RACIST DEBT COLLECTOR GETS NAILED FOR $1.5 MILLION JUDGEMENT
A Pennsylvania-based debt-collection company has been hit with a $1.5 million judgment in a Texas court for repeatedly leaving vile voice messages over an alleged $200 debt.
Advanced Call Center Technologies (ACT) barraged Allen Jones, of Dallas, with a series of harassing and racially charged phone calls.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices | > Laws & Regulations
|
COLUMBIA FINANCIAL - THE COLLECTION INDUSTRY'S INTERNET SUPER HIGHWAY
For nearly a decade Robert Pinchuck and Eric Bragg of Columbia Financial International, Inc. have created thousands of Web Pages which are viewed by creditors, attorneys, collection agencies and financial institutions throughout the world. Presently, over 2.5 million web pages are viewed monthly and growing.
> Articles | > Collection Practices
|
AUTOMATED DEBT-COLLECTION LAWSUITS ENGULF COURTS
As millions of Americans have fallen behind on paying their bills, debt collection law firms have been clogging courtrooms with lawsuits seeking repayment.
Few have been as prolific as Cohen & Slamowitz, a Woodbury, N.Y., firm that has specialized in debt collection for nearly two decades. The firm has been filing roughly 80,000 lawsuits a year.
> Articles | > Collection Practices
|
COLLECTION AGENCIES TURN TO SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
If you've got debts and haven't paid them, you may want to be careful about your next Facebook status update.
Just like some employers who use Facebook and MySpace to vet job candidates, debt collectors are using these social networking sites, too.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices
|
5 STEPS TO DISPUTE A DEBT THAT'S NOT YOURS
A debt collector mixes you up with a deadbeat: at best, it's annoying, at worst, it can hurt your credit.
A mix-up can happen easily: An employee at a debt collection company makes a typo or tracks down a debtor whose name is similar to yours, and suddenly a collector is harassing you for a debt that's not yours. With thousands of debt collection companies operating across the country, and debt buyers buying up bundles of old accounts at cheap rates, these mix-ups are fairly common.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices
|
LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT THE COLLECTOR
Among debt collectors, Steven Katz is known as a “credit terrorist.” For years, he has run what he calls the Steven Katz School of Bill Collector Education, otherwise known as the “credit terrorist training camp.”
Mr. Katz, a 58-year-old accountant in suburban Tucson, spends his free time schooling debtors on the finer points of consumer protection law to help them turn the tables on debt collectors. On occasion, he thumbs his own nose at them too.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices
|
WOMAN SUES DEBT COLLECTOR, WINS $8.1 MILLION
At courthouses across the United States, it has become increasingly common during the economic downturn for lawsuits to be filed against consumers to collect old debts. Lawyers who specialize in the practice are filing thousands of suits on behalf of large firms that have acquired debts from other companies. Although most people don't fight the suits and lose them by default, a Dallas woman bucked the trend last October.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices
|
LAWSUITS FILED AGAINST 260 COLLECTION AGENCIES
An estimated 260 different collection agencies and creditors were named in 396 consumer statute lawsuits filed nationwide between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15, according to data from U.S. District Court complaint dockets compiled by research firm WebRecon LLC. The total includes 319 lawsuits citing violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and another 36 citing alleged Fair Credit Reporting Act violations.
> Collection Practices
|
A PAKISTANI DEBT COLLECTOR'S JOURNEY IN DUBAI
Muhammad Siddiqui a prominent professional Pakistani based in UAE, left, and Mazin Ajjour, who work in the debt-recovery office of Al Bahar & Associates in Dubai, have reclaimed nearly Dh35 million in overdue invoices in the past two years.
> Collection Practices
|
A DEBT COLLECTOR'S ID SNAFU "RUINED MY LIFE"
She should be in medical school by now, on her way to becoming a pediatrician. Instead, Rachel Lindor is a college dropout, sharing a room with her sister in Brooklyn and working for $9.25 an hour -- the victim of a debt-collection paperwork snafu that destroyed her dream, according to a shocking suit filed last week.
> Articles | > Collection Practices
|
NURSING HOMES GOING AFTER UNPAID BILLS
Nursing homes across the country are becoming even more aggressive in attempting to collect unpaid bills from relatives. I have indicated in past articles that, in Florida, a family member should not be liable for the nursing home costs of a resident. There is also case law to support the proposition that, in Florida, a spouse is not liable for such costs.
> Articles | > Collection Practices
|
CONFESSIONS OF A DEBT COLLECTOR
I collect medical debt in amounts from $20 to $100,000, mostly for hospitals and clinics. We serve some of the bigger hospitals in the country, and we call all over the United States. I have about 3,500 accounts — in other words, people who owe money.
> Consumer Credit | > Articles | > Collection Practices
|
THE LAW NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT
One of the most ignored laws in America is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. (FDCPA.) It’s been on the books since 1978, but few people know about it. People are stunned when I tell them they can write a letter and get collectors to stop harassing them.
> Consumer Credit | > Collection Practices
|
A WARNING ABOUT DEBT COLLECTORS
During these tough economic times the Better Business Bureau (BBB) says debt collectors face unique challenges that may tempt them to take part in illegal behavior. "We had a 20 percent increase in inquires on debt collection practices since last year, and received 1,248 complaints against collection agencies in the past 12 months as well," said Dennis Horton, Director of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois - Regional Office in Rockford.
> Collection Practices
|
DEBT COLLECTORS PUSHING TO GET THEIR DAY IN COURT
Cook County Circuit Court has been turned into a frenetic debt collections machine, a reflection of easy credit gone sour and a collections industry determined to get paid. More than 119,000 civil lawsuits against alleged debtors are clogging courtrooms, and at least half will result in judgments that debt collectors will use to dock wages, seize bank accounts and file liens against homes, compounding the woes of troubled borrowers.
> Collection Practices | > Laws & Regulations
|