NCO Financial Systems: A dreadful third party collection agency
Third party debt collectors break the law by violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to direct and monitor debt collection practices by third party collectors.
The FDCPA has laid down the guidelines for fair collection practices in order to protect consumers from being harassed by mean debt collectors. A creditor has a right to collect payment from you. But, debt collectors by no means are creditors; they are third party collectors and should not be allowed to browbeat you into believing their superiority.
In reality debt collectors are employed for a meager salary by debt collection agencies and are paid based on their collection abilities. Some debt collection agencies buy debts from original creditors for a discounted amount of the original debt. If a debt collector is actually successful in collecting money from you, the collectors take the major share of the money and give the creditors a share of the collection. Some creditors wash their hands off the debt by completely selling the debt. To collect payment on such debts, and to make the most of the debt, collectors resort to unethical means.
Some large financial institutions have large receivable departments like mortgage, home loan and health care companies. These companies employ ‘in house’ collectors to collect their debts. These collectors are not considered as ‘debt collectors’ by the FDCPA and therefore do not have to follow many rules under the FDCPA.
In a recent debt collection case, a consumer from Richmond, Virginia, was harassed by NCO Financial Systems for a zombie debt to such an extent that she ended up seeing a psychiatrist for depression. An NCO Financial Systems agent called her many times during the day and even night. He left messages on the voice mail box if his calls were not attended to. He called neighbors and disclosed details about her debt. He threatened to sue her, seize her vehicle and have her arrested.
NCO Financial Systems agent is a third party collector and not an ‘in house’ collector. NCO Financial Systems violated the FDCPA and can be sued by the consumer in the above case. NCO Financial Systems has countless rip off reports against it. It is considered to be the worst debt collection agency which creates zombie debts.
The FTC watches over the collection industry with eagle eyes but with so many collection agencies mushrooming in the market, the FTC acts if there are a substantial number of complaints about a particular agency.
In 2004, the FTC penalized NCO with 1.5 million dollars fine for reporting inaccurate information to the credit bureaus. Reporting wrong information to the credit bureaus is one of the violations of the FDCPA. Despite a regular array of complaints about it, NCO Financial Systems continues to violate the FDCPA.
Della on January 31, 2011 at 12:24 PM
These ASSh**** called 14 days ago on a medical account that had been paid in full to the original doctor. I have receipts, zero invoice, etc. I laid into them 14 days ago and told them to NEVER CALL and that they could consider this a cease and desist request. I also sent a cease and desist on that date via mail. They called again today – of course their ‘very busy representatives’ can’t dream of being on the phone, they leave a number in their robo-call-message. I phoned back. Was on hold for 15 minutes. Then was placed on hold again for 5 minutes. By the time I got their arrogant, ignorant rep, I was fit to be tied. This time I totally exploded, told them they’re wasting my time and that they’re breaking the law. They denied receiving the cease and desist. (LIARS).
They said they had no record it had been paid. I told them I wasn’t wasting time with them any further and I’d call the people who employed them. They then told me none of this is their problem because as far as they’re concerned, they are owed the debt and that I shouldn’t have paid the original party. Huh? It shouldn’t have even gone to them to begin with!!!!!
I phoned the original doctor’s corporate office, and they were apologetic and said they’d take care of it.
These people need to be heavily fined by the US Government. Anyone have a web site url to report these scumbags to the Feds? They consistantly break the law.
OH, and last time? The woman told me “Well, it’s not my fault if there’s a mistake” and I said “Lady, YOU are the mistake and it’s totally your fault. You choose to work as a filthy scumbag trying to collect when there is no debt. You are the problem.”
These people deserve zero courtesy because they’re not willing to show it to anyone. They deserve jail time.
(Posting this everywhere I can. These people need to be in prison).
Comment by Della on January 31st, 2011 at 11:29 am