Consumer complaint received 2018-09-19
Company: Miller, Stark, Klein and Associates
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX Someone from XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX contacted my father in law regarding a law suit being filed against his Son ( my husband ). MY father in law took their number and gave us the information. I called and left a voicemail to find out what was going on that same evening. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a voicemail from Miss XXXX from the processing division regarding the complaint case against my husband. 
I spoke to her and she told me it was a credit card debt and from a credit card that was opened in XXXX. She said my husband stopped making payments in XXXX and the card defaulted in XXXX and that is was removed from his credit report two years ago because they were going to take legal action against him and in order to do that the debt could not be on his credit report. She said if my husband had any hardship that could have prevented him from paying and I mentioned that he was in a car accident but I could not give her a date cause I was unsure. She said she was going to verify that information and put me on hold she then said we could settle the balance for {$5200.00} ( original debt would be {$12000.00} including court fees because they were going to file legal action against my husband ). I told her I could not pay that because I was at work and I had to call my husband. She said she would send a release consent for my husband to sign in the mean time and I will then receive all the information regarding the debt. 
I immediately called my husband and he said he did not recall that debt and that I should call an attorney. I emailed and attorney and got a response right away. The attorney said the following : " If the debt defaulted in XXXX and neither of you has made a payment or acknowledged the debt since then, the collector is probably time-barred from filing a suit. Further, credit card accounts can only stay on ones credit report for 7 years from default. Thus, that is likely why it came off your husbands credit report two years ago, not because of litigation. 
Collectors are prohibited from threatening unintended and illegal actions by the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. It sounds like you may have a claim under the Act. Any successful action under the Act provides actual damages, statutory damages of up to {$1000.00}, plus your costs an attorneys fees. '' I called Miss XXXX immediately after taking to the attorney. As soon as I told her this she got very defensive and started yelling at me telling me that that we owe this money and that we have to pay and that we would receive the documents in the mail. That I had acknowledge the debt although I told her I could not acknowledge because I was at work and could not talk to my husband. I have only been married to my husband for 7 months so it is impossible for me to know if a debt from XXXX that he doesn't even remember was valid. 
Miss XXXX was trying to intimidate me and got very loud over the phone. Of course I am going to try to settle something out of court if it's related to my husband. However, I am not just going to do it without asking him and my attorney about it. In our initial conversation Miss XXXX said I had to stay on the phone with her while all the paperwork and payment was processed because it was an IRA ( Immediate Release Action ) Settlement and the payment had to be made immediately with a credit or debit card and I would get a confirmation code releasing my husband off all liability. She was really demanding and did not speak clearly. when referencing the debt. She spoke really fast and did not really allow me to ask questions. 
I feel this is a very unfair tactic to take advantage of people.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation