ARS National: How is it dealing with the CA calling from 888-238-8232?

OMG! These guys are sooooooooo rude and verbally abusive! This guy named "Rob" was shouting at me! The first time we talked HE hung up on me! The second time after yelling at me and talking to me condescendingly HE hung up on me again! He said so your not going to pay? okay and hung up. What I was saying was that I did not want to work with him because he was sarcastic and yelling at me! I kept calling and asking for the manager and they would keep sending me to this guy. He said he was the manager. There was no way he was a manager. Can we do a class action law suit???? I wish I had the tape to play to everyone! Can we get a hold of those tapes????? Is there anything I can do????? help!
Lenisa

See we could have used those stimulous dollars to make these creeps go away.. How about the trickle up affect. !!!! Instead of padding Bank CEO's bonuses !!

It ia not against the law to contact a third party to leave a message if an attemp as already been made to contact the debtor and home. Before you get upset read the FDCPA laws

I am a senior rep at a collection agency and what you are talking about is harrasment. All you need to do is record the conversation. Advise the rep if the calls don't stop you will be reporting it to the Attorney General. Collectors like that give good one( like myself ) a bad name. Also try and understand that alot of phone #'s are recycled. And I know its shocking ...but people do give false info to companies to get credit cards. Its not always the collectors fault.

whatevs numbnuts.being as this place illegaly threatens everyday and twice on sunday your argument loses steam in a hurry.besides being abusive and threateing to third parties can,and will get this place and others like it sued.go defend bottomfeeders elsewhere.

well i just started working at ARS and I would love to help any angry people out there resolve their problems, im going into this company to make a change in collections, contact me and respond and i would love to help you, cant give u any addresses or promise any upper management contact, but i'll do my best to help u. . .

Mmm Hmmm- "More than willing to help..."

If you've not answered a phone call involving these circling bolus- DON'T!

Answering machines are your friend- especially if you do not put "You've reached..." followed by your name or phone number. There's no proof they've made ANY contact with you. IF [and I do mean IF] they send you written crap about how much you owe or how much you can "pay per month" check the address on your "statement" against the pre-addressed envelope you're supposed to put it in AND THEN check to see if they've got another address [Google is also your friend]. The address used most often [especially if you can find their name & address corresponding to financials [hint: ARS is a subordinate to "Square Two Finances" through "LVNV Funding"- they're all s**t-sharks, swirling, one around another, in an effort to hide themselves] Square Two is a "public" entity- so their "direct contacts" must be listed under a public company.

Make sure you MAKE them verify that they have ownership of your debt- trust me, just saying they do doesn't cut it. An old bill record DOES NOT CUT IT. Send this verification request CERTIFIED & RETURN RECEIPT.

If you're getting phone calls to the point of mania- send a Cease/Comm letter to the first address that has a street and NOT a PO box. If you're unable to come up with a street address- try using the one off the internet that comes up the most often and make sure you SEND IT CERTIFIED w/ RETURN RECEIPT!!!

Get ready to record any and all phone calls you get afterwords [they'll only be able to call you one LAST time after 5 days upon your receipt of the RR] take notes and relish the $1000 per infraction "stimulus" you can collect just for them having called.

If they [somehow] refuse to sign the Cert- no worries, that's what the Return Reciept is for- it lets the lawyers know that they got it regardless of their "cutesy" little "no-sign"; set it aside with your recordings and when you've got about 30 days worth of info... Send them a "pleasant-gram" copied to your attorney general and sue those turds right down the flusher.

For everyone that read this persons post, i would like to clear up a few things. ARS is not affiliated with "Square two Finances or LVNV funding" The company was established by a husband and wife and handed down to their son Jason who is the acting CEO of the company. They have offices in Escondido, Ontario, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and Phoenix. ARS is a legitamite company that collects debt directly for major Credit companies such as DELL, Capitol One, Bank of America, Citibank, Chase and collects on behalf of companies that have purchased debt such as Asset accpetance, Midland, and WAM. they do collect for a few more debt companies but i have forgotten their names. ARS DOES NOT PURCHASE DEBT! In regards to verification of debt all debtors are allowed 30 days from the date the 1st letter is mailed which by law is required within 7 days from placement of debt in the agency. If the agency does not have the correct address on the acct, which would be the fault of the debtor for not updating their address, then the agency is not required to verify the debt. In some cases you may find a collector that will give you the info to send in writing your request for verification of the debt, but it is not required to give this info once the 30 days has passed. If you do a verification of debt within the original 30 days then collections must cease until the verification is sent out to the debtor and back to the agency. If calls are placed then that is a violation of the FDCPA. Unless given permission a collector may only speak with you once a day, that includes leaving a msg on your machine, if no msg is left and they dont speak to the debtor then they can call you several times in a day. Third party calling is allowed to verify, employment, address and phone numbers, or to leave a msg asking the debtor to call. Collectors are not allowed to give any info to the third party. If the third party requests that they are not contacted again then the agency is to cease calls to that number. Based on the state where you reside will depend on other specific FDCPA Laws. For instance if you reside in the state of CA you are only required to verbally give a cease and desist on mail sent to you and/or phone calls. If an agency states you have to submit it in writing tell them in the state of CA i am not required to put this in writing, if the agency continues to contact you after this then they are in violation of the FDCPA and should be reported immediately to the Attorney General. When the complaint is logged it is sent to the agency, if they dont respond to the complaint back to the attorney general with some sort of resolution, then they are fined and a violation is put in their file, these are taken seriously. Most people that threated to file a complaint dont follow through so collectors dont normally take you seriously. Also if in the instance that you happen to have more than one account at the same agency at the same time, they are not given to the same collector, so if you get another call, make sure to verify the acct, they are calling about, because that account was probably not marked as a cease and desist. For people that want to try and see if a rude, vicous debtor was recorded, you can file the complaint with the attorney general, try to be as specific as possible about the day and time of the call, calls are randomly monitored by computer recordings and it is possible that yours may have been, if found the agency will be fined again, and you then have grounds for lawsuit against the company. In regards to a debtor recording their conversation with a collector, you must have their permission to record them, otherwise you can only record your side of the conversation, just want to make that clear. Agencies by law advise you that they are possibly recording your conversation, if you wish to not be recorded, you can ask them to ck that you are not being recorded. If they tell you that your not without checking they are lying to you, collectors dont know if the call is being recorded, at ARS they have to call the call monitoring department to verify if the current call for the collector is being recorded. If you ask to speak with a supervisor, or ask for the companies attorney name and number, they are required to do this, if not file a complaint with the attorney general.
Well this is all the info i feel like typing right now, if you have more questions for me, please just ask.

I always find it amusing when a debt collector tries to give advice about what a consumer can and cannot do. The FDCPA and maybe even the laws in your state are there to protect you from illegal harassment. The best evidence of illegal harassment is a recording of the phone call. Record the calls if legal in your state because debt collectors will always lie and never admit to saying something that will get them in trouble. And, Yes, you can record the debt collector without their permission and without telling them when you are in a one party consent state like Texas. Then, instead of a complaint to the attorney general who does not pursue your personal claim for you, contact a consumer lawyer to help you sue the debt collection company and the collector.

I'm getting really tired of reading "just pay your bills" and "this wouldn't happen if you weren't a deadbeat." That's not true. I, for instance, am getting called because I paid my bills, and the money was applied to an already paid off account. It went to ARS after another company fraudulently got my checking account info and emptied my account. Now ARS is trying to pressure me to pay without seeing any documentation of my debt or offer of settlement. I'm just supposed to take their word for it orally? Well, the law disagrees. I never said I wouldn't pay. I am NOT a deadbeat. I just want proof that my payment will be applied properly.

You collectors will say anything to try to justify what you know is fraudulent practice. But no matter how you try, the guilt is still there, because you still know you are helping a conman to steal from the poor and give to the rich.

I worked for ARS...The reason I am no longer there is because they do break all the laws that are there protect the consumer from being threatened or harrassed.I was always being monitored and told that I needed to be more aggressive,I did my best to help all the consumers that I was working with(by the way,they refer to consumers as "debtors") I know the physical address to ARS as well as all the members of management,(these managers are a joke,I know most of you were not able to speak to one,but you would have been very disappointed,they are truly a joke!) Everytime a payment is collected,all the collectors ring a bell..that place is a real circus,My advise is that you record the conversation and ask them to Cease and desist(by law a vebal C & D is all that is needed) and as for third party contacts,all it takes by law is that you tell them they have the wrong #,if calls continue,file a lawsuit.ARS does NOT protect there collectors,lawsuits are handled by each collector as a personal lawsuit.

first things first, one of the guys at the toronto office is very rude and demanding. set strict deadlines, would not accept what i could afford to pay. i broke off all communication with him. then i got a call from the california office from sheri. she was so polite and understanding it completely blew me away. she accepted what i could afford $25 a week every week and now ill be free from this curse in about 10 months.

I work for the law firm Kearney Alvarez and we are currently involved in a class action against ARS. We are looking to interview potential witnesses to what we believe are violations commited by ARS. Feel free to check us out on the web and if you are willing to speak with us our email and phone number our listed on our website.