Response through BBB from First Integral Recovery (MTE)

Doesnt really matter if they had a email address or not....most collectors are not permitted to email debtors anyways.

Thats good to know, I'm going to forward a copy of the letter to my AG's office. The original I have looks very unprofessional for it to be a Law firm/collection agency. It looks like a worker opened a word document and just typed something. Some of the grammer was horrible.

they do like form letters don't they?that is the exact same respond verbatim they gave the BBB in regards to my complaints.yes foward the letter and everrthing from your dmp.
all checks and such.ms madigan will take care of them.

I have found the BBB to be largely ineffectual. It helps to have the complaint recorded, but they usually respond with this drivel and I think some of these CAs actually thumb their noses at the BBB. If they have a bad rep with them already, they likely don't care to add one more complaint to the growing list.

remember this the BBB has no real power they are a private organization and really can't resolve anything.. your best best is to always file complaints with the proper regulatory agencies

Yes, do file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and your states Attorney General's office.

The letter itself just kills me. Typical CA rhetoric that you just don't want to pay your bills. I'm surprised they would stoop to such an unprofessional level, by pretty much calling you a deadbeat, in a letter they sent responding to a complaint from you. I would definitely forward a copy of that letter to the agencies you do file complaints with. Other than the BBB, that is.

I was recently contacted by Mr. Hill who stated he was with the Lawal & Associates law firm and was contacting me regarding a defaulted PDL. Anyway, he informed me that he was contacting me prior to my "case" going any further in his legal office. He told me that I was facing felony criminal charges because what I did was commit Electronic Check Fraud because I closed my account prior to the maturity of my PDL. What I have read on the message boards indicates that criminal charges cannot be filed for bad debt. Is this the case?

yes,in fact it is against the law for him to say that.i would look
into your state laws regarding the recording of calls.if you could get that on tape.then they would we looking at charges not you.

1st integra does not state they are a collection agency. they call stating, "lawal". a collection agency, by law, must provide an itemized bill. 1st "nonintegrity" states they can't send the bill because they are a law firm. and guess what, 1st integra/lawal, atty turner and oj. i'm not paying the bill, because you are. your practices have caught up with you. See ya

oj's cell is 832 594 5365 his texas bar # is 24004144

Have you called his cell number? If so, what did he say?

They have been calling us too telling me they are going to throw my deadbeat (yea they called him a deadbeat among other things) husband in jail if we did not pay them $1600 immediatly by credit or debit card only, displaying the Visa or MasterCard logo. Only it is a Ms. Holly that calls us. I tried several times to get an address for them and each time I was screamed at and hung up on. I finally found an address in Houston Texas, and I just so happen to have a friend there and I sent him by the address and they do not have an office there. There is a building there but the suites only go to 650 and they list suite 670 as their office. When they called again I tried to get the address, I was transferred to 3 different people and then a Mr. Green (I think, I could harldy understand him) gave me some PO Box in Houston and before I could verify what he was saying he too hung up on me. I called back and got the operator and I tried to ask her for the address and she right off the top began to scream at me and had the nerve to accuse me of being hositle and billigerant (ha!) she was going on and on yelling finally when she stopped I said the reason you won't give me an address is because you are running a scam and she hung up, the calls from their "firm" have now stopped! Thank Heavens, they were drving me crazy. Watch out! Crooks are coming up with new ways everyday to get you and they are advancing with the technology. I have saved all their threatning voicemails to take to my State's Attorney, I filed compaints with the FTC, BBB and my local Sheriff's Department. They have got to be stopped!

If they contact you again, tell them the call is being recorded.

I also have dealt with LRA and Lawall, their supposed attorney.
I filed a FTC complaint on Lawall for their repeated violations of the fdcpa. Now jump forward 3 weeks and I am again being called by LRA with the same rhetoric.

I first got a email from a Bob Barry stating I need to pay my claim now or I will be charged with check fraud. Then I didn't pay him he went to a Mr. Johnson who stated he was going to give me a chance before it goes to my county clerk I didn't pay him, Then it went to Mr. Melvin Hill how stated he was going to give me a chance before it went to the county clerk and I will be charged here at work and the debt will be taken out of my income tax through a 1099. I didn't pay him, So if all of these guys tell me they are only giving me one more chance why do they keep calling me. I'm tired of their damn threats and lies..Go to school and learn english and when you do call me back and guess what I still won't pay you. How the hell does a $200 loan end up to $675. Nope I'm not paying nothing..dumba$$e$

I too just got a call this morning from a Mr.Hill.Telling me I need to pay the $901 today if not they will fill and 1099 on my taxes.I'm not sure what to do.They lady I then spoke with was very rude telling me she was going to call Az AG'S office.What should I do? I need some advice.

I just received a call from 713-777-2500 from a man saying his name was Donald. Donald told me my husband was being charged for internet check fraud for taking out a payday loan and not paying it back. Being unfamiliar with this company, I requested a debt validation letter and asked where my husband was being charged at. Donald then got nervous and tried to change the wording by completing avoiding re-stating that he was being charged. He then transferred my call to a Robin Harrison who said she was his manager. They threatened to sue us and admitted the letter had gone to another address. I'm in Ohio an need help.

do not deviate from this stance.nothing in writing no payment.he gave himself away with his initial threat.they are a bottomfeeder that will do nothing but threaten.

ok, i got a call from these ppl, as well. They tell me the samething. you are gonna be charged with a felony, and i owd 1600 froma pay day loan. the even tell me my name, address and ssn#. They gave me a PO Box number. And they also told me the first time that the were a law firm, then I was told that it was forwarded to their legeal office. Hears the Q: According to the fair debt collection act, no collection company my misrepresent themselves as an attorney or an attorney office. So why was I told that they were Only a law firm and then was told otherwise. Also, they recorded my conversation... after the conversation was almost over, that right there is illegeal. you must tell the person that they are being recorded prior to them diong it. It os also illegeal for a collector to contact you more than once by phone unless given premision. Further more.... I saked who was going to be assgined to my case and they told me Mr. Lawal, but when I asked to speak with him, another att. got on the phone. any other advice would be greatly helpful.

OJ Lawal is an attorney and apparently is renting out his name. Where you calling the Houston, TX office? If so, they're recording the call was legal. Texas is a 1 party state and tehy do not need your permission to record.

I have filed many, many complaints with the BBB about companies as well as thru the AG's office and FTC.
When they do answer, they answer with the form letter the original poster submitted stating they are "not at fault" and they want the person complaining to contact them.

I would just record the phone calls, to avoid issues with legalities with recording phone calls, simply inform the caller, at the beginning of the call that "THIS CALL IS BEING RECORDED TO INSURE COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL LAW. ANYTHING YOU SAY MAY BE USED AGAINST YOU IN FUTURE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS".
Even if you don't record them, I can almost 99.9% guarantee you that they will immediately hang up on you if they are not legit.

I filed a complaint through the BBB.org in regards to the company handeling my MTE financial account. My account was supposedly sent to LRA (Lighthouse Recovery) who never contacted me. Then I get phone calls from a guy claiming to a be a lawywer from Lawal & Associates, who tells me they are affiliated with First Integral Recovery, LLC. To many freakin companies..anyway. I never got a notice from any of the above mentioned companies.

This is the response I got from them through the bbb.

I received a call from this Lawal Ass., they said that I owed this loan company $5,000.00 plus. The person told me that they would settle for #1500.00. Is this Lawal really a honest lawyer? Please let me know, because come appril 3, they are going to take $317.00 out of my account.

Waiting,
Stephen Huntsman

Close your bank account NOW and open a new one! OR talk to your bank manager and get everything from this company blocked. They threaten illegal things to get you to pay! BY LAW you have the right to dispute ANY debt within 30 days, plus they have to send you a letter 5 days after first phoning you.

Also call them back and inform them that you are revoking the authorization to debit your account. Tell them you have already informed your bank about this. Tell them that if they collecting on a legitimate account, they will have no problem complying with the debt validation letter you intend to send. Also ask them where your initial dunning letter is, that by law they had to send you that letter 5 days after they called you, yet you have not gotten it.

But whatever you do, stop that debit from coming out immediately!

they were calling me too. very rude and called me every name in the book. said i was going to be arrested when i renewed my license and demanded i send a 4500 moneygram right away over a 400 loan from 2 years ago. i filed a complaint with the attorney general and now they are calling under a different name, integral recovery services. i also ran my credit report and they are nowhere to be found. it is supposedly about an old loan. they are still charging the interest and that is illegal. i used to do these loans and once it goes to collections the finance charges stop. the bbb has had several complaints but all mail they send gets returned.
they refuse to verify anything and will not give an address. if you are worried about anything they say just call the ag and they will answer your questions. they will also tell you that you can't be arrested over debt. and also beware that some of the people posting on blogs are the collectors themselves trying to scare people. i have spoken with the ag and irs(internal revenue service) and both assured me the 1099 threat is nothing more than a scare tactic and be wary of false info posted by people saying it happened to them.
and i was not arrested when i renewed my license. you can also go to the texas state bar website and get lawals bar number and file a complaint with them. since i filed my complaints they only use the intergral recovery line to call from and leave prerecorded messages. they call my cell. we had to unplug the house line due to them calling every 10 minutes all day.

I received a call from a Mr Russian with 1st Integral Recovery Systems a subsidary of Lawal & Associate in regards to a payday loan from over 2 years ago. I never received any correspondance in the mail in regards to this loan and advised Mr. Russian that I would need to verify the validity of his claim. I asked him if he could send me something in the mail in regards to the payment and he stated that his law firm does not deal with the postal system, but he could send an e-mail. After receiving the e-mail I contacted the PDL company who could not find any record of an unpaid balance. I received a second call from Laura Scott who was very unprofessional. She yelled and screamed at me as though I was her worst enemy and threatened to proceed with criminal charges. I continued to remain calm asking her very nicely to please stop yelling at me and making idol threats because I was not intimidated by her tactics. To sum it all up she hung up on me, I tried calling again to resolve the matter and she hung up on me again. My question is IF I owe you, how do you expect to retrieve your money if you keep hanging up on.

First integral helped me out a whole lot i had 4 loans and they actually helped me out and worked with me everybody has there faults about them but they okay with if you know you took the loan out just pay it back whats the big deal

because they collect for illegal internet pdl's that in some people's cases paid back the loan in spades.if you didn't quite pay the loan back fine,but others owe nothing to the illegal lenders.glad you had no problem.others do.that's what we are here for.

i never had a problem with them i actually owed $1,400 and they gave me a settlement and they worked with me on it im like nancy if you know you took the loan out just pay it back like you promised to do sweethearts thats all im saying.And i trusted them credit card information and they are a collecton agency but they also have an lawyer that they work for do your research correctly sweethearts. JUST PAY THE MONEY BACK I DID.

Well quit going online and taking them out then dont you think and they wont call and bother you sweetie come on have some sense now. You was wrong for doing it they just doing there job

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!the shills are out today.for one NANCY.these loans are illegal,so go back to the phones.maryann you paid 1,400.00?good for you,but i will never pay 1,400.00 on a loan of no more than 300.00 without a court order.btw your line that they have a lawyer on staff is a lie.go tell people to just pay elsewhere.

First of all if you can read i said my loan was for that much but they gave me a settlement jackass can you read i know what i took out and how much i owed thats why i didnt have a problem paying it and when i added everything up it came out to be correct so wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That

you got a 1.400.00 loan from who?not MTE or any of their d/b/a's.that is who this place collects for.you seem to be the only one that had a wonderful experience.good for you.don't come here telling people to just pay.it doesn't work that way.btw watch the language.i still don't believe you btw.