Consumerist
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collection agencies
Am I Responsible For My Parents' Debt?
Jay's parents have gotten quite, uh, spendy with their retirement income, and now they've got a lot of debt they can't pay off. This has become Jay's problem not because he's a party to any of the debt, but because they've put him down as a reference and now bill collectors are harassing him. More » -
creepy
Bill Collector Accused Of Offering Debt Forgiveness For Sex
A Rent-A-Center employee near Detroit has allegedly found a new approach to helping consumers get out of debt: making their bills go away in exchange for sex. More » -
audio
Debt Collector On Tape: "I'm Gonna F**** You Up"
"When I see you, I'm gonna f*** you up," says debt collector "Mickey," pictured at left, on the answering machine of a guy who bounced a check. WTSP obtained the messages, some of the worst debt collector recordings I've ever heard, and you can listen to them here. More » -
debt collectors
Lawsuit: Debt Collector Harassment Contributed To Man's Death
When a Florida man suffered a heart attack, he needed to leave his job. Between everyday expenses and medical bills, he fell behind on his mortgage and other bills, and debt collectors began calling. And calling. And calling. Eventually, a lawsuit alleges, the stress from the harassing and abusive phone calls led to the man's death. Frivolous lawsuit? Maybe not. More » -
clerical errors
Congratulations, You May Have Your Own SSN Pen Pal In Micronesia
If you get a call from a debt collector for a loan you never took out, and your Social Security number starts with a zero, try this excuse: "[My SSN] ended up linked to a Micronesian man who defaulted on a disaster loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration." More » -
who could it be
Ring Ring Hello, I'm Not A Debt Collector!
Nothing says "wow I can't wait to see who is on the other end of the line" like a company that programmed their number to show up on caller ID as "NOT A COLLECTER." More » -
deadbeat defense squad
How To Fight Back Against Debt Collector Ninjas
Debt collectors, like vampires, have certain rules they must follow. For example, both are vulnerable to sunlight and garlic, but only vampires glitter when they're playing baseball. More » -
warnings
Wave Of Fake Debt Collectors Hints At Possible Data Breach
The Better Business Bureau has released a warning to be aware of scammers calling to threaten people with arrest "within the hour" for defaulting on payday loans. What makes them stand out from normal debt collecting scammers is these callers have huge amounts of personal info on their victims, including Social Security and drivers license numbers; old bank account numbers; names of employers, relatives, and friends; and home addresses. More » -
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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 » -
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
New York, 6:36 PM
Mon Nov 23
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