Some “pal” of Mark’s put him down as a reference on a motorcycle loan with Freedom Road Financial and fell behind on his payments. So now the company is making harassing phone calls to Mark and his elderly mom, almost giving her a heart attack, telling them that Mark is in “serious trouble,” that he’s “a party” to the “stolen motorcycle.” They wouldn’t stop even though he told them to, and now an “investigator” identifying himself as “Marshal Davis” is also making calls, threatening to send “people” to his home and office. Mark recorded a conversation with Michelle Peacan at Freedom Road Financial (FRF) and we liked it so much that we added some funny photos, and uploaded it to YouTube. Then we reached FRF for comment.

Mark writes, “On 2/2/2010 a representative named “Davis” called me again claiming that he was not a bill collector, he claimed he was an “Investigator” and “not bound by debt collection laws”, he said he would send people down to my home and my office. I told the investigator Davis I did not know where the motorcycle was and I had already told that to previous collectors from his firm, I asked him never to call me again, he then stated that he was not a collector rather an investigator, and was not bound by the collection laws, he then went on to call my mother at night at her home in NY telling her I was in major trouble causing her to have a major axiality almost a heart attack, she called me totally freaked out by the call she just received. I recorded his call, he would not give me a company name but did leave a number 866-354-5387.

Another call, On 2/3/2010 I told “agent Marshal Davis” out of “northern CA” that I did not trust that he was a real investigator, and might be a phishing scam. I managed to get him to tell me that he is working on behalf of Freedomroad Financial http://www.frf1.com he then gave me his contact at freedom road financial Michelle Peacan and her number to verify that he was working for them.

I then called Michelle Peacan of Freedomroad Financial at 775.562.3816, I then said i did not trust that she worked for freedom road financial and she gave me the their Main 866.455.7623 phone number to verify that she was a company representative, stating that she was the only michelle working there, sure enough dial by name brings you to Michelle Peacan.

I told her that I never signed for anything and was not contractually obligated to them and wanted them to stop calling me, she stated that i was involved because i had once told their collection agent i knew where my friend lived and where their bike may be, i then asked if i was in trouble she said that i was and that i was “a 3rd party to this” and “was in trouble”. She then asked me questions about the location of the bike i said i did not have to answer any of her questions especially after they had been harassing my family members, she then said that she would do what it takes to get the bike back and hung up on me.”

I have recorded the calls and have Michelle stating the above on tape and have about 40 minutes of recorded calls with the investigator where he states the items listed below.
7:30 he states that Freedom Road Financial Michelle Peacan is directly responsible.
8:40 he admits to calling my mother
9:40 he offers to apologize for almost giving her a heart attack

Facts:
1) I never signed any documentation.
2) I never took a loan or co-signed a loan
3) I was put down as a reference without my consent
4) They have been calling me for over 6 months (and they admit to this on tape)
5) The have called my elderly mother telling her her son was in serious trouble
6) The bank representative Michelle Peacan again on tape said i was “a part of this” and “you are a 3rd party to this”
7) The bank representative Michelle Peacan again on tape said that they hired the investigator who has been harassing me and my family.
8) The bank representative Michelle Peacan again on tape said that they would “do whatever it takes” to get that bike back.

Freedomroad Financial http://www.frf1.com is a subsidiary of Evergreen Bank Group”

Tom Collins of Freedom Road Financial said, “We do take these allegations seriously and are investigating the situation.”

“We do contact references of a debtor if said debtor is not responding to us in order to get a message to him/her. That is the extent of it, no information is shared other than who we are and our contact number. If a listed reference does not wish to help us get a message out then that is fine, at that point we would have no reason to contact the reference going forward.”

Collins said that when they first contacted Mark, he said he had possession of the bike and tried to sell it back to the repomen.

Mark says that this miscontrues the situation. He says he told them that the bike had been stored at his house at one point. However it was by that point in the hands of another friend of the first friend. He says he did ask them what the “payoff” was because he thought he could buy the bike himself from the guy for cheap and turn it over to the collectors.He did ask what the balance due on the bike was because he wanted to see if he could get a deal on the bike from the bank.

Collins says, “If Mr. Stern at initial contact had stated that he had no information for us or did not wish to talk to us then there would have been no reason for us to contact him going forward. At this time we have turned the matter of the missing bike over to the LA vehicle theft task force and they will be investigating further.”

“That in no way makes me culpable for their debt,” says Mark Stern. He’s right, and he can sue them in court, not for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations, because they are repomen, but for harassment.

Since Mark contacted us and we contacted FreedomRoad Financial, neither Mark nor his family have received any further calls.

“Until they started my family, I didn’t care, I could hang up on them and tell them to piss off.” Then they harassed his elderly mom. It took Mark and his sister several days to calm her down. Now he says, “I want blood. I’m getting an attorney. I don’t want small claims. I want big claims.”

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