What action can be taken against Account Solutions Group?

Boo Hoo Hoo. Bill collectors were mean to me. Let's see, it's because you people are all lying debtors. Call me back tomorrow. Call me back in an hour. Call me back so I can ignore the call like usual. I'm poor. Not poor enough, obviously. You weren't poor when you were watching that plasma screen tv, were you? Or when you were sitting on that new leather couch. I'm so poor, and all those charges are interest and late fees. Yes they are and you now owe them because you... wait for it... didn't pay your bill. And according to the contract you yourself signed, smart guy, you owe the full balance. And for those of you on here who advocate paying what you can, when you can... as well as those of you who think nothing will ever happen to you... guess what? You're wrong again. I work at a collections agency with a pre-legal department. And we make the determinations who gets sued for the bill. So if you act like an idiot when we call you, you're definately going to be standing in front of a judge, explaining why you didn't feel you had to pay the bill. And no matter what whining, pathetic excuse you come up with to throw yourself at the mercy of the judge... doesn't matter. This is business and he has a contract in front of him with your signature that states you agree to be liable for every cent. Well, you can't get blood from a stone, right? Sure we can, as easily as you got $2,300 from a piece of plastic. How about a lien on your house? How about we repo your car? How about we garnish your wages for the next three years? Sound fun? We don't want to do any of that. We'd rather you borrow half the money from a relative and take a settlement on the account. That's easier for everyone. But if you think you're going to get away with not paying your bill... you're wrong. Once again... pay your bills and stop your whining. Grow up.

Im a current employee at ASG. Collectors are basically in one of two groups, good cops, or bad cops. Good collectors know how to talk to people or debtors without harrasing. I never ever talk down to people. Good collectors also know how to verify with a third party whether the person is screening or they really have the wrong number. However, there is a fraction of collectors in any collection firm that has a skewed view of their debtors. Bad collectors wish for the days back where debtors were thrown in jail. At ASG its better than most places ive seen, people actually get in trouble for that stuff there unlike some other agencies, whose names i would rather not mention. The truth is that our calls are monitored anyways. But people rarely realize how easy it is for a collector to really think he is being screened for example. You call a debtor at work because that is the only number that was ever given to you, the debtor advises you to follow up at his residence number. You call that number and somene tells you that the person doesnt live there, better yet they dont even know the person. You look the person up and discover that the house is in the same last name as the debtor. Would you call that number again? The truth is that the average collector would be insane not to. You call back and ask the right questions however, and you find out that this person has been receiving calls for the same debtor for about 2 years from about 3 different agencies with regards to about 6 different credit cards. Better yet you call that work number back and the co-workers start telling you that the debtor doesnt work there anymore either. Collectors do little more than negotiate and follow leads, some people use their brains, and some people just beat their way to payments, i can easily say debtors should thank the lord that their account is with us instead of american corradius or capital management. Im sure people who answer the line when its the wrong number know what those calls sound like

Wow, ASG is busy these days, post after post after post I see.

Account Solutions Group is full of unprofessional Hoodlums who get high in the parking lot during breaks...

No offense to anyone who has had trouble with ASG but I have had a very pleasant experience with them. I admit at first it wasn't easy to swallow that I had to deal with them but once I made a payment arrangement and have stuck to my payment arrangement they have been pleasant. I started with about a $1500 bill that was turned over the them and have only three payments left. Try to work with them it will be easier. If they call you and you know you owe the debt try to work out a payment arrangement and get your bill paid.

And no I don't work for them.

Guest is a racist piece of garbage and the main reason why people will not deal with debt collectors.

I've paid ASG on an old CapOne account and they treated me nicely. Have no complaints. Now if CapOne had sold the account to a company who bought the account for pennies, I would ask for validation. No way I pay one of those people interest when the account was charged off.

People like Guest think folks are deadbeats? No most aren't. Guest is a symptom of our society as a whole...he thinks he can bully people into paying money they don't have for whatever reason. If a job is lost, guess what? House, food and car come first, credit card gets pushed aside. If the CC companies would work with their customers in times of hardship, there would be no need for folks like Guest. Problem is, crap happens and that does not make one a deadbeat.

Are there deadbeats in the world? Yes. And if we had debtors prisons as "guest" hopes for, this would not fix ANYTHING. CC companies dug the holes by giving credit to anybody, so as a cost of doing business you will have bad accounts.

I used a card from a company that went out of business. Bad times hit...no job for almost a year and my business partner screwed me out of my earnings for a million dollar idea. Anyway, I let this account go because they went out of business and stopped sending invoices. One day I get a letter stating I owe all this interest and realized the company collecting the debt is famous for BUYING out of business companies credit accounts. I ask for verification, NOTHING. I called up to discuss this...the man says they don't verify. I ask why. He says they just don't. I ask him how I owe interest on a charged off account and did they buy this debt from wherever. He hung up on me.

I sent him a cease and desist citing that one phone call. I never heard from them again. I told them in the letter to VERIFY and I will settle. NOTHING. Lesson learned: Folks like Guest are the norm in collections. ASG has bad apples but my experience tells me they will work with you if you try to pay it off. Problem for them is they are collecting for a CapOne who won't stop charging interest and that makes it hard for them to do small amounts :(

It's a shame that our country has fallen so far. There was a time when credit was a hard thing to get. Maybe we need these times to return so we can put people like GUEST out of business.

I am a former collector for Account Solutions Group or ASG. I worked for the Capital One division in the company, who collects for various clients. To clear things up, the accounts I was collecting on were never "bought out" or sold to the company. The company gets a commission on what is collected. If nothing is collected, the company takes no loss except for the time invested in the account. Still, the debt is considered "charged off" because a 3rd party agency is now collecting on the account. Since the debt is being charged off, it is not uncommon for a credit card company to double the original balance so that in the event of a settlement, they will still make money on the deal. What would be the point of issuing a credit card if they were not planning on charging interest and fees?
Regarding interest and fees on unpaid debt, it is legal, well in practice, unethical, but necessary for the system to function. The key word is UNPAID. What would make you pay someone back if there was not some kind of incentive? For example if you are delinquent on a mortgage, they take your house. Since this is an unsecured debt, they charge interest on the debt to get you to pay it back sometime before you die.
Regarding the agency, we were required to follow fdcpa rules and guidelines. There was testing involved in how well we knew and obeyed the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). Truth be told, the company did turn a blind eye to those collectors who were successful and only require that they not get caught. Efficiency is the key in this business. An experienced collector knows to only concern themselves with finding who will pay and who will not. If a nonpayer is found, they will be turned over to the next collector down the ladder.
I understand that in many situations people are in a poor financial situation. There is nothing that can be done at this point except to pay dues. With current bankruptcy laws it is quite common to still be held responsible for credit card debt. Credit councilors were not given any special leway at ASG. They were just treated as mediators. With ASG, you are better off working with a collector yourself and save some money.
I do have personal feelings about credit card debt in that I feel people should take responsibility for what they owe. Putting it off will never help. Unlike some collectors who I have worked with, I do not believe that everyone is a "deadbeat" who has an outstanding balance on a credit card. For some, I don't even believe that they necessarily CAN pay and still maintain current on all other bills. HOWEVER, and this is a very important, the whole purpose behind a credit card is to provide either emergency funding (i.e. when my car broke down on the way home from my 1 hr commute from school and I had no choice but to get my car towed from the thruway and buy a $200 replacement radiator,) or to provide funding for a purchase which will be paid off immediately or before the billing cycle end. Proper use of credit cards do not include going out to eat, buying clothes or anything else non-essential when immediate repayal is not intended. If misuse occurs, you have only yourself to blame.
We have lived with credit cards and contracts long enough where people should know to read a contract before signing it and that even though fine print, you are expected to have read and agreed to all conditions. Regardless of how unfair, inhumane, cruel or heartless these conditions are, by signing the agreement you have agreed to such treatment and conditions if you ever fall behind on repayment.
So the best advice I can give if you are in debt and don't know where to turn, STOP. Put down the shovel and start the potentially lifelong process of repayment.

Insider,

Was it common for ASG to settle for less than the amount owed? I've heard that Cap. One is nearly impossible to get to settle for less than full balance.

I myself am in debt and feel peoples pain because I work for a colection agency. This comment about people should just take #'s out is completely idiotic. Just answer peoples damn questions. It makes it easier on you and the people DOING THEIR JOB! Unlike some people who like to sit around and become lazy fat and a leach off todays society :twisted: . How about I went to your work and asked you to do your job and everytime you asked me a question I said F**k You. You tell me how your day would be. The funny part is that the collection industry is one of the highest paid entry level professions. Further more no collector is violating any law by not taking your # out of their computer system if you are going to be difficult and not answer a easy a** question. People Like you make me sick and I do hope I run across you in the near future.

All you complaing are a bunch of losers who still live with your moms and can't afford to pay yours bills, because you wouldn't want to miss a second of wheel of forturne. Get with it and answer some questions and get it over with. I wish I could go to your job and screw with all of you

Once again favajp28 blesses all with his wisdom and wit. Honey, I would love to run into you in my line of work. You sound like a snivling little twit, who does nothing more but whine and complain. There is a hint of threats in your postings, again be careful of what you post it is on the internet forever and could come back to haunt you later. But there is great humor in your empty threats. You must have had one hell of a bad day. Sorry for your luck. Deal with it.

Fava..if you must post your debris, could you please do it on one forum so we can all enjoy your illimitable propensity for bull$hit!

I can start the thread and title it "just favajp28"

Oooo yea...or how about: "FAVA 2006!"
yea...that's right! whoohoooo

I like that one! Here's his intro: "All the way from cyberspace, the one, the only, the snivling, complaining twit collector who just can't handle a bad day.............FAVO!!!!!!!!! (Applause, Applause)

"..and the crowd is on its feet!!!"

I'm just going to have to do it, it will make him/her/whatever, feel welcomed and we can use the entertainment. I can't believe people post such nonsense and actually think they have an effect on people. The only effect on me is that I enjoy humor in it and can't help but respond.

Well Jess is at him on the other board he posted the same gibberish on! lol

That's it, look for the post titled "FAVOJP28 2006" in just a minute.

Yeah, the next 5-7 days won't be the best time to get on my bad side if you gals catch my drift..

Or maybe it's because I don't take my frustrations out at work. LOL

Because you are such an inspiration to others, I dedicate this thread to you.

That wasn't directed towards you Jessi, I was trying to start a thread for Favo our Favo collector.

Oh, I know Steelers, I was responding to Liz saying I was letting him have it in the other thread...lol

You scumbags make me sick. Pay your bills. Don't tell me you're waiting for your reparations check. It's not coming. You have to get real jobs. And no, you may not ax who's callin.

Ohhhhh..I DARE you to come and try to do my job. I CHALLENGE you. I am not a scumbag, neither is any other person on this board. We are all entitled to our opinions, but I will not accept you attacking us personally.

Guess what, Fava? I am a college educated woman with More than an entry level job. I get up off my butt and go to work every single day, as do the others on this board. If I'm not mistaken, you said that you were in debt yourself. How does that make you any different from us?

I'm sick of it. I'm sick and tired of intelligent threads getting screwed up because of small-minded people like yourself that are so angry with what's going on in their own lives that they have to criticize everyone else's. We all have problems..Deal with yours.

You're not cute and you're not funny. Frankly, I think you are making a mockery of this board. This place helped me overcome my own financial problems and helped put me in a comfortable spot again. I am proud of myself, this board, and all the people here. I WILL NOT have you degrade that.

Does anyone have a working contact number for AGS? I have tried calling them back for 2 days now and I get a "all circuits are busy now" message.

ASG is in Buffalo and has had blackouts thoughout the area for about a week now. You should be able to get them now if you try.

You're all scumbags. If you had worked with the original creditor, you would have found them to be very accomodating. But one day, you got your bill in the mail and said, "oh no, I can't pay that." And that started the whole cycle. Idiot. Do you think it's going to go away? Deadbeat scum. And hey, college-educated scumbag, you pay off your student loans yet? Or are they in collections, too. Do everyone a favor and die.

Guest, cut the crap. You make all of us other guests look bad. Why are you so pissed of anyway?

I am pissed off because you people use sites like these to try and worm your way out of paying your bills. It's as simple as that. You idiots seriously think you can trap bill collectors into committing an fdcpa violation, then sue them to pay your bill. You all have some sorry-assed story which you think entitles you to getting off the hook when a collector is forced to call your house and tell you to pay your bill. No one cares. Everyone has their own problems, but not everyone has them because they're so stupid they can't figure out things like interest rates and late payment charges. If you cann't afford it, don't buy it. End of story. You scumbags are ruining the economy, causing every business to raise their interest rates, which costs me money. I'm sick of your shit. You're dead weight. Pay your bills or go hang yourself in the basement.

hmmm sounds like some1 is using their own life story to puts some1 else down..prob just mad because they didnt find this site sooner..

[color=red]Profane post removed - Mike[/color]

eat me, debtor

Hello, I am Ravi from ICICI OneSource, parent company of ASG.

Mr. Fava is a supervisor at ASG. He does not speak on behalf of the company. We are a global organisation and fifth largest BPO from India. Our ethics and honesty are exceeding this unfortunate display.

Please accept our apologies. We are investigating such breaches made by employees who make such remarks or attempt to hide behind anonymous "Guest" id's on posting boards and blogs.

Such behaviours are not to be tolerated. Please know very well that employee disciplines will be taken as appropriate.

Respectfully,

Ravi S.K.
DGM Corporate Security

ICICI OneSource
Mumbai, India

Looks like guest has some anger issues as well as debt issues.

I find it funny that there's so many angry people who use the excuse "pay your bills" and this won't be a problem.

Let me tell you, I'm 25weeks pregnant, I lost my job at 20 weeks. I also went through a divorce just prior to this and am stuck with the debt overload because *I* made the most money. Well, now it's not there. I have to try and survive on unemployment which, in and of itself, is severely lacking.

I've never been unemployed, I've always worked and my credit was STELLAR up until this October. Now, I'm forced to try and find a job while entering the third trimester of a pregnancy.

I've contacted debt consolidation and credit counselling services. They've all told me the same thing...I cannot do it on what I'm making on unemployment. Now I have choices to make. Food, heat, roof over my head, or credit card. Let me tell you the choice is very easy for me because it's not just MY life that hangs in the balance.

I've been recieving calls from ASG as well and had one man call me a theif for ever using my cards to begin with (before the disasterous job loss) and another woman tell me that my "priorities are screwed up" because I chose to feed my expected baby before paying my credit card bill.

Being in debt and struggling just to survive is hard enough but I want to know how these people ever expect to collect a dime when they're using "scare tactics" such as this?

I contacted every one of my creditors when I lost my job to try and set up SOME type of arrangement so I could pay them back while I tried to secure work and was told "Sorry, we cannot help you" So now my back's against a wall. It's a survival instinct that kicks in.

Bankruptcy is in my future. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to lose everything, not for lack of tryin, but for lack of an understanding on my creditor's part. A simple agreement for a lower monthly payment until I was employed again would have worked for me. I have no problem paying the interest and my debts when the means are available to me.

Some posters ignorance as to how and when trouble can come knocking with NO warning is just incredible and, I hope to the gods they never have to make the decision of food vs. visa when a son/daughter's health hangs in the balance.

Actually, I have a worse story.

I'm being harrassed by ASG, and I believe the underlying debt is fabricated. If they don't reply to my letters requesting more information about the underlying debt, I'll be contacting the New York Attorney General.

Could anyone else who has experiences with ASG that may be fraudulent in nature write me at dashley at gmail dot com?

Oly-oly-oxen free... we found you. how's life been lately? the job at cheddars going well? helped anyone write a letter to their pdls lately? its been a blast but i have to get going now. drop by and visit more often, or are you still taking a breather from the site's ridicule?

ya wanna know something truth_hurts?

especially DAVE whoever you are... Talk like a tough guy to me over the telephone... Not giving any information. I've told him to stop calling me for the third time!! He said what are you gonna do call the phone police on me!! They really are SCUMBAGS!!!!!! Talks tough over the phone.. come see me face to face alone. You wont talk like a tough guy ever again.. The telephone number that Dave has been harassing me from is 781-213-4502

It really amazes me that someone can be so rude and caustic and still expect to be paid. The FDCPA was written to protect consumers from scum like this company.I wouldn't brag on Microsoft Cert. you are touting.That man is the only one I know that can become a billionare selling buggy software.

The latest info I could pull up on these jokers compliments of www.bbb.org & New York Secretary of state.

I guess all you really got to do is pay the bill that you owe and you wont get phone calls. credit cards isnt free money, its a loan given to you from a bank. same with a house or car payment. you dont pay that your out on the streets. If something comes up where you just cant pay FIND A WAY.Stop crying. Most people that are in debt havent work in God only knows and now they feel abused caused they are expected to pay money back. Get a job and stop living off the goverment. B.K has great benefits.

Well isn't our guest a smart ass. Probably one of the very debt collectors that pays me every time I talk to his boss. A credit card is unsecured debt. It is not the same as a house or car loan. Banks that offer credit cards take the risk of giving unsecured credit. They charge more than enough to cover that risk.

Most people who fall behind on their bills have lost a job or someone in their family became ill. No one in that position deserves the type of illegal harassment all debt collectors engage in.

Let me guess you owe money as well! If you cant afford you take the risk of using a credit card, DONT OPEN THE ACCT.

Is the problem you have that the advice we give out makes it harder for you use illegal collection methods? Did your online ****subscription run out, and you can't pay for it, so now you flame people in an anonymous forum to get your jollies? Did your parents just never teach you how to play nice?

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

You people that feel sorry for themselvs are the ones that fall behind. If you lose your job, GET A NEW ONE. Dont sit on the couch watchin your family members on springer waiting for someone to walk up to you and offer you a $1million salary. Now people that end up getting sick is a different story but still have to find away to pay back the debt that they owe. yes, credit cards are a unsecured debt, but thats why when you dont pay it, your gonna be either sued,garnished and a lein on there property. Those are the ones that call back crying to the collections agency that we didnt try to work with them, when the matter of fact is we tried but its hard to work with ya if your gonna hang up everytime we call or be extremely rude. Why should we work with ya? People with jobs that earn a living have to pay there bills why shouldnt you? You tell tell the people that write on this site are the ones in debt. Get a job and stop your crying.

Once again Guest, you are giving all us other guests on this site a bad name. We all suffer becuase of your arrogance. Enough already. Even if you think you are right, which I don't believe you are, you have no right to come here and slam people you do not know. I believe you are probably heavily in debt and come here to say what you do, so in some wharped way you can feel better about yourself. There is no reason for you to be here. Go play on AOL, there are plenty of others there just like you. They love losers like you.

Guest is obviously clueless with his response.If he would have done research on this board before typing,he would have realized that texaslawyer is in fact a attorney. I myself am not. Just a advocate to help people on this board so debt collectors don't run over them completely with their tactics. I will tel you like I told the others.Go away ! You are doing nothing but wasting out time with your useless tactics.

I totally agree with Guest. Why do all of you fools go out and open up lines of credit with the grand illusion that it's free merchandise you're getting and that the tooth fairy will actually pay for it in the long run?
If you don't have $ for something, then don't buy it, plain and simple! Also, when you do mess up and get in over your head, don't get mad at the person calling you to do their job and get back what is rightfully owed. Don't get defensive, don't be elusive, and don't be a damn liar. You made your bed now lie in it.
Yes, Illness is a different type of situation, but do the credit cards care that you're sick? Did they know you were going to get sick? Did the creditor calling to collect the debt know you were going to get sick? No one did. If we all sat around worrying about the future what fun would today be? Yes we all realize that the unforseen can and does happen. The fact is that it's something in the past that still needs to be taken care of.

No you may not ax who callin, we know you're lying when you say "He ain here", and don't tell us "well u dint send no bill cuz I never receed it"

Sidekick of guest.....OUT