I see that debt collectors here are saying that all it takes is cooperation, if you are not the person they are looking for. I have received 7 call in the last 6 months. I have cooperated with all the calls by verifying that the last 4 of my SS# were different. All I have is the same name of the individual. I cooperated 7 times, politely asked to not be called, and I still get harassed. So to me, the cooperation theory doesn't work.

First.. pay your bill. Bill collectors are not going to be nice to you. It's their job to make you pay the bill that you have refused to pay for at least six months. Pay it. Don't cry about how you can't, about how someone stole your house and your head fell off and all the other whining stall tactics. If they were going to throw you in prison for not paying, like they should, you could find the money to pay. Deep down in your heart you know that's true. Don't give me any of your santimonious lies about how you just can't. That car payment gets paid every month, doesn't it? So does your other credit card. You just let this one grow and grow and grow, and then when someone finally decided to make you accountable for the bill, you pull the "boo-hoo-hoo" I'm poor gargbage. Of course you're poor. You can't handle your own finances. PAY YOUR BILLS and stop whining about the tactics people have to use to make you pay them.

You want the phone calls to stop? Pay your bills. You're mad that a bill collector keeps calling and demanded to speak to your deadbeat father? Stop screening his calls, have him call back and pay his bills. He's probably the one who filled out your phone number as a secondary contact number on a credit application. So take it up with him. Mad a bill collector called and was rude to you? Stop saying "may I ax who's callin?" and "no, he ain here" and have the irresponsible debtor call back to PAY THEIR BILL. Legitimate wrong number? Tell the bill collector that you honestly have no idea who the person is and offer to verify your phone and address. They already have it, so acting all indignant doesn't help you. Don't be stupid. All that information you people think is so valuable, bill collectors can look that information up on anyone in the entire world in less than twenty seconds. Worried about confirming your SSN? We already have it. We just want you to admit that it's yours so we don't tell you about the debt and have you go, oh, that's not me. Must be another D'Andre Orenthal Deacon Glasscox Williams Jones IV. Take some responsibilty for your actions and stop using the "you people were rude to me so I'm not paying excuse." It's your fault that you didn't take care of your own finances. And personally, I find it disgusting that you people need someone to call you up and tell you to pay your bills like a normal human being.[/u]

Boo Hoo Hoo. Bill collectors were mean to me. Let's see, it's because you people are all lying debtors. Call me back tomorrow. Call me back in an hour. Call me back so I can ignore the call like usual. I'm poor. Not poor enough, obviously. You weren't poor when you were watching that plasma screen tv, were you? Or when you were sitting on that new leather couch. I'm so poor, and all those charges are interest and late fees. Yes they are and you now owe them because you... wait for it... didn't pay your bill. And according to the contract you yourself signed, smart guy, you owe the full balance. And for those of you on here who advocate paying what you can, when you can... as well as those of you who think nothing will ever happen to you... guess what? You're wrong again. I work at a collections agency with a pre-legal department. And we make the determinations who gets sued for the bill. So if you act like an idiot when we call you, you're definately going to be standing in front of a judge, explaining why you didn't feel you had to pay the bill. And no matter what whining, pathetic excuse you come up with to throw yourself at the mercy of the judge... doesn't matter. This is business and he has a contract in front of him with your signature that states you agree to be liable for every cent. Well, you can't get blood from a stone, right? Sure we can, as easily as you got $2,300 from a piece of plastic. How about a lien on your house? How about we repo your car? How about we garnish your wages for the next three years? Sound fun? We don't want to do any of that. We'd rather you borrow half the money from a relative and take a settlement on the account. That's easier for everyone. But if you think you're going to get away with not paying your bill... you're wrong. Once again... pay your bills and stop your whining. Grow up.

[LazyE462]

Im a current employee at ASG. Collectors are basically in one of two groups, good cops, or bad cops. Good collectors know how to talk to people or debtors without harrasing. I never ever talk down to people. Good collectors also know how to verify with a third party whether the person is screening or they really have the wrong number. However, there is a fraction of collectors in any collection firm that has a skewed view of their debtors. Bad collectors wish for the days back where debtors were thrown in jail. At ASG its better than most places ive seen, people actually get in trouble for that stuff there unlike some other agencies, whose names i would rather not mention. The truth is that our calls are monitored anyways. But people rarely realize how easy it is for a collector to really think he is being screened for example. You call a debtor at work because that is the only number that was ever given to you, the debtor advises you to follow up at his residence number. You call that number and somene tells you that the person doesnt live there, better yet they dont even know the person. You look the person up and discover that the house is in the same last name as the debtor. Would you call that number again? The truth is that the average collector would be insane not to. You call back and ask the right questions however, and you find out that this person has been receiving calls for the same debtor for about 2 years from about 3 different agencies with regards to about 6 different credit cards. Better yet you call that work number back and the co-workers start telling you that the debtor doesnt work there anymore either. Collectors do little more than negotiate and follow leads, some people use their brains, and some people just beat their way to payments, i can easily say debtors should thank the lord that their account is with us instead of american corradius or capital management. Im sure people who answer the line when its the wrong number know what those calls sound like

Wow, ASG is busy these days, post after post after post I see.

Account Solutions Group is full of unprofessional Hoodlums who get high in the parking lot during breaks...

[CycloneFan]

No offense to anyone who has had trouble with ASG but I have had a very pleasant experience with them. I admit at first it wasn't easy to swallow that I had to deal with them but once I made a payment arrangement and have stuck to my payment arrangement they have been pleasant. I started with about a $1500 bill that was turned over the them and have only three payments left. Try to work with them it will be easier. If they call you and you know you owe the debt try to work out a payment arrangement and get your bill paid.

And no I don't work for them.

Guest is a racist piece of garbage and the main reason why people will not deal with debt collectors.

I've paid ASG on an old CapOne account and they treated me nicely. Have no complaints. Now if CapOne had sold the account to a company who bought the account for pennies, I would ask for validation. No way I pay one of those people interest when the account was charged off.

People like Guest think folks are deadbeats? No most aren't. Guest is a symptom of our society as a whole...he thinks he can bully people into paying money they don't have for whatever reason. If a job is lost, guess what? House, food and car come first, credit card gets pushed aside. If the CC companies would work with their customers in times of hardship, there would be no need for folks like Guest. Problem is, crap happens and that does not make one a deadbeat.

Are there deadbeats in the world? Yes. And if we had debtors prisons as "guest" hopes for, this would not fix ANYTHING. CC companies dug the holes by giving credit to anybody, so as a cost of doing business you will have bad accounts.

I used a card from a company that went out of business. Bad times hit...no job for almost a year and my business partner screwed me out of my earnings for a million dollar idea. Anyway, I let this account go because they went out of business and stopped sending invoices. One day I get a letter stating I owe all this interest and realized the company collecting the debt is famous for BUYING out of business companies credit accounts. I ask for verification, NOTHING. I called up to discuss this...the man says they don't verify. I ask why. He says they just don't. I ask him how I owe interest on a charged off account and did they buy this debt from wherever. He hung up on me.

I sent him a cease and desist citing that one phone call. I never heard from them again. I told them in the letter to VERIFY and I will settle. NOTHING. Lesson learned: Folks like Guest are the norm in collections. ASG has bad apples but my experience tells me they will work with you if you try to pay it off. Problem for them is they are collecting for a CapOne who won't stop charging interest and that makes it hard for them to do small amounts

It's a shame that our country has fallen so far. There was a time when credit was a hard thing to get. Maybe we need these times to return so we can put people like GUEST out of business.

I am a former collector for Account Solutions Group or ASG. I worked for the Capital One division in the company, who collects for various clients. To clear things up, the accounts I was collecting on were never "bought out" or sold to the company. The company gets a commission on what is collected. If nothing is collected, the company takes no loss except for the time invested in the account. Still, the debt is considered "charged off" because a 3rd party agency is now collecting on the account. Since the debt is being charged off, it is not uncommon for a credit card company to double the original balance so that in the event of a settlement, they will still make money on the deal. What would be the point of issuing a credit card if they were not planning on charging interest and fees?
Regarding interest and fees on unpaid debt, it is legal, well in practice, unethical, but necessary for the system to function. The key word is UNPAID. What would make you pay someone back if there was not some kind of incentive? For example if you are delinquent on a mortgage, they take your house. Since this is an unsecured debt, they charge interest on the debt to get you to pay it back sometime before you die.
Regarding the agency, we were required to follow fdcpa rules and guidelines. There was testing involved in how well we knew and obeyed the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). Truth be told, the company did turn a blind eye to those collectors who were successful and only require that they not get caught. Efficiency is the key in this business. An experienced collector knows to only concern themselves with finding who will pay and who will not. If a nonpayer is found, they will be turned over to the next collector down the ladder.
I understand that in many situations people are in a poor financial situation. There is nothing that can be done at this point except to pay dues. With current bankruptcy laws it is quite common to still be held responsible for credit card debt. Credit councilors were not given any special leway at ASG. They were just treated as mediators. With ASG, you are better off working with a collector yourself and save some money.
I do have personal feelings about credit card debt in that I feel people should take responsibility for what they owe. Putting it off will never help. Unlike some collectors who I have worked with, I do not believe that everyone is a "deadbeat" who has an outstanding balance on a credit card. For some, I don't even believe that they necessarily CAN pay and still maintain current on all other bills. HOWEVER, and this is a very important, the whole purpose behind a credit card is to provide either emergency funding (i.e. when my car broke down on the way home from my 1 hr commute from school and I had no choice but to get my car towed from the thruway and buy a $200 replacement radiator,) or to provide funding for a purchase which will be paid off immediately or before the billing cycle end. Proper use of credit cards do not include going out to eat, buying clothes or anything else non-essential when immediate repayal is not intended. If misuse occurs, you have only yourself to blame.
We have lived with credit cards and contracts long enough where people should know to read a contract before signing it and that even though fine print, you are expected to have read and agreed to all conditions. Regardless of how unfair, inhumane, cruel or heartless these conditions are, by signing the agreement you have agreed to such treatment and conditions if you ever fall behind on repayment.
So the best advice I can give if you are in debt and don't know where to turn, STOP. Put down the shovel and start the potentially lifelong process of repayment.

Insider,

Was it common for ASG to settle for less than the amount owed? I've heard that Cap. One is nearly impossible to get to settle for less than full balance.

[favajp28]

I myself am in debt and feel peoples pain because I work for a colection agency. This comment about people should just take #'s out is completely idiotic. Just answer peoples damn questions. It makes it easier on you and the people DOING THEIR JOB! Unlike some people who like to sit around and become lazy fat and a leach off todays society :twisted: . How about I went to your work and asked you to do your job and everytime you asked me a question I said F**k You. You tell me how your day would be. The funny part is that the collection industry is one of the highest paid entry level professions. Further more no collector is violating any law by not taking your # out of their computer system if you are going to be difficult and not answer a easy a** question. People Like you make me sick and I do hope I run across you in the near future.

[favajp28]

All you complaing are a bunch of losers who still live with your moms and can't afford to pay yours bills, because you wouldn't want to miss a second of wheel of forturne. Get with it and answer some questions and get it over with. I wish I could go to your job and screw with all of you

[WHEREAMI?]

Once again favajp28 blesses all with his wisdom and wit. Honey, I would love to run into you in my line of work. You sound like a snivling little twit, who does nothing more but whine and complain. There is a hint of threats in your postings, again be careful of what you post it is on the internet forever and could come back to haunt you later. But there is great humor in your empty threats. You must have had one hell of a bad day. Sorry for your luck. Deal with it.

[erzeke1]

Fava..if you must post your debris, could you please do it on one forum so we can all enjoy your illimitable propensity for bull$hit!

[WHEREAMI?]

I can start the thread and title it "just favajp28"