How do I deal with a collection agency?

[quote=ryancraig]if you need info on any debt related issues this site appears to be independant and has loads of helpful content - debts.org[/quote]


You wouldn't be Ryan Craig Howsam, would you?

[quote=UnemployedRon]Wow, Unclewolf! You are so absolutely correct. If a crooked CA kept houding, harrassing, and verbally abusing someone that was already slightly mentally unstable and felt they had nothing left to lose? Well, It really scares me to think what could potentially happen.

I think I cited, in another thread, the GMAC incident that occured here in Jacksonville, Florida back in 1990; 8 people dead because they repo'ed a guy's car. Turn on the news and you will probably see a story about someone that thought taking a gun and shooting up a group of people was the only solution to his/her problems. And to the people that think it just cannot happen to them, they should probably ask the survivors of these types of incidents if they thought that. They might be surprised at the answers.

So to the crooked CA's that think it's routine business procedure to "anonymously" verbally abuse a debtor over the phone, you might want to think what the potential consequenses might be for your poorly thought out choices. I'm talking legal consequenses (like being named in a lawsuit for violating the fdcpa) as well as frighteningly illegal ones.[/quote]

Ron, I'm not just trying to 'talk tough' here. There's no need for that. What I'm trying to do, is get these people to stop for a second and honestly think about the possible consequences of their illegal harrassment.

I've seen the elephant, so to speak. Back in about '85 or so, there was an incident in Dallas where a company was going to repo a bike from a club member [who was strung out on crank, and hadn't slept in several days, BTW]. They sent out three big, cocky repo guys with a truck. The bike's owner was about 6'-8, 325, and he didn't take real kindly to his ride going away. Nobody got killed over it, I don't think. But there wasn't a lot left of the three repo guys when it was over. This happened in broad daylight, in an apartment complex where my former [thankfully!] brother-in-law was living at the time. It's amazing how much carnage one big dude with a metal pipe can create.

PM me a link on that 1990 JAX case, would you?

UncleWulf, I didn't take your post as an attempt to "talk tough" and I hope no one else did either. You were really, unfortunatly, just stating the reality of the possible consequences for bad behavior on the parts of CA's and Collectors. Nothing more.

This scenario, unfortunately, can be apllied to all parts of society. Road Rage? Former employees coming back to their old jobs for revenge? Going Postal? I saw a fist fight break out over a parking spot one time.

It just seems some people just don't think of the possible consequenses of their actions and bad behavior.

Kind of off the subject; however, I experienced an atmosphere at my last job that gave me an understanding as to how someone could be pushed into snapping and coming in and shooting up the workplace. And please, don't anyone slam me for thinking I'm excusing or condoning this! We had a director come into our department, replacing one that left. She had no knowledge of accouting and had no understanding of what all our job entailed as she displayed in her unprofessional behavior. When I say "unprofessional" I am really understating it; this woman was, in my opinion, and absolute lunatic. She would scream and yell, use profanities, make people cry, tell you she wanted something one way and then telling you that's not what she wanted when you did it her way, make derogatory comments about one employee to another, etc. When I left, I was one of only 2 originals left out of a department of 30; an almost 100% turnover in the space of a year. I applied for a promotion in the department and was told during the interview she wasn't going to promote me because of my health problems. Now while I'm not saying that the atmosphere in that workplace caused my health problems, it sure made them unmanagable.

I really think we as a society should really think of the consequences of our actions all day, every day. Not just the CA's that break the laws. Might make life a little easier for all of us.

That's just my opinion, though.

I'll PM you with the GMAC links. I actually had to Google it and refresh my memory. I was actually living in New Orleans at the time it happened, but I remember it made the national news that day. It got my attention because of the absolute tragedy of the situaion and the fact I was born in Florida and pretty much grew up in Jacksonville. When I moved back here in 1991, they were still talking about it. That might be why I thought it occured in 1991 originally.

If a guy would shoot up a office for repossessing his vehicle I think that that some of the threats that the more shady CAs use could be more than enough to send someone with the right or wrong psychological disorder(s) over the deep end and just walk into a collection agencies office and start going office to office (or cubical to cubical) and killing people one at a time.

Just think, if it's a small call center chances are there is a main entrance, maybe a side entrance and a fire exit. Use a vehicle to block the fire exit then go in with a assault rifle and a duffel bag full of extra magazines (the AK 47 can hold 75 round mags or 100 round drums) it would be a massacre. Now just think if you had the day off or it wasn't your call center. You survive but it was your actions that pushed the guy past the line of sanity he was barely hanging onto in the first place. Not saying you would be at fault for their deaths, but could you live with it?

I am a Christian and I would never do something like that (I would never take a life unless I had to) but if someone such as myself could think of a plan like that in such a short time I'm sure others that would do something like that could think of something just as good, if not better.

RON MY HUSBAND BLIND AND MENTALLY ILL WAS ALMOST KILLED HIMSELF BECAUSE LTD 77074 AND portfolio recovery associates.
SOME BAD COLLECTORS WANT MONEY AND THEY DID NOT CARE IF MY HUSBAND WAS NOT A DEBTOR,THEY STOLED FROM HIM A 1000,00 AND THEY TOLD HIM HE WILL GO TO JAIL IF HE DID NOT PAY THEM.
THEY SCREAMED DAY AND NIGHT WITH HIM.
MY HUSBAND WAS CUTTING ALL HIS HEAD.
ONE DAY HE SCREAMED HE WILL KILL HIMSELF.
I FOUND debt consolidation CARE FORUM THAT HELP ME TO SAVE MY HUSBAND'S LIFE AND STOPPED THE ABUSIVE CALLS ALL DAYS AND NIGHTS OF WEEK AND HOLIDAYS EITHER.
MY HUSBAND TOLD ME A GANG WAS AFTER HIM.
PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES CALL SOMETIMES MY HOUSE BUT THE SCREAMS AND INSULTS FINISHED.
RON IF MY ENGLISH WAS GOOD I WISH TO SAY THE SAME THING YOU SAID HERE.
MY HOUSE WAS A HOUSE OF HORRORS UNTIL I FOUND DEBT CONSOLIDATION CARE FORUM.
I AGREE WITH YOU RON PEOPLE MENTALLY ILL CAN KILL
THEMSELVES BECAUSE HARASSMENT.

The sky's the limit.....

Hmm, maybe someone might bomb a call center, or even use a tac nuke. I hope that it never happens though. Sure the agents that use illegal tactics are (in my opinion) pieces of crap. But nobody deserves to die for it, just fired and possibly imprisoned. Anyone here ever watch the film Maxed Out? A 20 something year old college student killed himself because he was shamed so badly by a collection agent stating they were going to tell everyone what a deadbeat he was, he hung himself with a not to his mother telling her how sorry he was, a 19 year old girl did something similar.

I would hope nobody would stoop to explosives. But then, I'd hope they wouldn't resort to violence, period. OTOH, we know what happened in Jacksonville, don't we?

I wonder if our local video store would have Maxed Out? I have to go down there anyway and take care of a late fee. :oops:

Rocks, what were are talking about is not funny. I was being dead serious when I posted the office massacre scenario. If I thought of it, I know someone twisted enough to carry it out could think of the same plan.

Seems as if Socks is only interested in posting her funnies lately instead of advice on how to help others that need help and advice. This is certainly not the place to be posting funnies.

LISTEN,IT WAS OUT OF LINE,BUT SOCKS GIVES GOOD ADVICE AND ENCOURAGMENT.I CHALK THIS UP TO BAD JUDGEMENT,NOT A BAD PERSON.

I really hope I didn't offend or upset anyone with my post, it might have been a little off topic but I felt it was something that needed to be pointed out.

Tsacgiv, I really am sorry if my post brought up some bad memories of the rough time you and your husband went through. Having gone through a similar situation myself with a very bad CA (Legal Mediation Practice) I certainly have an understanding of what your husband went through and how he felt. I'm glad you guys came through that horrifying experience and your husband didn't make a bad decision regarding ending his life. I hope he is doing better now, and so are you and the rest of your family. I also found this site because of my own experience with a CA's illegal collection tactics and my almost rash and permanent decision regarding my life and I am really glad I did.

And JCEMT your example was, in my opinion, absolutely right on the money. If someone that was in their "right mind" could think up a plan for exacting revenge on a CA, as you illustrated, can you imagine what someone that was over the edge and felt they had nothing else to lose could do? It really is scary. I was still working at the bank in 2001 and about a month after 9/11 I had an irate customer on the phone screaming about a $29.00 overdraft charge. He finally made some comment that maybe he should fly an airplane into my building. I was just absolutely stunned that someone would make a horrifically insensitive comment like that. We actually had to report that to the Feds (can't remember exactly which law-enforcement branch) because of the nature of the threat; we pulled a copy of the phone conversation and submitted that also.

All over $29.00

Needless to say, not long after, I made the decision that I did not want to work their any longer. That phone call wasn't the only reason though, I had been thinking about it for months. It was really just the "icing on the cake" so to speak.

And a little in the way of Socks' defense. Even though it might not have been the best time to post the pic, it was still kind of a funny pic. Being a cat lover myself, I did get a little chuckle at the cat with the gun. I sometimes think cats are just biding their time, waiting to take over the world. At least my cats give me that impression because they sure have me trained and under their control.

LOL

IT'S ALL GOOD RON.YOU,SOCKS,ME ALL OF US.WE GIVE GREAT ADVICE,INFORMATION,AND CAN DRAW FROM EXPERIENCE.JUST THAT SOMETIMES HUMOR ISN'T CALLED FOR THATS ALL.

Yeah, can't say I've never been given a dressing down for using humor at the wrong time. I've been told I'm a little too "Darkly Cynical" at times.

HEY NO WORRIES,DARKLY CYNICAL IS GOOD.HECK I HAVE PRACTICED IT MORE THAN ONCE.I WAS BASICALLY DEFENDING YOU AND SOCKS FROM GUEST.THEY FELT THE NEED TO ATTACK.I JUST RESPONDED.KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DO THE WAY YOU DO IT. :D 8)

Don't believe everything you hear, Ron.

THANKS RON.
RON I REALLY LOVE TO READ YOUR POSTS BECAUSE YOU
HAVE A LOT OF SENSE OF HUMOR AND YOU KNOW HOW TO TELL A STORY.YOU CAN WRITE A FANTASTIC BOOK SOME DAY AND I KNOW WILL BE A GREAT BOOK!!!
I REALLY LIKE ALL OF YOU EITHER.
ALL OF YOU HAVE GREAT TALENTS HERE.
I LOVE THINGS FUNNY ALWAYS.
I HATE SAD THINGS,SAD MOVIES AND BAD PEOPLE.
I LOVE debt consolidation CARE FORUM BECAUSE
HAVE MANY FANTASTIC PEOPLE HERE.

oh please someone posts a dadgum nuclear bomb and I post a cat with a gun? come on people..please!
Jcemt..I actually know of someone who went postal okay? and thank God he was apprehended before he did any lethal damage..he is actually serving time in same Ca prison as Charles Manson okay?..
life is not always nice..bad things happen and things are getting progressively worse in our world..but if guest is slamming me about posting so called"funnies"..I myself got so tired of depressing stories and horrendous stories of terrible treatment from collection agency experiences etc...I felt my contribution to site would be to look on the lighter side..we are not doomed here..no nothing terrible is ever funny..but terrible things to people will continue to happen and guest I call B.S. on your post...I have obviously pushed a button with you so this is specifically for you darlin!

p.s. Paul thanks a bunch! I think if you read posts here you will realize that people do make mistakes but you will find out who is here with good intentions in mind and I don't know you at all but thanks for defending my intentions!!! :D :D :D

I just edited and removed a sad depressing true story post that I made last night and now removed it because I originally found so many positive things on this sight that I want to try and add to that ..I come here to offer encouragement and support and want to hopefully give people the "feel good" that they deserve to feel ..and I think that yes I also may have a morbid sense of humor occasionally..anyways..there are just so many bad things out there in the world that I choose not to cry but to try and laugh instead.(sometimes I cry but am thankful I can find something to laugh or smile about)