Introducton Time - Do you know me?

thanks roxette. and i am a professional photographer with my own photography business. so, if anybody has any questions related to that subject.....

Great to hear about this additional talent. Is it one of your art in the avatar? Just guessing. It's so perfect.

yup. that is my work.

Hi everyone! I'm a newly knighted member of the forum her to lend a helping hand to all the innocent people. I'm 26 years old and currently a student. For six months before I moved from Rockland, MA to Pensacola, FL I worked as a professional debt collector of defaulted student loans. I loved it, I loved building rapport with people, helping them hoist themselves out of the money pit, and above all; restoring thier confidence.

I'm not naive, there was once a time when i was on the recieving end of collection calls, it was because my ex-husband had illegally used my name and ssn to shop in catalogs. He left me haning with a heavy bill, and it really does feel lousy to hear it from a stranger that you owe money somewhere.

I came across this forum on a google search. I was bowled over by what evil some collectors are still doing. During my first week as a collector, I had to the study the fdcpa. The beauty of the FDCPA is that it serves as an ice-breaker between collector and borrower as you build rapport and establish trust.

I have since been compelled to check in on this forum often just to give advice and make sure everyone is all right.

Although there are stiff penalties for FDCPA violations, there are still collectors liberally violating it. Are these penalties really that stiff? For someone like me who is just starting out in life, yes. Maybe for someone else, perhaps someone who is in the collections business for nothing more than the sick pleasure of bullying, someone who has parents who bail them out every time they screw up, it may not be much of a penalty. I fear that it will get worse before it gets better, that someone will believe a false threat to be true and commit suicide. Only then, will there be more attention paid to the FDCPA? I think violations of the FDCPA should call for some time spent in federal prison. That might encourage the unlawful collectors to shape up.

Unitl then, I'm here to provide a safety net with my knowledge!

Welcome Ari and CollectorMatt! It is great to have you both as an addition to the forums. I am sure we will learn a lot from your knowledge and experience in the collection industry.

ari, the problem with collectors violating federal and state law s - it's hard to prove it. there are 3 things which must be proved in court in order for a successful prossecution. you must prove: intent, extent and frequency.

1. intent - did the collector intend to violate the law

2. extent - to what extent did the collector violate the law

4. frequency - how often the collector violated the law

if you can't prove all 3 things beyond a shadow of a doubt, then you hardly have a case. and trust me, it's very hard to prove intent.

Matt, that really opened up my eyes. If I have a crippling fault, it's naivete. Sometimes I fail to see the forest through the trees.

Aw man I just jammed my foot in my mouth! First I said I'm not naive then I said I don't always see the forst through the trees. How embarassing!
Let me elaborate, I'm not naive to the fact that most debtors who are in collections have extenuating circumstances. When it comes to law breaking, I do tend to think in absolutes, I expect someone who breaks the law to be arrested and go straight to jail. I guess that line of thinking is way too cut and dry for reality.

Hi Ari,

I thank you for that day when you did the google search and landed up in this site. You will get practical experiences of many things that would not (or shall I say, should not) have been expected in the debt related industry. But sad to believe, its' true and it's on the roar.

We really need people like you and Matt in this forum so that you can give us the insight on this industry.

So, what else you do in your leisure time? Do you have any other hobbies? my favorite pass time is eating and sleeping. especially in this chilling weather.

My name is Annmarie, I am 29 yrs. old and first found this site when I defaulted on a few payday loans. I only found this site after Ellis Crosby contacted me and scared the living daylights out of me and I sent them $400.00. I wished I had found them sooner. I have been in debt my entire life. I had a baby at 19 and it was a financial hit. I learned to rob Peter to pay Paul to survive. Now 11 yrs later I am in the position to turn my credit around and I get caught in the pay day loans. Now I am paying those off. So much for fixing the old credit issues, I now have to deal with these.
Annmarie

Annmarie,

Welcome to forums I am pretty sure that you will get immense support from the members of this forum and life will be on track very soon

Thanks Bryan... I have no doubt about that. I have been more of a lurker since August and find this place to be very helpful.

Hi Annmarie

Welcome to the forums.

We are glad to have you in the community. I am sure you will have a good time here.

Do keep in touch often

Regards
Roxette

My name is Toni, I am 29 and am currently in my last semester of nursing school. I have worked in the medical field since I was 20...became an EMT, worked for an ambulance service, then worked for a doctor and somehow got roped into becoming his office manager and medical assistant. I have done medical billing and collections for quite sometime, so I have some experience with collections...about 5 yrs. But I never treated anyone the way some of these collectors do, and neither has anyone working under me, because they would be fired. I stumbled upon this site and find it very helpful to keep my sanity while I am going through financial difficulties myself. I have been telling everyone about this site, because I really believe if alot more people become aware of this site, that will be the end of collections as they know it Thanks for all the helpful info.

Hi toenails1976

Welcome to the forums.

Guess what!! I wanted to become a doctor and because of this, I underwent some training for a certain period of time. But that's a matter of the past.

Anyways, thanks for being a part of this community. Let's keep sharing our knowledge in this platform and rock this forum!!

Can you please add an avatar under your username? Your posts will really appear beautiful.

Regards
Roxette

Ok, how do I put an Avatar under my name?

I was actually pre-med for a little while, but then started a family instead and it was just too time consuming, so that is why I am becoming a nurse. So, I have LOTS of college credits.