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.
Consumer Reporter Michelle Buckman explains how to stop debt collector harassment and even collect some money from them.
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.
Voicemails from bill collectors are a reality when you have been turned over to collections. The dirty secret debt collectors don’t want you to know about is that they very often violate the law.
Debt Collection Harassment Attorney Craig Thor Kimmel was recently interviewed by the radio talk show, “The Voice”, on WEEU 830AM in Berks County, PA.
Four hundred million times a year, employees of a little-known company called NCO dial the telephone “just to talk.”
Even though the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received nearly 80,000 complaints last year concerning debt collectors and unfair practices, its largely believed that only a small percentage of debt collector violations are actually reported by consumers. And while most debt collectors stay well within the boundaries defined by the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act…
all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s credit-card contracts will no longer require disputes to be settled through arbitration, a practice that lawmakers said was biased against cardholders, to help settle an antitrust lawsuit.
Consumer credit laws are being created in many states that will force debt collection agencies to prove that the debt they purchased for pennies on the dollar exists and the consumer legitimately owes the money.