I am also being contacted by this company. I have told them not to call me at work but they did it again tonight. I do have a debt owed and do intend on paying it. They refuse to take nothing less then the amount owed. They keep telling me to transfer them to payroll and they will garnish my wages. There is no judgment against me. I told them I am not allowed to receive phone calls at work but he stated that he doesn't care if I am fired. He states that I don't know what I am talking about when I tell him he cannot call me at work. He also had some very negative comments about my character. He also knows my children's names, I don't know how he knows this but it it alittle scary. I live in Pennsylvania and was told that this type of company cannot garnish my wages and when told not to call me at work they cannot. I have not received anything in writing from this company. What are my legal rights. I know I owe money but this is getting really harassing.

Ann, I understand how much frustrating these calls are. However, the laws stated under fdcpa are applicable for debt collectors only. So you can not bring legal action against them for breaking FDCPA rules.

You are right about garnishment. Garnishment is a legal process and not possible without a judgment. I think they are trying to take money from your paycheck on the right of voluntary wage assignment. You should write a letter revoking the voluntary wage assignment agreement. Also inform your payroll department not to honor any notice that is not legal.

Contact your Consumer Protection Office and ask about your options against them.

Pinnacle Financial is the name that they gave me. I do not owe the money to them. After I questioned them they stated that they are a collection agency. So my question is, If I told them not to call me at work don't they have to stop calling me at work? I was also told that in the state of Pennsylvania a credit card company cannot garnish wages. Wages are protected under a state law except for child support, taxes and a few other reasons. I do understand that I owe the credit card company money but this collection agency, Pinnacle never sent me anything in writing. I don't even have an address for them.

Telling them verbally not to call you at work simply isn't sufficient. You've to send out a letter through certified mail with return receipt requested. Also request for validation. As per fdcpa rules, they must provide you with some written documents if you request. Otherwise they cannot start collection activities.

And there are few states that do not support garnishment; you can visit this thread for more help-

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com...rnishable.html

They are evil!! A woman there just called my husband reagarding a bill we owe to Empi for an instrument needed for his back and neck problems - we had arrangements made with Empi - This woman from Pinnacle called my husband this morning and said to him, "if you would get a job, you could pay your bills." - very nasty, and unprofessional. What can I do about this harrassment and talk like this - now my husband is very upset, as am I! First we had an arranement with Empi, no word from them that we were in any harm in being put to a collection agency. My husband HAS A JOB - HE WORKS NIGHTS AND MORNINGS - THIS MORNING HE HAD TO BE WOKEN UP TO THIS!!!! WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT REPORTING AND GETTING THIS GIRL REPRAMANDED FOR HER HARRASSING TALK AND VERY UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR AND TALK TO MY HUSBAND????

__________________
Charlene

Hi Charlene

If you have arrangements made with Empi and are paying them regularly, this bill, in no case should be forwarded to the collection agency. Call Empi and know the latest status of the account. If the account is still with them, you can press charges on harassment against Pinnacle at your local AG's office. Send copies of the complaint to the FTC as well as the BBB.

You can also hire an attorney for this purpose. You need to look for someone who specializes in the lawsuits of fdcpa and FCRA violations.

I am in the process of getting a laywer to take care of this, these people call my house all hours of the day and night, last night they call at 11pm, today they called and my daughter who is only a hr an half old grabed the phone because i was doing something an she had pressed the speaker phone, i had no idea who was on it an then "mark cooper" starts talkin shit to my daughter an sayin how he wouldnt expect anything less from a repeat offender and telling her that her mommy is a criminal and she needed to tell me to get a job an take care of this, i let him talk jus to see what he would say an when i got on the phone he hung up an then called back today talkin shit an when i asked for their number an his name cause i was gonna talk to his supervisor he told me he would be glad to talk to my lawyer,and then gave me a fake number but i got a number on one of my letters so becarefull what you wish for Mark!!!

Correction, my daughter is a yr an half not an hr an half,lol

I am the one who posted the last 2 messages(i forgot to put my name on there)anyways i contacted my lawyer an we got a telephone recorder wich you can get at radio shack for about $25 and we are goin to start recording the call because i called and spoke to a pinnicle supervisor and right away he said i was makin outragous alligation and none of his people talk like that an would never call my house that late i kept trying to tell him about what this mark cooper had said to me an my daughter and he kept talkin over me an tellin me i needed to pay the bill so i told him that the next time he talk to me it would be with my lawyer. So the next time they call i am goin to record the conversations and then i am filing a class action lawsuite for harrasment and for violating the fair debt collections act which they have in numerous ways. Here is another contact number for pinnicle for people having trouble finding the number 1-888-715-3940

I just got a collection notice, for something I don't know what it is???? creditor is PEI-AMS ?????? anyone know who that is ??? thanks Kern.

On August 10th, I started recieving abrasive demand for payment calls from a company calling itself Pennicle Financial Group debt collections, Phone # 877 796 2497, this number returns an information not available from the online reverse look up services. This is supposedly for a bill owed to the local emergancy room, since I have not been treated in the ER since 1999, my red flag meter went into overdrive. So I started asking questions, like give me the last four nunbers of the social you have on the account you are trying to collect, they did not match mine, YOB, is 1973 for collection account, mine is 1948, and city of mailing is Eaton Park, FL, I live in a neighboring town..I took a return number and phoned the local hospital, when we started running my account information there was no outstanding billings. I phoned Pennicle back and told them I would need an account number for the hospital to trace the billing, because it could not be pulled up under my valid information. I've never had anyone call me on my cell phone and demand money without any supporting documentation or account trace numbers, ectera. When I phoned them, I they could not seem to find anything under my phone number and wanted my SS#. Now my cell phone keeps the last 10 numbers in the phone so I used the call back feature so I am sure I called the same number that phoned me, but the lady who had just spoke to me ten minutes earlier could not be found. I am always suspicious when soneone starts needing my social security number, or account information, ectera over the phone, so I asked for their mailing address and they would not give it to me, they gave me a FAX #: 888 271 2089 that would not pull up any company information either. I think this is some kind of a scam, I didn't give then any of my information, but they are calling me about once a week still. What do I do now, I know this is not a bill I owe, but they are using up my cell phone minutes.

email address removed as per forum rules - Mike

Hi all,

This group is completely unethical in their tactics. I received a call at work from them and I said that I would get back to "Carlos" when I could as I was busy at work. Well he waited a couple of days and I hadn't gotten back to him so, he called my boss at work and somehow got his home number harassing him about trying to reach me. I called "Carlos" back and told him that I never gave my boss ( a university president) his name as a contact as he claimed. My boss threatened to sue them for harrassment. And I just found out yesterday that he left another message on their home phone. I have been unwilling and will not give out any routing information as they would LOVE to have..instead as I plan to call when I am finished posting this reply..they will have to send a "settlement" agreement in writing and they are never to contact me at work ever again. Does anyone have a correct mailing address in the event we need to take legal action...I plan to ask for their address..but is this in Minneapolis?

Thanks for all the information

PAY YOUR BILLS!!! How can you people afford computers when you can't even pay your bills? Pay your bills and they won't call you. I'm sure they are sick of calling you people who try to get out of your bills!

I think this is all funny. Pinnacle Financial is a legitiment company and is growing larger everyday thanks to people like yourselves. You should all be proud to try to find a way to get out of your bills its just too bad that I still get to call you all!!!!! If you are looking for a job we are always hiring

For all of you who like to make excuses for paying your bills instead of taking the time and sitting down to budget your mony and blame Pinnacle, I suggest you find something else to do instead of this. It is a plain and simple fact that everybody oes money to somebody and when you borrow or buy somthing it is your own responsibility to pay the bill and not try and find a way out of it. For the person who wrote that a contact number for Pinnacle is 88-715-3940 you are so wrong. if you took the time to call that number it doesn't even say Pinnacle it is a different agency. you obviously have other agencies calling you. And for those saying taht something was suppose to be removed from your credit once a bill is paid, nothing is removed completely from your credit for years. It will show up paid but not completely removed. Oh and for your place of employement being called they do do collections for a company called ABC or LTD and if you order through a business like you have to you put yourself into that situation because you didn't pay your bil land put your company in collections, so they can by law contact your place of employement and your employer may garnish your wages for that if they choose to do so. The person claiming that they had received calls at 11 pm that is not possible because the office is closed at that time no matter what coast you are living on. As for letters, they are sent out on every account if you don't get them and the address is correct and the letter is returned it is not their fault. And ofr everybody, which is all of you 'law knowing victims' you might want to bursh up on your laws because if you have a debt in collections you are going to be contacted because you put yourself into that situation no matter what it may be intention or unintentional-plan for the future and don't place the blame on anybody but yourself. But you all have fun contacting your lawyers and they will charge more than what your bill probably is. P.S. you can't tape record a conversation without the persons permission or it is not submissible in court. Sorry I know you all will miss me but I have to go to work and then pay my bills!!

To "Concerned Citizen"

Just because people get behind on their bills does NOT mean others can harass and threaten you. Sorry but that is no excuse.

I keep getting called by these people all times during the night and morning, and they just hang up as soon as I say hello.

This is over a hospital bill that I am now attempting to save up and pay for.

Good news is, these losers never stay in business for long.