Allen Lewis & Associates.....Does this ring any bells?

I dealt with Allen Lewis at the beginning of the year for my defaulted payday loan from MyCashNow. If you go to their website allenlewis.com, you can read more about them. It appears now that they collect mainly on musical items..you should check it out, quite interesting.

It is apparantly for a defaulted payday loan, but I contacted the orginal company and they have no record of it. Did you pay them the money? Do find them to be legit?

Allen Lewis reminds me of all the collection calls done by Ellis Crosby. Ted Crosby used many fake names and this one was also one of their affiliates.

No doubt, Allen Lewis is a third party debt collector. You should expect something in your mail validating the debt before sending your money.

The last time that he called, he spoke with another lady that works here in the office. He didn't give her any details, just that he was from Florida and for me to give him a call. The website and everything just seems a bit shady. I just wish I knew more about it.

Oh, that website is dreadful.

It really is. And by looking at it, you wouldn't think it was a legit company?

Maybe that is the reason one shady collector knows the other in the industry.

Pardon me? I am not following?

I dealt with them prior to finding this website. I got extremly lucky, because I went about the things the wrong way with them. They would not accept any payment arrangements from my consolidation program and they kept threatening me with further action. He kept giving me a time frame and said he was going beyond the time mycashnow wanted it paid by. He kept saying he had to verify things with mycashnow. They kept demanding payment in full. I finally got them to split the balance into two monthly payments but the only way they would take the payments is from directly debiting my checking account. Like an idot I gave them my checking info and agreed to the debits. They did however take only what they were supposed to and the loan company setteled for a smaller amount. I made three mistakes;
1. not getting the debt validated
2. giving them my checking info
3. not getting a paid in full confirmation.

They told me the same thing, that they could only deduct it from a bank account. Which kind of screws me because my account doesn't allow ACH debits, therefore, I can't use it. I don't know what else to do?

I found this old thread because I was contacted by this company a couple of days ago at work. I've read very negative information on them and I can understand why. He was trying to collect on an old mycashnow account that I thought was settled for the most part. I recently filed complaints against mycashnow because of overpayments I made to them along with not being licensed in my state. I am wondering if this is the reason that I am hearing from Allen Lewis & Associates now. I can say he was very rude on the phone and acted like he was doing me a favor if I paid half the balance of $405 that day and that would take care of everything. He wanted my checking account information which I won't give out to anyone. He wouldn't tell me what type of company they were or what their address was. Then he threatens me with criminal charges, oh what a list. So finally he gets mad because I kept asking questions, told me to get a lawyer, and hangs up on me. I faxed them a cease and desist that afternoon but this matter is far from over.

I received a phone call from James Sound he said he was with Allen Lewis And Associates and he was trying to get a hold of my husband. He left his number which is 800-773-5322. Back 1998-1999 I believe I recevied a call from the same company saying that we owed for a musical instrument which we did one of the pay as you go plans not sure if my son was going to stick with it. If it is the same company the person was very rude back in 98-99 and told me if i didn't give him the information my husband would be put in jail.DUMB ME gave them account information after I hung up i went straight to the bank and changed my information. They did not get any money out of me.I also told them to send me a bill and adress and they changeg the subject. so I told them to contact my lawyer.No Contact was made until now

that sounds like a very old debt. is it past the SOL in your state? also, get the validation of debt from them.

If any one has information on how to find out the SOL in the state of Ohio. Please let me know also if they do not want to give me proof of the debt what other steps can I take. thank you

I can't remember the website that gives the SOL listing for each state. Follow up with a debt validation request via certified mail with return receipt. You can find a copy of the letter in the DIY section.

I dealing with a JW Lomax and yes they are rude. They have threatened to take me to court for a missing music instrument. The instrument has been turned in to the school and I had ask them that I'm clearing this issue up with the school and music store where the instrument was rented. He didn't want to hear that so now I will have to wait and see if they send me to court.

Do not give this company any account info. This company has 66 complaints in 36mo from the Better Business Bureau. My altercation with them went like this: A man named Mike Knight calls my sister in law asking for me and at the end of the message says "call me back, good luck" GOOD LUCK??? What professional attorney says that at the end of a phone call. I called him at the 800 number and he claimed that I owed for some violin I never rented in 1998, and it is 2007 so we are well out of the SOL. I asked if the company had collected any form of id such as a license so we could get things cleared and he said no. Then he started in on how this was effecting my credit and asked if I have ever looked at that. I stated I look every month because I am in the market for a house and I have never seen anything on there. He got rude and stated how they were going to come after me if I didn't pay today. I asked what I needed to do to get this taken care of and he stated I could just give him my bank account info. (WHAT??) I stated that was not going to happen and he needed to mail something in writing. He was livid with me at this point and said it wasn't possible. I brought it to his attention that no legitimate attorney collects money and doesn't send letters. I stated my attorney would be in contact. I had my boyfriend call as my attorney and he left a message. Mike Knight never called him but 2 months later has tried contacting me stating I have not been cooperative. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!!

I'm willing to bet Mr Knight is not an attorney, he's just one of the call-center collectors. And if he told you he was an attorney (and is not), he broke the law. The actual attorneys at these firms (if indeed there are any there) would very rarely if ever call you themselves. Unless you live somewhere like Ohio (where the SOL is 15 years), the SOL has no doubt run. Check your credit report, and if there's something funny from these people, you might have a case for violations of the FCRA as well. In the meantime, if it were me, I'd send a cease communications letter. If he calls again after that, you have further grounds to sue.

I just recently received a phone call from a William Blair. He has also called my cell phone and stated that he wants to talk to me or my attorney of record AND he ended the call "Good Luck"!!! Sound familiar anyone? I am glad I found this website-- Thank you to all of you who posted your experiences. It's been a big help for me. Any advice on how to find out if this company is licensed in my state to collect debts and what the SOL in MS is? I am new to this so any and all help would be appreciated.

Mr. Knight is quite a case. He threatened to take me to court, used personal insults, hung up on me 3 times, and even suggested I SELL the item I was returning so I could make payments to him for back rental.

The entire time I was very calm and helpful, simply stating I wanted to set up an affordable payment plan. He wanted nothing to do with that at all. He also kept changing the amount owed. So I asked for a validation in the mail and he said absolutely not...and hung up again.

I had to call back two more times to get a validation sent out, from someone else at their office of course. In the end I just went to the original company and took care of it with them.

I would have loved to have recorded all our phone conversations...but oh well.

Katie,

I was contacted by an Oliver Winslow several months ago. I got the same kind of threats. He told me he didn't care if I paid the debt or not because I was going to get sued by the original creditor. He acted like he was doing me a favor until I asked for validation. He hung up on me a few minutes later. I kept asking him questions and I don't think he like that either. I recorded the whole conversation because I can do that in my state.

James,

They don't follow the fdcpa and they have been under investigation in Florida for quite some time now. I asked for validation too and was told they didn't have to do that. They wouldn't even tell me if they were a collection agency or not. Yeah, like I'm going to wire them money :roll:

hey Katie, what state are you in? i think most states minus California and NY that does not allow you to record phone conversations for your well being in court, hmm

Yes, they are a rip off company. They tried to strogarm money from me saying they are lawyers and such, which is ILLEGAL, and told me if I didn't send them so much money by the next day by 7pm they had to file me with the courts... A joke. I supposidly owe for a repo car for $6000, these fools tell me I owe $11,200!!! DO NOT DEAL WIT THEM, THEY ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION WITH Bill McCullum, the Florida Attorney General. They just resurfaced on me this week after 6 months of nothing from them... Ya it sure was imprative I send that money, huh? SCAMMERS, And liars. I filed a complaint on them, along with many other people. Email them at their AOL address... Like a real debt collector would be @aol.com....

"I asked for validation too and was told they didn't have to do that.

Unfortunately, James, they're right. They only have to send validation IF YOU PUT YOUR REQUEST IN WRITING WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THE FIRST CONTACT CALL OR LETTER.

A lot of the sites out there don't tell you that part. If you don't do that, then the debt and calls to you are good if they follow the rest of the laws. I don't know if they are doing that or not.

Jewellie...they have to validate the debt. The CA has to prove the debt is yours...if not at this time..they will in a court of law. People should not pay a bill without validation..regardly of time frame.

Yes it's a collection company no big thing. Hang up on them they are not professional at all so dont stress them just find the company you truely owe and make payment arrangement. Allen lewis and associates are not attorneys at all they are just collectors that are allowed to be rude.

If they send your bill to a collection agency, you won't be able to make arrangements with the OC. That's the main reason they send stuff to collections. Just ask for a manager when you call the agency and they'll set you up on arrangements.

This company is wicked. Told me they were attorneys who had the best inerest at heart for my 8 year old granddaughter and her mother or her attorney needed to contact them right away to get her side of the story. Freaked me out until I goggled them and found that they are using fear and any tactics to get personal information. It seems these folks are potential scam artists.

Subject: I see alot of complaints but I was vey pleased. Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:33 am


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I read alot of complaints on here, but I was vey pleased with the way things were handled and the outcome of my situation. I was help by a guy name Alex Stamper. He was real polite, soft spoken, and was very helpful in helping reach a settle in full on something I could afford. I recieve my confirnation letter 3 days later. Just the paper work I needed before I was approved of my new house.

I paid for the instrument a few years ago and now they are calling me saying I never paid for it or returned it. I paid probably TOO MUCH for it but I wanted to get gthe debt out of the way and just wanted them to stop the calls. Now they are harassing me again. HELP!