Two debt collectors, both headquartered in Buffalo, NY, have had complaints filed against them by the Federal Trade Commission according to a recent press release from the FTC. The FTC, along with the NY State Office of the Attorney General, is suing two separate, Buffalo-based debt collection groups for alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection…
Reuters reports that, last month, over 100,000 potential plaintiffs were permitted to pursue a class action against a New York-based debt collector and law firm. The claim is that both Leucadia National Corp and the Mel S. Harris law firm were using ‘sewer service‘ to win default judgments in cases against debtors. Sewer service is…
The Federal Trade Commission Thursday announced a settlement in a long-running case against two debt collection agency owners and their network of companies that threatened lawsuit and arrest over debts consumers often did not owe. The two principal owners of Rincon Debt Management, Jason R. Begley and Wayne W. Lunsford, will surrender more than $3.3…
A Glendale, California-based debt collector will pay $1 million dollars to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the defendants violated federal law. This is the first FTC action against a debt collector who used text messaging to attempt to collect debts in an unlawful manner. The FTC, the nation’s consumer protection agency, alleged that Archie…
After allegedly misleading consumers into paying unnecessary fees and falsely threatening consumers with lawsuits, defendants in a debt collection operation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. The FTC alleged in its complaint that the defendants – a debt buyer and a debt collection law firm, both based in Mississippi – violated the FTC…
On February 20th, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced victory, at least temporarily, in halting unauthorized credit card transactions involving thousands of consumers. The scammers charged credit cards for non-existent goods and services totaling more than $25 million, targeting financially vulnerable consumers who had at some point prior to the transaction, applied for a pay…
Check Your Credit Report for Free Using AnnualCreditReport.com & Dispute Suspicious Activity A recent congressionally-mandated study of the U.S. credit reporting industry, by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), found that five percent of consumers had errors on one of their three major credit reports. The results make it clear that consumers should check their reports…
One of the nation’s largest debt collectors, Allied Interstate, was charged by the Federal Trade Commission for making repeated collection calls to collect from the wrong person, to collect the wrong amount or both. Allied has agreed to pay $1.75 million in the settlement, which is the second largest civil penalty obtained by the FTC…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that debt collection agency, West Asset Management, violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) on multiple occasions, leading to thousands of consumer complaints. Century Negotiations President Amy Michalo-Rojas urged clients, and the general public, to stay informed about these types of cases so they can recognize when a…
“…the FTC received more complaints about the debt collection industry than any other industry. In 2009, the FTC received 119,364 complaints about first- and third-party debt collectors, up from 104,766 in 2008—an increase of nearly 15,000 complaints.”
