remove him from the account as I thought the damage was already done (the card was at it's limit). A couple of months later, I get a call from a collections agency saying "I owe 40K on this card." Seems that this guy was sending AMEX large checks then running his card up to the limit before the check bounced. He had sent them 5 bad checks to do this. I talked to AMEX who said to go to the DA about the bad checks (I did this but I was not the victim of bad checks, they were). I told the collections agency that it was fraud (this is what AMEX said to say) and they told me they would not need to get ahold of me anymore and they would send me some papers (never sent).
Now, I get a call from yet another collections agency that wants payment. The kicker here is they do not see this guys name on the account, only mine. It seems that AMEX sold the guys account the first time and my account (the main one on this joint account) to the new collections agency.
I guess my question is: What should I do? I got married last year and bought a house. I have two cars (one my wife uses for work). I already paid 5K on this debt to cover what charges the business made on the card. I do not much savings anymore and only one car can be sold for a few grand over what I owe to the bank (so I guess they could take this one in bankruptcy). I feel I should not have to pay for the fraud this guy did to AMEX. Also, they kept increasing the limit even though he was bouncing checks to them. They had my number but never called and this guy was removing the statments from the mailbox before he gave them to me (this is my fault as I should have realized I was not getting these statements anymore). He does not have anything in his name (minus, we believe, a judgement from the accident he had).
Any thoughts on how to handle this? |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Monday, April 16, 2001 - 09:37 am
1) Go to police and press fraud charges.
2) Send AmEx a certified letter demanding they remove this account from your credit, pull that account from collection and request that they take legal action against the person who wrote the bad checks.
3) Mail a certified letter to the collection agency disputing the debt due to fraud.
It would help if you could include some kind of police report with your mailings.
I really don't know the legal aspects, but it sure was weird that AmEx would increase the limit! Very odd.
I also think if AmEx refuses to press charges that's their choice and you *** SHOULD *** not be liable at all. Technically you were responsible for that account, but AmEx sure contributed to the problem. It's really NOT like AmEx at all to increase limits after receiving bounced checks.
In Arizona writing bad checks can get you 6 months in jail.
Please let us know what happens! |
| Eric (Acalla) | Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 08:58 am
Thanks for the information. This is an incredible site and has really helped me see some light at the end of this tunnel. I am getting everything together right now to send out to them and get this taken care of.
I do have another question. There seems to be some question as to whether the guy who ran up the cards was a AU or a joint account. When we got the cards many years ago, I remember them needing h
1000
is SSN but they are saying they do not have that information. What type of problem does that through in this mix, if he was an AU???
Also, I am not sure if you do this on this site, but does anyone know a good attorney in AZ? All the big law firms just want to file bankruptcy for you and not help determine the best method to work out. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 09:19 am
I myself would like to find a good attorney for these matters in AZ. All I can say is don't bother with Fortner in Camp Verde.
This is clearly a matter of criminal fraud, and your County attorney should go after your partner.
You really shouldn't have to file bankruptcy over this and if AmEx is giving you trouble, I recommend you file a complaint against them too.
I can't see why it would make any difference whether he was an authorized user or joint account holder. AmEx took his checks and increased the limit even though the checks bounced.
YOU should NEVER be liable for more than your original credit line. |
