69,204 FDCPA Violations reported, FTC responds, 1 law suit

Typical beaurocracy. As I have said in the past, we must constantly be in the ear of our representatives! Thats how to get change but it takes numbers. If those 69000 people wrote to their reps I think you would have seen a different outcome!

Yeah, one law suit out of all those complaints??????

Jeez..... My tax dollar at work.

amke one reason that this is why collectors aren't afraid when we threaten to complain to the FTC. Could this be a case of the fox watching the hen house??

A QUESTION,COULD THIS ALSO BE ON THE CONSUMER?I HAVE READ A LOT OF POSTS ABOUT PIF'S AND SETTLEMENTS.IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THE PDL'S DRAG THE WHOLE THING OUT,THEN SUPRISE.A PIF OR A SETTLEMENT.A LOT OF PEOPLE AFTER 1-2 YEARS MAYBE DON'T WANT TO PURSUE A LAWSUIT.THATS A PART OF THIS I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT BEFORE THIS POST,BUT IT IS A POSSIBILTY.JUST TROWING IT OUT THERE.

The lawsuits are based on complaints from the consumers and investigations, look at the number of compalints verses the amount of lawsuit(s), just one??????? :shock:

OH,I THOUGHT IT WAS ON THE CONSUMER TO PURSUE. :?

This tells you that the vast majority of these "complaints" are nothing more than the whines of freeloaders who are upset somebody had the nerve to ask them to pay their bills.

UP YOURS NONSENSE DEUTSCH BANK. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
CAN'T WE BAN THIS CLOWN?HE DOES NOTHING BUT BELITTLE AND MAKE LIGHT OF WHAT WERE TRYING TO DO HERE.
AGAIN UP YOURS,COLLECTOR TURD.

Well, it is a inflammatory remark and could be deleted for TOS violation. Stop insulting him because he is just trying to bring you down to his level. I'm not responding to him anymore, not worth the frustration or time.

ALL RIGHT,YOUR RIGHT.I WON'T LET HIM GET ME
ANYMORE.I HAVE HAD ENOUGH.PEOPLE NEED HELP.
NOT THIS. 8) 8)

PaulMergel. Don't necessarily agree with the wording of your response, I do agree with the spirit though. I wish "Nonsense" would go away too. Our responding to him just seems to be giving him the attention he's so desperately looking for though.

Let's just try not giving it to him and see what happens.

I must have missed this when it was originally posted.

My thoughts are the wheels of justice sometimes move slow. They do eventually move, though.

I just hope no one gets discouraged by this article and does not file complaints when the fdcpa gets violated by crooked CA's, thinking it just doesn't do any good. It is really important these violations are documented.

Over 69,000 complaints, to me at least, doesn't really seem like a lot. And only 3 CA's rising to the top, getting the distinction of being the worst? You have to consider the "statistical" spread of these complaints. I'm sure there were certainly more than 3 CA's listed on these complaints. Keep in mind, the FTC is probably only looking for the most egregious and numerous violations of the FDCPA by any one CA. Some complaints were probably bogus. Some may have been resolved. They would probably want to see the CA's with the largest number and most serious complaints starting to pile up against them before they would take action.

I'd like to see more like 690,000 or 6,900,000 in the potential pool of complaints. Then if there was only one lawsuit filed, I would really get ticked off.

I hope I'm making sense? Sometimes don't have all the "words" to express the point I'm trying to make, lately.

However, if I could use up my "cliche' quota" for the day.

The squeaky wheel does eventually get oiled. Or, maybe more importantly, replaced.

Good post UnemployedRon.

:lol:I'M SO HAPPY!!!
69.204 VIOLATIONS REPORT TO FTC ABOUT SOME BAD collection agencies AND THEIR VERY BAD(DEVIL) :evil:
COLLECTORS!!!
I THINK A BIG NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS 69.204 IS A BIG
PIECE OF TRUTH.IT IS LIKE A BIG PIECE OF CAKE FOR ME
AND TODAY IS NOT MY BIRTHDAY!!!
I WANT MANY CONSUMERS HAPPY AND I WANT TO SEE ONLY
GOOD COLLECTORS HAPPY.
IT IS A MAGIC BIG NUMBER 69204.
ANYBODY DISAGREE WITH ME?
OH,GOD THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT PUT ALL MY COMPLAINTS IN THE GARBAGE.
I'M VERY HAPPY TODAY!!!
:lol:

No surprises here. The Boston Globe published a series of news articles in 2006 entitled "Debtors' Hell", which painted a disturbing picture of how and why the abuses of the debt collection industry are so rampant. One of the main reasons are the OUTDATEDfdcpa laws, which have been effect since 1977 and have not been overhauled, to coincide with the explosion of the debt buying industry. The article points out that our government officials have done little to change these laws and protect the consumer, because many government officials are bankers,
themselves...

Need I say more? :roll:

Good point, Tabby. And one could also add that most legislators are also attorneys--meaning that they should know the laws themselves and know when they have been violated.
What I want to know is, what collector was sued by the FTC in that one lawsuit??? Could it be.....BASS???

Tabby, I have beat that dead horse in these forums a time or two. The fdcpa definitely does need to be overhauled and updated, terribly so. The penalty for violating the FDCPA by a crooked CA, a mere $1,000 and court costs, are most certainly not enough of a deterrent to reign in the rampant violations. They just look on is as a cost of doing business. I think someone posted on here a while back, about receiving check from a CA as a result of a FDCPA violation, and the remittance had the Accounts Payable coding on it and read something like "Miscellaneous Fines/Other." They had an actual account set up in their general ledger declaring it was just a "miscellaneous" item.

To me that just shows how much the CA's just don't take the FDCPA seriously.

I really would like to start getting a campaign together and start lobbying our representatives in DC to have the FDCPA updated and made just a little more "tougher" on the CA's that do violate it. I do think it was updated in 1996, though, even though it must have been originally created in 1977. It now needs to be brought into the new millennium, badly! And I doubt it's just because a lot of the politicians are bankers causing the lack of action in updating the FDCPA; I'm sure the Collection industry has plenty of lobbyist in DC and money to throw at the politicians. We just need to stark making our voices a little louder than the gifts, bribes, and fringe benefits these lobbyists are probably throwing around.

Quote:

You're right, Ron. Something HAS to be done.

While I know that there are some good debt collection agencies out there who follow the law and do treat distressed consumers fairly, there are WAY too many "Outlaw" agencies out there disgusing themselves not only as "Law" firms, but also as "Police Officers", "Federal Investigators", "Sheriffs' Offices" and "Inspectors", cursing, threatening and doing things to people that one would think only happened in Third World Countries. Verbally abusing and threatening an adult is one thing...but it just blows me away, when I read about a debt collector doing it to a child (or even worse), a senior citizen.

These "Outlaws" are not only using the phone lines to commit crimes, including: Violations of the fdcpa, FCRA and RICO (racketeering/corrupt companies) Acts, wire and bank fraud, but also mail fraud. I thought these were felonies!

WHY, then, is OUR Federal Government doing NOTHING?

WHY, are corrupt organizations like "States Predisposition Services"/aka/"United Federal Bank"/aka/"Bass & Associates"/aka/"United Legal Investigations" (and many other aliases), being allowed to set up shop in Georgia and continue operating, even as Florida's AG is trying to shut them down?

And, WHY, did the Govenor of the State of Georgia bankroll $600,000,to be used for the purchase of telecommunications equipment (i.e., software and hardware components to support an autodialing system) for use in Enhanced Recovery Corporation's new call center, which is within a stone's throw of "Bass & Associates"?

You TELL me! :evil:

Quote:

ron I am totally on the same page with you as well..this topic always seems to be on the "back-burner" with other issues being more important to our politicians / representatives..in today's times.more and more people will be dealing with these deadbeat C.A's and need to learn how to fight back and win!

Right, Socks. Maybe when The Powers That May Be start receiving cold calls from these same CA's who are terrorizing us, they will do something. :evil:

Phone Number 800-918-3844

Almost fell for it today guys and gals...

I recieved a Call at my work, from an Amanda Hawkins, calling for a Hillary Ramono, saying that I had until 6pm to pay up a 763.00 3 Year old loan that they said I had not paid, through a Company Astro Lending doing business under a Freedom Federal Bank.

It talking to Ms. Ramono, I simply asked here what she meant by saying "If you do not take care of this matter today, they I will have to release your information to be processed by local authorities"....which she promptly replied "Are you stupid or do you just not understand English?"

At this point, it smelled about as fishy as it could...and did my research and have found this site as well as many others that attest to what I initially thought.

Thanks to all who have posted about this before me, and I hope my post helps someone else avoid this scam!

C.B.

It was an articulative way of threatening arrest, which is illegal. Also in regards to the topic of the thread, the reason that the FTC doesn't take action that often is because they only log the complaints and take action when they notice a pattern of misconduct, while your state Attorney General will attempt some mediation by contacting the entity the complaint was filed against to inform them to let them know that some action was requested and if the AG sees a legal violation then they will act upon it.

collection agencies threatening to arrest consumers when they do not actually intend to arrest is again a violation of fdcpa.

Well the collection agency can't have them arrested anyway. Debts are civil matters, not criminal.

I have to wonder if the reason these CA's make threats because consumers don't follow through with suing them for their violations, however, hiring an Attorney is costly, and they usually want thier money up front, unless they will work on a contingency basis (which is rare I'm sure). But ya know, even if they do follow through (consumers suing more often), the consequences are so minimal - why should/would a collection agency stop threatening people if it accomplishes what they set out to do?

Well, the attorney general can seek a permanent injunction against their ability to operate as a collection agency in that state if need be.