Comments on: ABC News: Debt Collectors Gone Wild

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:07:17 +0000

I have been having trouble with Redline Recovery for 3 1/2 months. They kept calling, but always hanged up as soon as I answered the phone or my answering machine picked up the call. They never said anything, just hung up on me. I know for a fact that all my bill payments are up to date, so they cannot have any legitimate claim against me. I tried to block their phone number, but they go through anyway (using the same phone number based on the caller id). I have had to change my phone number to try to stop their illegal harassment. I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, but I do not expect any results.

By: impishredhead

impishredhead — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:13:33 +0000

Hi Grace,

Here’s a link to the FDCPA: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf I don’t think this qualifies as “social security fraud” but it surely violates state and federal debt collection laws.

The debtor is the one who should be filing the complaint, and frankly should sue the backside off of that debt collector. But you could file complaints with the Attorney General’s office and the FTC. You might send Bud Hibbs an email about it too and see if he has any suggestions.

By: Grace

Grace — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:08:20 +0000

Hello,

Although I am in Michigan, please help me locate a division of the FDCPA to report social security fraud by a law firm debt collection agency. They are garnishing social security benefit receipients.

I was hired through a temporary agency Accountemps and let go the 3rd day after I noticed in training that the law firm had garnished a social security benefit debtor. I was sitting with a long time employee listening and overlooking the file while she spoke with the debtor. After she hung up with the debtor I pointed out the fact that this debtor was a social security receipient and asked her whether she was going to let the firm know they had garnished this debtor $3,000.00 and especially after he told her the garnishment had caused him a lot of grief, that all of his checks bounced. She told me he should have paid his bill and that she wasn’t going to loose her job and walked away and went to lunch.. so I thought… That evening when I got home I had received a voice message from Accountemps not to report back to the law firm, or call them that they felt that my personality did not fit in.

By: debbie

debbie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:32:46 +0000

would like to know if anyone else is being harrassed by law office of richard clark in houston, texas. want to start a class action against them. please let me know.

By: e. faulkner

e. faulkner — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:34:59 +0000

I too am being hounded by Pressler and Pressler. cannot afford to hire attorney and after numerous requests for paperwork, got a one liner saying I owed them 534, which paid, then next week, got another for 549, for interest and other charges. Who can help resolve this? They are robbing every one of us.

By: civil disobedience

civil disobedience — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:52:05 +0000

Fight Back! After numerous arguments with collection agencies about a debt that I did not owe, I called back repeatedly and hung up in the collectors face. She said that I needed to stop calling and wasting her time. Light Bulb moment!! They have to pay whenever I call. I spent the entire day calling and hanging up. They pay for the call. I spent the evening calling and listening to their voicemail. They pay for the call. If we all call them a million times, they will see how it feels, they will have such a huge phone bill that it will not be cost effective to continue in business, and it will feel great!! The FCC will not protect us from these sharks. They lie, cheat and steal.
DIAL *67 and call the 800 number again and again. What are they going to do about it? Change their phone number? Sue you? Report you to some idiot government agency?
Redial is your best friend. Send an email about this idea to everyone in your address book. Post the idea on every website. WE MUST TAKE OUR POWER BACK.

By: Vicki

Vicki — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:16:35 +0000

I woek for a debt collection agency that will terminate a collector on the spot if we are abuses to a debtor. There’s not many of them out there, I worked for companies that collectors would scream at a debtor on the phone. I have always been a respectful collector. I make a very good living because of my collections. So we are out there…………….

By: April

April — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:49:22 +0000

This information may be helpful to anyone experiencing those nasty creditor calls!!

The top 12 most common Violations of the FDCPA (Fair Debt and Collections Practices Act)
The below is not intended as legal advise.

A debt collector cannot:
1. Call you at work more than once.
2. Call other people more than once to try and locate you.
3. Tell anyone else that the collector is trying to collect a debt from you.
4. Leave a message on an answering machine without saying that the collector is trying to collect a debt; he must leave his name and company.
5. Say anything about arrest, going to jail or the like.
6. Threaten to sue you when the collector has no intention of doing so. The Collector giving a deadline that passes without filling suit usually proves this.
7. Threaten to garnish your wages without explaining that first the creditor must file suit and get a judgment.
8. Embarrass you by saying things like; “You are a deadbeat; why don’t you pay your bills; you are a disgrace”
9. Use profane or other abusive language.
10. Shout, scream, or get angry with you.
11. Give the impression that the caller or his company has some connection with the government, the courts, the police etc.
12. Call you repeatedly. A call a week is OK. More than one call a week is harassment. Certainly more than one call in the same day is an abuse, particularly if you hang up and the collector calls right back

Blogmistress note: April, where did you get that info from? It’s important to support posts like this by citing legitimate authorities, ie, statutes, case law, etc. And if you copied that from another site, you should credit them – on the condition that it’s a legitimate free consumer help site, not a predatory “debt settlement” company trolling for customers here.

By: impishredhead

impishredhead — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:31:31 +0000

Good work, Colette! It’s always a pleasure to see someone learn their rights and use them properly. If they keep it up they’ll be paying YOU pretty soon

By: Colette Nichols

Colette Nichols — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:24:18 +0000

I have been being harrassed by portfolio recovery associates for about two and a half years now. I do not owe the debt, and they refuse to give me any bill or proof that it is my debt. I have been asking for it so that I can prove it is not mine. They continue to call to this day. Even though I asked them to stop calling. I will be sending a cease and desist letter.
On another note, Debt Recovery Solutions had a debt that I did owe. An old phone bill that got lost in the shuffle when I moved. I paid it. However, the debt was 5yrs old at least. These jerks reported it on my credit report as being from 2006! I filed a report with the FTC, because they can’t report phoney dates,they must report the date the debt became delinquent. I also disputed it with Experian. Well, good news, I won! It was deleted from my credit report, do you know why? Because they never have paperwork to back anything up, and they did not have the original date of delinquency, so Experian deleted it. I just thought I’d share a happy ending story, in hopes of helping someone else.
Debt Recovery was VERY nasty to me, and even hung up on me when I asked them to fix it, and reminded them of illegal debt reporting. DO NOT get pushed around by these horrible people.