Arrow Financial Services - Are they good to deal with?

By Good Nelly

Ask Nelly

Arrow Financial Services LLC is a collection agency, headquartered in Niles, Illinois. They are a part of the Sallie Mae family of companies. They claim to provide quality recovery solutions and professional customer service. However, consumers who have shared their experience about the agency, have a different story to tell.

What are consumer complaints against Arrow Financial?

Consumers are not satisfied with the company's service and have a lot of complaints against them. Some of the Arrow Financial Services complaints are as follows:

• Reporting invalid accounts on credit: Consumers say that the collection agency (CA) often does not validate accounts, but still goes after customers for collection. One such person complains that Arrow Financial Services did not validate the debt they were collecting and even admitted that they did not have documents to prove their claim. But they still continued to report the account on his credit report!
• Collecting accounts discharged through BK: The agency is said to come after customers to collect accounts discharged through bankruptcy. A customer says the agency came after his cousin for an account which was discharged through bankruptcy almost 3 years ago.
• Collecting more than actual debt amount: Consumers have complained of being sued by the CA for more than what they owed. A consumer says when his original creditor closed the account, it had a balance of $3,133. But Arrow Financial Services LLC actually sued him for $4,100!
  
  The customer quotes section 808 Unfair Practices of the FDCPA and claims that collection of any amount including interest, fee, etc. in addition to the principal obligation is a violation of the FDCPA, unless it's authorized by the debt agreement or permitted by law. Thus, he thinks the agency was violating the FDCPA.
• Collecting paid off accounts: Arrow Financial Service is often said to come after debtors for accounts already paid off 2-3 years ago.
• Collecting fraudulent credit card account: A customer says the collection agency came after him for a credit card account, which someone fraudulently opened in his name. He sent the agency a copy of the police report and other necessary documents and asked them to not harass him. But Arrow Financial continued their collection activities against him.
  
  When the customer filed a complaint with the BBB, the agency sent him a letter stating they could not verify the account! Later on, the customer sent copies of that letter to the credit bureaus and had the information deleted from his credit report.
• Coming after false accounts: A customer complains Arrow Financial Services sent her papers to collect a false account worth $2,650k. She claims she never borrowed money from any company and had no credit cards!

What should you do if Arrow Financial comes after you?

In case the collection agency comes after you to recover any delinquent account, you should do the following:

• Ask for validation of debt: If Arrow Financial comes after you for an account, you should first send them a validation letter asking them to validate the account.
• Verify the SOL: You should check if the account is past the Statutes of Limitation (SOL). In case it is, the agency is legally not allowed to collect on it. If they still do, they will be in violation of the FDCPA laws.
• Verify if CA is authorized to collect: Even if the account is valid and is within the SOL, you should ask the agency to provide you with documents that actually prove that they have legal right to collect the account.
• Do not avoid summon: If you send them a validation letter and they reply you back with a summon asking you to appear in the court, you should appear in the court with necessary proof to support your case. If you can prove that the agency didn't validate the debt as per FDCPA laws, the court will not allow the judgment against you.
• Remove invalidated accounts from credit: If Arrow Financial Services reports a delinquent account on your credit report and then fails to validate it, you should have it removed from the report. You need to send the credit bureaus a dispute letter with the required evidence to get the wrong information removed.

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