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Cat,

Contact the collection agency and describe the actual case. Mention your full name, something unique must be there, I guess. Try to attract their attention towards your DOB.

Also keep on watching your credit report frequently. If they report these charge off accounts in your name, it might hurt your score and you have to dispute it immediately.

Gumby108, what you wrote helps a lot & it's defenitely something to think about and possibly act on. Many thanks. This board is a huge releif. After a horrible call yesterday I wanted to file a complaint with the police dept. in L.A. Today the same person calls as if nothing had happened and makes the same request. This time w/o the threats.

This is the rudest group of people! This is not my debt (it's my daughters) and she has been gone from my home for more than 5 yrs. Now these people are threating to serve me @ work. I've told them not to phone me that this is where I work and it's not my bill or responsibility.

Vikki,

Are you the co-signer of your daughter's account? collection agencies can contact co-signers to collect the due amount. They are also allowed to call debtor's relatives to confirm the contact details of the debtor.

You can refer the agency to your daughter's present address, so that they can get in touch with the right person.

Vikki

Explaining the situation that they are contacting the wrong person, you can send them a cease and desist letter. They are legally forced to stop all collection efforts. Send your letter through certified mail with return receipt requested. It will serve as a valid proof and you can take actions if they don't abide by it.

I am trying to research to see if this is even a legitimate company. They called me up out of the blue about a week and a half ago. The first person I talked to was actually pleasant to deal with. However, I got a message later the same day from another person that was very rude sounding. I had already agreed to get back with the first person in a couple of days, but after recieving the second call on the same day I have just been ignoring them. I will not answer or return any of their calls until I can verify that this is a legitimate company.

What do these people do and why are they calling me?? They call my cell phone multiple times a day while i'm at work and sometimes block their number. I assume they are a collection agency but I don't owe any money!! I'm 19 and don't even have any credit yet!! I don't see what I could owe them...I've never even heard of them!! Is this going to screw up my credit??

I have been receiving calls by them sometime in Sept. 05. Some a__hole named Paul Roberts gets on and immediately says "This is Paul Roberts, call me back at 1800-220-0605 ext. 4671!" and then hangs up. He doesn't even state the name of the company or what he wants. I looked up the number and found this website with all the comments. THANK YOU whoever started this for doing so. Now I know they are a scam, I will not even bother calling them.

I agree with Robert, if they call, don't even bother calling back. It takes no effort to delete their stupid messages.

1-800-220-0605. 1-800-220-0605.1-800-220-0605. Academy collection academy collection academy colection academy collection acs acs acs acs 18002200605 18002200605 18002200605

Ruthless immoral company who call family members of people with sketchy credit and demand payment. The claim there is a debt that needs to be paid when there is none.

I have been recieving phone calls from this company now for about a week, evertime i answer they hang up...any advice???

Nascarjun, send them a cease and desist letter. They need to stop calling you after receiving your letter. They won't like to put themselves under legal actions for violating the fdcpa law.

I keep getting harrassing phone calls 1800-220-0605 from this company asking for someone I have never heard of. I have told them they have the wrong number but they continue to call. Is there some legal action I can take?

Hi Gail,

We suggest that you send a cease and desist letter to stop contacting you as they are violating the fdcpa laws. It's not wrong to contact a person for the first time, but after informing that they are contacting the wrong person, you should definitely take some actions.

After receiving your letter through certified mail with return receipt requested, they are not supposed to call you up again. If it's done, you can hire an attorney and sue them for the FDCPA violations.

Regards
Roxette

Well, I tried to make a payment schedule with Academy, and they refused me, and told me that I had to come up with the money the very same day. They have stopped calling me since I've offered to make monthly payments...how ironic? They have started calling my mother instead!?! I dont understand this company.

smileyface,

collection agencies cannot force you to pay the amount overnight nor can they contact your relatives repeatedly. They should provide debt validation prior to collection activities also. It seems that they are not performing legally. So you can lodge complaint against them with BBB, FTC.

The negotiation process involves lots of tricks which we cannot perform successfully. If you take professional help from any debt consolidation company, they can get your payment plan approved easily.

You can register yourself with this site to undergo a free counseling.

I have a credit card with Citibank. I had an agreement with another collection agency to make montly payments for this. All of the sudden, this agendy drop out of the radar, my checks were being returned. Then, like a week ago, ACS called me. This was completely new for me. They want the full amount. If I had it available, I would have paid it long ago.

I was ready to send my regular montly payment to them, but after reading this site, I'm not. I'm stopping on the nearest Citibank and talking with someone there. ACS will not receive a penny from me.

I made arrangements with this company Joe Kahn for a settlement of 6500.00 sent the checks back in July to have my account settled, but I had to send a copy of my canceled check before Joe would send my settlement letter it is now November and I just received and phone call saying that my debt was not settled

My dunning name is Russel Davis,Academy truthfully is not that bad of a place to work for. I have been employed for well over a year now and beleive me this place is awesome. I have quickly advanced in the collection feild. My opinion is this if it takes you well over a year to pay back a company that lent you money is it wrong to get a call? What happens if you visit your local mob down the street and get a loan do you think you get a phone call from them? No one out there can honestly say that in 16 months you can't mail in a minimum payment to prevent this situation are you kidding me? Everyday people make there bed and everyday people lay in it you figure out the terminology.....HAVE A GOOD DAY >?<

Please report any abusive, harassing behavior by Academy Collection Services at the Federal Trade Commission's Online Complaint Form

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If we all report them, maybe someone will eventually give them what they deserve. :!: [color=blue][/color]

These People Are Real skumbags.They Are Harassing My sister Who Is trying to pay them But Its Never enough For them.They Have Said horrible things To Her.She Lost Her Little Girl To cancer at 31/2 years old They Told Her Her little Girl Is Probably In The Grave Rolling Over Shes So ashamed Of you. They Are Toltal SKUM. I Would love To see them Put Out Of Business No one Deserves It More than them. I think People should BOYCOTT Getting Credit cards From Citibank. If Citibank Wishes To employ This Kind Of SKUM Then WE SHOULD NOT USE CITIBANK FOR ANY REASON!!These People Are the Most Awful SKUM! I dont even think they are human!!

They have my cell phone number listed for someone they are trying to collect on. I have no idea who the person is and for over a year I have been trying to get them to stop calling me. It is my business cell and they call at all hours, blow horns into the voice mail, etc. Yesterday they called twice. I may have to change my cell number to get rid of them. Thsi is very upsetting. I just filed a complaint with the state of CT consumer--appreciate that tip from jean above.

These morons have been calling my office for the past year to speak with the old manager (gone now for FOUR years!). When I explained that this guy was no longer here, nor did I know where to find him, they STILL keep calling!

As for them calling your ralatives, etc. my guess is that they do it INTENTIONALLY to try to embarrass you into paying them. "Oh my gosh, Harvey! They called Mom! If we don't pay, EVERYONE'S gonna know!!!"

These people are scum, and should be treated acordingly

:)

VG and Randall

Do pick up a cease and desist letter from this forum and send it to their company address. They are required to stop calling you after receiving your letter. If they continue, you are in charge of filing a class action lawsuit. Send your letter certified with return receipt requested.

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/template-cdletter.html

federal laws require they use real names.
Lisa Craven is not a real name.
Lyn Trainer come on, that is not a real name.
These are noms de guerre.

they are laughable. they will get 30% of wages.
no that does not happen. they can get a judgement.
they have to collect. the cost of debt plus legal
will be $ 30,000. great. find a vein.
just their job to keep you on the phone.
you call back. tape to call. wait for them to
tell you a mis-statement of Fair credit reporting act.
and call your attorney. call the ftc. let the govt.
or your attorney handle it.

I have the same problem with ACS. They keep calling my house. They wanted me to pay $1500 by today, the Nov. 30th. At first I thought maybe I can borrow the money from my parents because I don't have that kind of money right now. They wanted me to borrow money from my family and my bank, I don't think so. My parents can't help me out right now because it was too late of notice. When I tried to call them back they refused to make any payment changes and threatened that I should would have to pay the full amount or have my attorney call them. I have begun consolidating my bills and informed them, but they refused to accept it. I am tired of the phone calls. I can't pay these people 1500 and still try to pay off other bills too.

Hi Durant1

Welcome to the forums.

Have you including the bills of ACS in the consolidation program? If so, it is the responsibility of the consolidation company to negotiate with ACS and thus, you are not supposed to get any calls requesting payments.

Talk to the consultant and he will let you know about your next move.

are you being harrassed? well let your feelings be known by emailing your thoughts to
admin(at)academycollection.com

email address made inactive as per forum rules - Vikas

I received a call from them yesterday evening. That it was imperative I call them and I had until 5:00pm(PST). I received the call at 4:33pm. I called back and there was no answer. It sounds like they are hard to work with. I really don't want them calling me at work or thru my cell phone. Is there anyway I have correspondences with this company thru mail only because I have no idea who they are? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Tess69,

Click the link below and get the mailing address of Academy Collection Service-
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/academy.html

Probably they are calling you for collecting some unpaid accounts. You can definitely tell them not to call your cell. Tell them that you would like to be contacted through mails. Send your letter through certified mail with return receipt requested.

Please browse this forum as it will help you to handle this situation.

I also am receiving these harrassing phone calls. This company will not remove your number even when they cannot verify any information that you have dealings with them and it is an obvious wrong number. File a complaint with the Do Not Call Registry as I did and hopefully the government will resolve this.

hello debtors and collectors i work for academy collections in philadelphia and i am here to answer some of the questions you have on your message boards.i am just a collector and am also a debtor,there are ways to get a round owing a debt as well as ways we can ask for your money,now that doesn't mean that we are allowed to get rude with you but sometimes before we get a word out our mouths you yell is that fair!!!but you want us to be lenient so i figured as a christmas gift to ease your minds i will help you out.the reason for the different phone num are this: the 800 nums are for the people in different parts of the states tht are long distance to us the 215-271 nums are for people in the corporate offices and the 215-320 num is for people in are area if you notice thts why when you look at your caller id it comes up 1-800 acs8888..instead of trying to shake us why don't u try to listen i always give settlements instead of balances and i make sure that the debtors have my schedule and can contact me at any time of the day.if you have a lawyer save us time and just give the num add and name. if your family member is elderly just say you have power of attorney if ...Now i can only spk for myself but i don't think its fair that you call all of us rude!!!! wht do you think? from jonesl

now my name is jonesl and i wrk for academy collections in philadelphia and i dont think its right that you classify all collectors as bad collector.i take my job very seriously.i try to help but its hard to do that when you guys yell at the top of your lungs "screw you" or "i'm not paying this B#@$%!!"I tell you what I'll give you some pointers listen if we get rude hang up you have to realize that we are debtors to andall the num are for different states and different offices we have 3 offices located in different areas so sometimes they might show as different nums..but what I am really saying is don't classify everyone as bad I helped alot of people of debts with companies that I have debts with,please just be alittle nicer
FROM,
SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T

What are my options on a 20,000 dollar debt? What are the consequeses? Does anyone know? HELP

jonesl,

Don't get upset. We, the members of this board raise our voice against those debt collectors who break laws and harass consumers. Unfortunately they are larger in number in comparison with good debt collectors.

We do admit that there are collection agencies that help debtors get out of debt. Please go through the link below-
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collectionagency-harsh.html

[quote= Cindy]What are my options on a 20,000 dollar debt?[/quote]
You have following options in your hand-

1)ignore the debt
2)pay it
3)consolidation
4)bankruptcy

[quote=Cindy]What are the consequeses?[/quote]

If you ignore the debt, it will go delinquent. Some collection agency might make your life hell to collect the debt. If the account is reported as ???Charge-off??? your credit record will start showing it and it will be there for 7 years.

You can pay the debt. It will help you to maintain your credit worthiness. However if you have any financial problem in making monthly payments, you can go for the third option, that is consolidation. By consolidating your debts, you can reduce the principal amount and rate of interest. Moreover you need not face your creditor any more; the consolidation company will negotiate with your creditors and help you repay the debt.

Bankruptcy is your last option. It is always advised not to go for bankruptcy because it damages your credit badly. Besides it is tough to file bankruptcy after the reformation of bankruptcy laws.

So, decide what is right for you. Feel free to ask your queries here. You can also register with this site to get a free counseling.

I received a call from the 215-320-0424 number today about 2:30 PM. The caller said that they were calling long distance and did I have a Richard Brown in my neighborhood. When I said "no", the caller said "thank you" and hung up. I traced the number to the above captioned and this discussion. I definitely do not need people like this calling me.

I work at the academy office in philadelphia,(not jersey)all we want from people is to be human, dont be an a$$ if we call your house and its the wrong number just say that we have the wrong number, dont get a c0cky attitude..if you just say wrong number and hang up guess what??We are gonna call you again..if we are calling you it is either because we have the wrong number or, you owe a bank a large sum of money...and if the second is true well then stop****in be a real man or woman and pay your bill...oh yeah by the way I give below blanket settlements all the time, that means below what the bank is requesting..and most of the time we can break it in payments, so just relax, cal in and be nice..ext 2527

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

I should have found this site *before* I talked to these people today. They have left several messages on my machine - never saying who they were or whom they represented. The last message was a lady named Cynthia saying that she needed my attorney's name and number, because her client was filing a complaint in the state of Texas. Huh? Attorney? I've never talked to these people before. I called her back, because I want to take care of this stuff and get out of the hole. She gave me a good offer - 50% of my original debt. I had to pay it right then and there, though. They wanted my checking information over the phone, and they won't send any agreement information until *after* they have your payment information. I know that I was in the wrong for getting into debt, but these people bother me, because 1)they misrepresent themselves over the phone and 2) they want you to make the agreement and pay over the phone. I would have been much more comfortable getting an offer in the mail and paying it off through the mail.

Academy is, in fact, the absolute scum of the industry. I've been in the collections business for 25 years, and they are the worst I've ever seen or worked with.

umpasamy,

Welcome to forums.

You have done the right thing by asking written documents. Why should you pay without knowing whether they really hold your account or not? debt validation is the first step of collection. They should send you the details of your accounts and they are bound to contact you through mails if you say so.

You can send them a letter asking for debt validation and requesting to be contacted be mails only. Send CMRRR and keep all the receipts of your correspondences in a secured place.

You can consolidate the account too to avoid all these hassles. Your consolidator will then negotiate with them on your behalf. See the benefits of [URL="http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/program.html"]debt consolidation program[/URL] here-

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/benefits.html

Russel Davis must think that posting here will save his bonus. It won't.

I collected for ACS long enough to learn that I didn't want to be there. The tolerance for hardcore rampant fdcpa violations is visible (and audible) to anyone who enters the room. I'm a professional, and I stay within the boundaries of the law. I expect everyone around me to do the same. That definitely wasn't the case at ACS.

I am enrolled in a debt management program, but I still recieve phone calls from ACS. Once I recieved on from someone who claimed to be a lawyer from Prepaid legal and gave me a number that was from ACS. Recently, I've recieved phone calls from two different people..one girl claims that shes been in the business for a year. First they said that I would hear from the agents again, I would be hearing from the guy who said he was a lawyer, now the agents are still calling and trying to make settlements or they will proceed with further action. I've spoken to my debt management counselors and they told me to ignore their phone calls and tell them to contact them, but when I do that they just claim that they don't deal with consolidators and keep calling. I am tired of the threats.

Durant1,

You have to make certain a few things.

First, did you include all your accounts in the debt management program? It might be possible that any of your account was not placed in the program and has been transferred to ACS. In that case, ask for validation first. They should provide you something in writing. This is the first step of debt collection.

But, if the account was included in the debt management program and it is getting paid off eventually, then ACS cannot harass you anymore. Speak to your debt management company. They will be able to solve this problem.

Keep us updated in this matter.

The account that ACS has is added to the debt management program and they have recieved a payment for this month and will recieve a payment for next month. They threatened that they were going to send the money back, but that hasn't happened and the debt management program are aware of this and said that creditors never return money. They know that I am enrolled in the program because they recieved the money and it has already been posted to that particular account.

In the past they have also said that there were certain accounts that they had which they lied, I think they were looking at my credit repot because they were with other collections agency. I have stopped recieving calls from all the others. They are the only ones who are still calling.

Durant1

Welcome to the forums.

Keep in touch with your consultant working in the program and insist on getting the monthly statements from the creditors. This is a written proof that shows the company is receiving money towards your debt account.

Once you have paid the account, your lender needs to update the file with credit bureau. Make sure that it is done so that you can improve your financial status.

Usually, you will get calls from the company for a couple of months. Once they get assured that you will be paying regularly, they will stop calling you further. I guess, you will have to wait for some time. Try to explain the present situation about this program so that they stop calling you.

Regards
Roxette

They have called me for the past week asking for Beth. When I say that I have no idea who Beth is, they immediately hang up. This is not a professional outfit. I got somebody on the phone and when I told them to remove my number, they hung up again. Then I called them back with some choice words! If you are a professional outfit then act like one!

I accepted an offer from Academy to settle for 60% of the debt, finished paying that off a couple of weeks ago, and then last night received a call from someone (forgot to get her name or extension) who wanted the other 40% immediately. After I refused, she started yelling at me and then hung up the moment I mentioned the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. What a classy bunch of people.

Anyway, I'm wondering how to resolve this without going to the trouble and expense of hiring an attorney to look into it. How do I ensure that my full payment of the offered settlement makes it to my credit report?

[quote=anon]I accepted an offer from Academy to settle for 60% of the debt[/quote]

Did you sign any agreement or do you have any document that says Academy offered you a settlement? If you do, then it will not be difficult to deal the situation.

Yeah, I don't have the letter with me at the moment, but they did send a letter stating that they were willing to settle for the 60% and gave a $$ figure for that reduced amount. That's the amount I finished paying a couple of weeks ago.

The Academy rep I got yelled at by last night told me that because I had made six biweekly payments that it couldn't have been a settlement because they only accept settlements in one lump sum or maybe three payments at most. Of course, that's horse caca, but that was her line.

Looking through this thread, it seems another way to express our concerns over Academy's unethical practices would be to contact Citibank and let them know that because of our treatment by Academy, we will never do business with Citibank again and urge everyone we know to do likewise. Without companies like Citibank giving them business, Academy would go away on its own.