ad astra recovery services - is it a collection agency?

So I did some checking, Heres the deal, astra is not operating as a collection agency in texas but they have lawyers that sue in those states on their part.

I dealt with them in Texas for a Speedy Cash loan. They are licensed in Texas. In my journey to get off the payday loan roller coaster, I defaulted on my loan with Speedy Cash - who is a legal pd lender in Texas - and it was eventaully turned over to Ad Astra for collection. I went through all the steps, etc. They did honor the C&D I sent and it was outstanding for about a year and a half with no contact from them. They did report the collection on my credit report. Fast forward....I'm in a better place now that I am off the payday loan roller coaster and am working to repair the damage to my credit report. I contacted Ad Astra indicating that I wanted to settle the account. I could either take a smaller settlement amount and they would mark the collection account as settled/pd but if I wanted to have it removed from my credit report I would need to pay the full amount. They wouldn't put it in writing, but they allowed me to record the phone conversation. They were good to their word and the account was deleted within a week after I made payment over the phone.

I would send this company a DV letter and also check with your state to see if they are licensed to collect.

Okay first I do not find Speedy Cash listed as a legal lender in Texas nor as a CSO in Texas. Do they maybe go by another name?

A Debt collector must be bonded in Texas to collect debts in Texas and that collection agency does have a license and it is current.

Ad Astra Recovery Services Inc # 1

Address: 3611 N Ridge Road
Wichita, KS 67205
File Number: 20070074
Status: Active
Date Filed: 4/10/2007
Bonding Company: Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America
Bond No: 104884248

Texas has very strict garnishment laws. They would have to get a judgement against you in civil court. From what I can tell from the law is they must first go after property such as a car or house before they can actually garnish a pay check.

Do you have any of the original loan paperwork? Do you have a phone or address for Speedy Cash?

Can you go back to your bank statements and find what you actually paid them?

I am thinking that maybe Speedy might be illegal and you did make payments but they sold it off and it was picked up by a legal collection agency but as the entire loan amount and not what you actually still owed.

Are you in TX? TX does not allow wage garnishment so no worries there. There is also a homestead exemption so if you own your home it should be protected as well. Is this the 1st letter you have recieved from the CA? Does it state that you have 30 days to dispute?

i am not sure where you went to find it but i cant find ad astra as being bonded in tx,. can you please tell me where you found that

Click the link in my signature for the Texas SOS.

Quote:

I looked on the site and put in all the infro and i cant find any results \about ad astra being bonded in tx i am not sure where nohaigal found that info. i went to the tx sos site?

if they r listed in ks does that mean they r bonded in texas?

Did you search like I said?

They have to be bonded in Texas and they are. It does not matter what state they are in as long as they have a valid bond in Texas and they do.

Do you have anymore info on Speedy? I can't find them on the Texas database.

there website is speedycash.com. they have storefronts in tx. so what can i do ?? thank you for your help

So this is a store front loan?

it is a storefront but i got it off the internet. i never went to the store

if you have yahoo messenger my name is the same on here just add the (at) sign and yahoo dot com we can talk on there if that is ok

I have looked at their website and they are a member of CFSA which tells me they are legal. They offer loans via the store front and internet.

Corporate Office
Speedy Cash?? / Rapid Cash
3527 N. Ridge Road
Wichita, KS 67205
800-253-4574

For Questions about Your Past Due Account, Contact Customer Relations: 1-800-856-2911.

From what I can tell the loan was legal and the collections are legal.

so what do u think i should do?> should i go ahead and set up payment arrangements . and what do i do about the money i have paid them already i dont know if my bank has the info i shut it down a while ago?

The first is to call the bank and see if they have your old account records. You may have to pay for a copy of them.

Once you get that information then contact the collection agency and show them proof you have paid.

If you can not get the information from the bank then send a debt verification letter to the collection agency and make them verify the debt.

ok thank you so much for the help

No problem and feel free to ask more questions or advice.

do yall think that they will really sue me or do you think that it is just a threat??

They could it really depends on the company.

Since it is a collection agency calling I would send them a debt verification letter.

Were you able to get any information from your old bank?

I have dealt with Ad Astra bef.ore on a Speedy Cash loan and they were actually very nice to work with. If you are still wondering what to do, you might try calling them and ask for Scott. He seems very level headed and has worked well with me ... much better than some of the other crazy collectors I have worked with on payday loans. It might be worth a try

You should contact Speedy Cash and settle this matter. If you paid anything to them, they should have record of it.

I need to also know what my options are. I reside in Wisconsin and have received a similar letter.

Do you owe the debt? Was this for an illegal payday loan?

Generally, you respond to the letter with a debt validation request.

I don't know how legal it is as Wisconsin does have some strict laws. I probably owe something, not sure. I guess I need to get a debt validation from them. I was wondering what they can do to me in Wisconsin.

It depends on whether it was a legal lender. Was it a payday loan? I ask because I saw [URL="http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/settlement/thread70929.html"]you posted about this time 2 years ago[/URL] asking for help with 4 payday loans but you never came back with details so we could help you.

If it was an illegal lender, we can certainly help you.

Yes, it was an online payday loan. I thought I said that previously, it was the same as the fella who posted about Ad Astra-Speedy Loan.com or something like that.

Yes, year or two ago I did post and things got even worse where all the payday loans went into default. Most, surprisingly, worked with me and out of 14 of them, I now have 9 paid off. Speedy Loan never replied to my emails and now I'm hearing from them through Ad Astra.

I do know I've made a few payments to them in the past and I'm sure they will chalk it up to interest only or fees.

What is an easy way to see when you post? I have to leave the page and come back and it's not easy finding this when you come back in.

It sounds to me like this is an illegal lender. Fees and interest aren't payable. Do you still work at the same place you did when you got the loan?

When you log in, if you click (my posts) on the top right of the page, your posts will show.

Yes i do.

Can you give me some background info? Do you think you paid off the loan or did you default? If you defaulted, how much did you pay before you defaulted?

You may need to protect yourself with a wage assignment revocation to your employer. Do you still have the same checking account?

I'm not sure of how many payments I made. I'm researching that. No, the checking account has changed, but same employer. I didn't think they had any jurisdiction in Wisconsin, so they wouldn't be able to garnish my wages, correct?

i had the same thing happen with them. i owed like .27 cents and they went after me for 880...anyway they are not licensed in Texas to collect debt.