Unmanageable debt has become a way of life for a majority of Americans. Even as our government struggles to survive its own massive deficits, it is not surprising that we as individuals often have difficulty meeting our credit card payments, mortgages and car loans, especially when interest rates and bank fees are designed to keep consumers deep in debt. The fact is that our economy encourages people to live with too much debt, in ways that cannot be repaid in a lifetime. We are encouraged to buy more than we need and to pay for it later by use of credit cards, mortgages, student loans and car payments. Even with the best of intentions, unforeseen things can happen. Yet, we all need to survive and must provide for our families, even if it comes at the cost of not knowing how to pay for it until later. And so, money issues can get out of control, even more so when something unexpected happens. It can be the result of an historically bad economy, divorce, death or illness of a wage earner, or job loss. Debt increases throughout life and causes major stress.
If paying your bills has become difficult, your accounts have likely been sent to collections. Collection departments and debt collectors are the tools used by banks, mortgage companies, auto lenders and credit card companies. These same businesses that encouraged you to buy, to pay later, assault you with collection harassment demands to pay immediately, by any means necessary; and when people don’t pay immediately, that’s when things go from bad to worse. Collection departments and debt collectors specialize in pressuring you to pay and pay and pay, often resorting to harassment, threats, abuse, deception and occasionally filing lawsuits, until they get what they want. In far too many cases, the actual amounts being sought changes considerably, growing far greater than the amounts actually owed without any justification. In other cases, the debts are too old to be collected, but that does not stop the collection industry from pushing as hard as possible, knowing that good people want to pay their bills.
If you find yourself being called by a debt collector, the chances of you being the victim of collection agency harassment is far greater than you may think. Americans are contacted by debt collection agencies every year, in many cases several times a year. However, there are steps that one can take in order to stop the harassment, and to be certain they do not pay anything more than they actually owe. In many cases, people can drastically reduce and even eliminate the debt they have. A lot of debt claims can be defended, more often than you think.
One of the key points to getting out of debt and avoiding collection harassment is to manage your money effectively, but once you are already having trouble, you need help. Getting debt help starts with gaining knowledge on managing your income and expenses, keeping a tight rein on unnecessary spending and eliminating erratic behavior. It also means cutting back on offers of credit and not using cards that charge excessive interest and fees. The removal of debt harassment in your life, whether you are experiencing it for the first time or have been dealing with it for years, is achievable through calculated steps to keep your money and life in order.
Should Facebook be off-limits for debt collectors on the prowl? One Florida woman thinks so.
Melanie Beacham, of St. Petersburg, Fla., filed a complaint against MarkOne Financial, LLC, alleging that employees of MarkOne harassed her and her family members over Facebook to intimidate her into paying an alleged debt. A representative of MarkOne contacted Melanie’s sister and cousin through Facebook and a screen capture included in the complaint shows a message stating, “Please Have Melanie D Beacham call me” and the message included his phone number.
Although MarkOne declined comment because of pending litigation, the company stated that its policy is to use Facebook to locate the person when their profile is fully public and when he or she has not responded to requests through “conventional means”.
The legal issues surrounding the usage of Facebook in debt collection are somewhat vague because the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was written decades ago, long before the advent of social media.
Regardless of what kind of medium debt collectors use to reach consumers, they are prohibited from revealing information to third parties and cannot make false, deceptive, misleading or harassing representations.
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.
A jury in Texas handed down $1.5 million in punitive damages against a collection agency that was caught on tape leaving abusive and racially charged messages while attempting to collect a debt. Watch the video below for details:
Are you a victim of unfair collection practices? Contact us for free legal representation! We collect all fees from the debt collectors not you! We stop the harassment immediately. You may also be entitled to money damages of as much as $1,000 and other damages. Unless you want the calls/letters to continue, call us!
If you are receiving harassing calls from debt collectors, even if you owe the debt, you cannot be harassed, abused, threatened, or have others told about your debt! You have rights under federal law. Watch video of attorney Craig Kimmel speaking about the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, sharing some of the abuses by debt collectors and what they can and can’t do.
NBC10 Interview with Tracey Davidson:
Are you a victim of unfair collection practices? Contact us for free legal representation! We collect all fees from the debt collectors not you! We stop the harassment immediately. You may also be entitled to money damages of as much as $1,000 and other damages. Unless you want the calls/letters to continue, call us!
Do you want to expose debt collector harassment? Do you want to have your story told on one of the Big Television Networks? If you live in the State of New Jersey, contact us directly by calling 1-800-NOT-FAIR, or by sending an email, clicking here!
Debt Collection Attorney Craig Kimmel is featured in this story from the Concord Monitor detailing the aggressive tactics that debt collectors employ to collect on debts they purchase for pennies on the dollar. Consumers reported being harassed and threatened. They said collection agents failed to investigate disputed debts and disclosed alleged debt to relatives and employers.
Third-party debt collectors generated 78,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2008, twice the number received in 2003, according to the agency’s most recent report. That same year, the agency won more than $1 million in civil damages against collection agencies.
It’s a decades-old practice known in legal circles as “sewer service”. This occurs when a debt collector fails to properly serve a notice of complaint (litigation) upon the defendant (debtor) and then files a false affidavit claiming the notice has been properly served. When the debtor doesn’t show up in court, the collector can then apply for, and almost always wins, a default judgment. This is a violation of the FDCPA and has become a staple practice for “reputable” and “not reputable” debt collectors alike. If you have been the victim of “sewer service”, contact us today for free representation and immediate relief from the debt collector.
