NEW YORK, 5:24 AM, SAT JUL 19 | 19 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@consumerist.com | RSS
Posts Tagged “

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

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leaks

Exclusive: AOL's Collections Guide Encourages Agents To Lie And Deceive

An anonymous tipster sent us AOL's 153 page internal collections guidebook for prying money out of delinquent account holders. The guide shows that AOL is following some of the debt industry's most egregious collection tactics by encouraging agents to deceive and lie to customers. After the jump we present AOL's scare tactics, tricks to negotiating a substantial discount, and the full collections guide. More »

6:00 PM on Sat Apr 5 2008
By Carey
12,602 views, 63 comments

Latest by WraithSama: @KD17: The writing's on the wall for AOL and NetZero. Neither have the ability to provide broadband access, only dial-up. Broadband usage is at an all-time high, and soon everyone will be on board. The market for these archaic companies more »

debt

Consumers Reported 69,204 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Violations. FTC Responds With One (1) Lawsuit

Consumers have filed over 69,000 complaints against scummy debt collectors for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, prompting the FTC to rush to our collective defense by taking action against three debt collectors who showed a "culture of harassing the debtors from which they collect." Two debt collectors settled and one went to court. Still, when you receive over 69,000 complaints—and these are from the people who know to complain to the FTC—it's reasonable to assume that more than three collectors encourage a culture of harassment. More harrowing revelations from the FTC's annual report to Congress, after the jump. More »

5:15 PM on Mon Feb 4 2008
By Carey
4,167 views, 27 comments

Latest by Noah_Bodie: I may have gone too easy on the collections industry. [www.ftc.gov] "Last year, the Commission received 348,157 complaints directly from consumers about all industries, nearly identical to the 348,567 complaints received in 2005. These numbers do not include complaints about identity theft more »

confused vigilantes

The Midlothian Police Department Should Not Collect Private Debts

The Midlothian, IL Chief of Police thinks it's appropriate for his officers to help local businesses collect private debts. Midlothian's local mechanic, Merlin's Muffler and Brake, performed $500 of work for Angela Proctor, who paid back all but $108 before falling into financial trouble. From The Star: More »

3:55 PM on Sun Jul 29 2007
By Carey
6,219 views, 55 comments

consumerist kit

IANYL, Round One

Might as well get into it. If I don't respond to your comment, that may be because you asked about criminal law, intellectual property, or something that does not fall within the (my) definition of consumer law. I will save those for another day. (For the questions about checking receipts, I think these posts had some pretty good answers.) More »

2:30 PM on Thu Feb 22 2007
By consumerintern
1,550 views, 13 comments

debt collectors

UPDATE: Acquiesce to the Zombie Debt Collectors

Relevant to our earlier post about Chris getting call after call from his debt collectors and wanting to stop their zombie madness, and T-Mobile and Catherine Zeta Jones' inability to do anything about it, reader Erik found the Federal "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act" from Title 15 of the United States Code. More »

12:48 AM on Wed May 10 2006
By popkin
943 views, 4 comments