Consumerist
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lawsuits
Debt Collectors Will Stop Calling If You Sue Them
"Litigant Alert" from WebRecon promises to help debt collection companies ferret out "overly-litigious debtors" with "a history of suing collection agencies." It's basically a Do Not Call list of troublemakers who had the nerve to fight aggressive collection practices with the law. Debt collectors are apparently willing to pay $1,595 to figure out who they should leave alone. More » -
credit cards
Debt Collectors Mess With Your Head To Get You To Pay More
NYTM intros an article on credit cards by watching a debt collector ply his trade:
Santana had actually already sought permission from the bank to settle for as little as $10,000. It's an open secret that if a debtor is willing to wait long enough, he can probably get away with paying almost nothing, as long as he doesn't mind hurting his credit score. So Santana knew he should jump at the offer. But as an amateur psychologist, Santana was eager to make his own diagnosis - and presumably boost his own commission.
More »"I don't think that's going to work," Santana told the man...
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credit cards
Your Credit Card Company Is Building A Psychological Profile Of You
The next time you apply for a credit card, your credit report and income will be only a part of the criteria used to determine your creditworthiness. For that matter, as long as you have the card, what you use it for will be noted and added to a growing set of data that makes up your psychological profile, which will then be referred to every time the bank deals with your or reevaluates your risk as a customer. More » -
facebait
Debt Collectors Using Cute Chicks On Facebook As Bait
Debt collectors are using cute chicks as bait on Facebook to track down and keep track of debtors. For some reason, someone at CBV collections decided to out the truth behind the online construct "Jenny Anderson," that she was the tool of professional skiptracers, to all 658 of her "friends." Reader Bryan, who happens to be a reporter, was one of them, and he took a snapshot and interviewed "Jenny" a bit. The story, inside... More » -
irs
IRS Fires Private Debt Collectors, Plans To Pursue Deadbeats On Its Own
The IRS has ended a controversial program that allowed private debt collectors to pursue individual debts owed to the government. The private debt collectors, described as "bounty hunters who collect taxes from vulnerable people for profit," were allowed to keep 25% of any collected debts for themselves. Before we celebrate, let's all take a moment to join Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa in thinking about those poor private debt collectors who no longer have jobs harassing and abusing people... More » -
debt collectors
Debunking The Debt Collectors' Spin Doctors
The nation's economic woes make debt collection a topic du jour, but while there are some good bits mixed into the Washington Post's article, "When Debt Collectors Disrupt Dinner," it probably should have been titled "What Debt Collectors Would Like You To Say And Do When They Call About The Credit Card." Read it with a shaker of salt. Read on for the good, the bad, and the lazy reporting, plus what you should actually to protect and exercise your rights as a debtor... More » -
debt collectors
Even Debt Collectors Are Having Trouble Paying Their Bills
You would think tough times would be boom times for debt collectors, but debt collection company First American Recovery Services is filing for bankruptcy. "The amount of debt out there is 10 times what it had been, but the ability to pay is less," Tim Smith, FirstSource Advantage collections vice president told The Buffalo News. Don't dance on their grave quite yet. The debts will just get sold to someone else, and usually each generation of debt owners has successively less scruples. But you have to wonder, how long before there is just too much debt that's just too hard to collect in time before the statute of limitations expires?
Now who’s drowning in debt? Bill collectors [The Buffalo News] (Thanks to Eric!) (Photo: Sharon Cantillon)
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scams
US National Bank Scammers Still Extorting Hapless Consumers
"US National Bank" is still at it, calling up people and threatening them with jail time unless they pay up for debts they never took out and USNB doesn't own. Here's K's story of how "Harry Wilson" called him up screaming and yelling. But after speaking to a consumer lawyer, K learned what he needed to say to get the extortionist to stop phone-harassing him. You'll learn too after you read the story inside... More » -
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debt collectors
Debt Collector Bullying Me To Sign Affidavit Saying I Can Pay More Than I Can
Sarah has $40k+ in student debt that went into default after she got sick and had to spend a lot of money on medical care. She's been paying it off, but one of the companies that owns one of her loans, NCO Financial, has told her that unless she signs a legal document that says she can pay $260 a month, they're going to place her account back in collections and start harassing her even more than they are now (they're already calling her daily at home and work)... More » -
debt collectors
Credit Blemished Over Imaginary Credit Card
The NES collection agency is coming after Nancy for a debt on an account number she's never owned. She's trying to beseech BoA billing for a resolution and to fix her credit history. That may be completely the wrong way to go about it. Here's her story: More » -
debt collectors
Collector Threatens Jailtime Over Dead Debt
Reader R. kinda messed up his credit years ago. He's a good boy now and his credit score is 700+, but now RSI Claims Process Services is hassling him about a 12-year-old credit card debt. They scared him into thinking they're going to send him to jail and managed to squeeze a $100 "good-faith" payment out of him, but now he's got second thoughts. And with good reason: the statute of limitations on the debt has well passed and threatening to send a debtor to jail is a violation of Federal law. Here's his story and our advice... More » -
us national bank
Interview: I Fought Off The US National Bank Scammers
Almost immediately after Laurie Lucas picked up the phone, the many from "Legal Affidavit Office" began reading off a litany of charges he said "US National Bank" had filed against her. Theft of property. Fraud. Money laundering. "Eric Matthews" said that he, "felt sorry for the tragedy that was getting ready to befall" her for her failure to pay back a $5,000 payday loan. They would be coming to arrest her tomorrow morning at 11am, he said in an identifiably Indian accent. When Laurie protested that she had never taken out such a loan, or even a payday loan in her life, and had never heard of US National Bank, Eric said she should have kept better records...
I interviewed Laurie about her experience successfully fending off the US National Bank scammers. Read the transcript and learn how you too can protect yourself, inside... More »
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debt collectors
I Told Off The Debt Collector
Some punkass debt collector called trying to get a hold of some lady he thinks my girlfriend knows. Here's roughly how the conversation went. Keep in mind I had just put a bunch of peanuts in my mouth... More » -
verizon
Zombie Debt Collectors Find You At Grandma's
Palisades Collection is offering Jeremy a great deal: he can pay half off his debt of $237.64 and get the account settled! Small snag, though, Jeremy never ordered the Verizon service they're trying to collect on, the debt has passed the statute of limitations, and he got it expunged from his credit report years ago. Still, Palisades persists in sending collection notices for him to his grandma's house. What's a boy to do? Read on and find out. More » -
orbitz
Update: Orbitz Sent Reader To Collections For Ticket They Never Sold Him
Here's some updates on the post about reader Josh, whom Orbitz wanted to make pay for a ticket they never sold him and he never used. Turns out that between when he sent his original letter to us in February and when we posted it, Orbitz sent him to collections. But now that his story got on here and Digg, Orbitz's ass-covering machine has been activated... More » -
lowes
Customer Battles Lowe's Online Over $3500 Fence, Wins
Last year, Lowe's horribly botched Allen's $3500 fence installation (see picture, left). When he complained, the installer and Lowes dodged responsibility, but still demanded $3500. Allen refused to pay and they sent his bill to collections. So Allen put up Lowes-sucks.com with pictures, correspondence and phone recordings of his customer service debacle. Instead of fixing Allen's problem, Lowe's sent him a cease-and-desist to get him to take down the website, claiming "trademark infringement." That's when our site picked it up, along with Ars Technica, Digg, and others, driving lots of traffic to Lowes-sucks.com That was a year ago. Now it seems Allen has won his fight. More » -
vonage
Vonage Insists You're Still A Customer Two Years After You Canceled Service
Listen Vonage, Garry isn't your customer anymore. You need to stop sending him bills and let him go. Sure, he liked you back in 2004, but he found a better company at a cheaper price and he's moved on. Billing his AmEx every single month for two years after he canceled? Not cute. Sending his account to collections when his AmEx finally expired? Seems desperate. Please Vonage, get over Garry and move on with your life. More »
debt collectors
New York, 5:31 PM
Sun Jul 5
6 posts in the last 24 hours
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