Zwicker & Associates is not my company first of all. Second of all, I am sticking up for collections because no one else ever does. I have dealt with them on my own personal issues. They handled it very professionally and actually cut me a deal. collection agencies are not the enemy. If you actually took the time to be cooperative then things will benefit you in the long run as it did for me. I've done a lot of research on debt collections for my own personal gain. They are just doing there job. The original creditors seeking other agencies to collect debt for them are very large and don't have the time to find all the loop holes and missing info required. Nothing is perfect. The only people complaining are the ones that had a bad experience and I'm sure the ratio of bad experience verses good experience is 3 to 1.

hi i dont owe anyone money and yet i get phone calls from zwicker and assoc saying they cannot reach my mom would i give her a message. isnt this illegal for them to call and wake me up when i work nights considering i dont owe them sh*t . i would also love to know how they got my phone number since my last name is different and she has never lived here !!!

[david]

Christa, you must send a debt validation letter and force the collection agency to give you the details of the debt if you owe anything. Once you have sent this letter to the company, they must not contact you before they give you the details. This is mentioned in the fdcpa law and you can take actions if they violate the law. Also, especially if you don't owe anything, sending a cease and desist letter will be perfect here and legally stop them from contacting you at your place of work/home. However, you can keep the option to be contacted by mail open and know about their movements. All such points are nicely pointed in the federal laws and you can put a check on the behavior of the collection agencies. If you have any queries on this matter, just let us know.

the problem i am having is not meant for me they want my mother since she has caller id and doesnt answer her phone they have started calling my house and leaving messages for me to have her call them its their problem to collect money from her not mine. i want the calls to stop coming to my house in attempts to collect her debt. they have her phone number and address i am not sure how they got my phone number to call me all hours of the day to talk to her i have told them she does not live here and i will not give her messages for them. i wanted to know if it against the law for them to call my phone number and harrass me when its not my debt and frankly none of my buisness.

[david]

The collector is allowed to contact a third party only once if they are unable to reach them. Since they have your mother's phone number and address, they should not have reasons to call you and appeal for the money. Send a letter in writing to cease and desist all communication with you. After this letter is received by the collection agency, they must not call you again. If they break the law, you are in charge of taking legal actions against them. Send your letter certified/return receipt requested.

Hey brat....maybe you should sell your computer to pay your debts. Also, internet may be cheap, but it's another $30 you can use to pay off your debts. Oh, and before you give bad advice....debtors can be put in jail. Once they post a judgement, if the debtor is on a court ordered stip and defaults theres a week in jail. Research. Research. Research......people fall on hard times but if you get a job-duh!-and budget you can then start a payment plan. People who sit there and do nothing and are paying for a brand new car note they openned after their credit card got cancelled instead of paying their debt is ridiculous. Do what normal people do. Buy a car for 1-2000 (is decent) and spend the 3-600 mnthly payments you would be making to the car note towards your debt. What the hell is a soapbox????

Due to incompetence on Hemar (they stopped debiting my account and then deafulte me) I ended up in the paws of Zwicker. I got the call from Jay Mitch who really pushed to get a collection and promised to have Sallie Mae contacted immediately to report the settlement to the credit bureaus. Jay offered a sweet deal I could not pass if I could come up with the settlement total in 2 days. I was able to get the money, sent it, but never heard back from the company or Jay. Now, arrow Finacial is trying to collect on me and after 6 months I have not gotten any letter of confirmation from the company, even after dogging them many times. I have spoke to many associates and all they do is transfer my call to another manager. I have Spoken to a Michael Koziol who is the manager of collections and who promised over a month ago to mail me a letter of confirmation of the settlement and take care of the matter. To this day I have not received one piece of paper from this company and Arrow fianancial has told me that my settlement was reported only as a collected payment.
I am deployed now in Iraq, and trying to take care of this matter which is not easy.

Any advice on how to proceed with this not so honorable people will be greatly appreciated.

[john]

Robert, I will suggest you not to pay anything until the debt account has been put in writing by the company. It might happen that they will take money from you and not send it to your debt account. You need to know first if they are really working on your account. Send a debt validation and get the details of the account first. Then insist for a settlement offer and it should be in writing. They also need to make a statement that they will update your file with the bureaus once the account is paid in full. Based on all the paperwork, you need to agree to pay the debt. Check your credit report and see if it has been hit negatively. The damage might have already been done and it can't go beyond that. So, you need to get a deal in writing first before you pay anything further.

Zwicke and Ass. told me today that they are going to take me to court if i dont pay 381 a month. Itold them i had already set u a payment plan for less andthey sad it was lae which it wasnt i have it o start in feb not jan and hy did not send me m letter of the balanc i have to pay which i requested becs i either did not gt thir old letters or dont have them anymore.The guy instead of helping me startd to stup a new payment plan .I was like whoah wait a minute I cant pay anymore than the 75 a month so he was like so iltae that as a refusal .i was like yeh to pay that amount.I want my originl amout and i dont have to pay you for something i dd not get an exact balance on then hes like hav u ever bee n sued before and im like ,you cant sue me for wanting to pay a lesser amout and hes like well ill see you in court and hung up on me. Well Ifound one of those old letters and its just like the ones they were sued over because of the way they wrote it so i guess ill see them in court!!

can i hve my posts taken of please. i realize they dont need to know what i said till afterwards

[david]

Don't worry, Zwicker and Associates can't do anything against you because they have failed to give you the required paperwork about your accounts. You will be able to make the payments only after you have reviewed it. I guess you should cover your base and send a letter in writing to the company requesting for the details. If the matter is ever taken to the court, you will be able to prove your defense about your request for the account details. And, this has not been given to you till date by the company. The judge will force the company to act in the legal lines of debt collection. Send your letters through certified mail with return receipt requested to ensure its delivery.

thanks
If I fle a class action lawsuit if that letter turns out to be illegal ,how much would I have to pay a lawyer. it was about them sending letters with facsimile signatures from a lawyer. In the lettter the lwyer directs me to call a rep who is not a lawyer but does point out that the are not lawyers I will talk to to solve the dispute. Did these people win just because of a copid signature?? LOL sorry fr l the questions . An also ballys total amount owed a long time ago is more ta Zwicker wanted me to pay. I cant really tell what my amount is . When I ask for h total ove the phone they wont give me the exact number, they js change the subject. o elly catc wht their doing wrong i have to really sit down and seriously study the laws. Thiers so uc paperwork its confusing. Its like you know the stuff hier doing wrong but yu wonde if its relly illegal and if it is what do i do and can i afrd to do anything... sighhh

[david]

The letter that you will send can't be made illegal because it will be sent through certified mail asking for debt validation. Keep a copy in your file for records. Now the ball will be in their court and federal laws state that they have to validate the debt once requested by the consumer. If they fail to do so and the matter is brought to the court, you have a case. I guess, Zwicker needs to have some legal records of their business to show their appearance in the court. They have been into so much of criticism. It won't be possible for them to come in front.

However, if you file a case and you have reasons for it(your debt not validated by the company), they will be asked to appear in the court. If they don't show up, you will win the case by default. You will get a court order that can be sent to the credit bureau. This legal document will force the credit bureau to remove the negative remark posted by Zwicker from your file.

I justr recently signed up with a financial company that is handling a couple bills of mine and one credit card company turned me over to Zwicker and Assoc. in Mass. They have called me at home and at my parents house leaving a message 10 minutes apart and when I call back, it's threatening and they won't give me a fax number to send over a cease and desist letter and they hung up on me. My case manager even tried to call them and talk to them and they hung up on him also, twice. Does anyone know a fax number to them?

[john]

Zwicker has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB. Send them the cease and desist letter through certified mail with return receipt requested. Keep a copy documented in your file so that you have a legal evidence of your actions taken for this purpose. If they place any call after your letter is received by them, you can prove the court that the company violated the federal laws by contacting in spite of receiving the cease and desist. Fax won't be able to prove everything that a certified mail with 'return receipt requested' can do.

Here is the mailing address of the company.

Zwicker & Associates, P.C.
800 Federal Street
Andover, MA 01810
978-686-2255

[Not so Lucky]

If they were to take you to court, proof of sending the letter certified mail with return receipt looks alot better than just faxing it. Then all the company has to say is that they never received the fax from you. Also, like john stated above, once they call you after receiving the letter, you have proof of the violation of the fdcpa law.