10 important things that Collection agency won't tell you!!

Roxette,
I am an honest collector in the field of defaulted student loans. You just posted that all the above activities are "illegal" when in fact they are not. First off, we do not earn "huge commissions", we are doing our jobs, trying to help debtors and recover lost funds to our clients. It has nothing to do with commissions. What we do recieve, is a bonus for rehabilitating a set number of loans. That's right, we get borrowers on monthly payment plans, we get a bonus FROM THE CLIENT not from the debtors.

The reason why urgency is pitched is because interest is accruing daily and speaking on behalf of the client, THEY are not going to wait! If it were up to the collectors, we have all the time in the world, but we are trying to help borrowers whether or not they appreciate it.
As far as places of employment and references are concerned, they are REQUIRED information on loan applications, and yes we are required to keep debtors in reach in order to recover funds. This is not to trap them, that remark offends me.
As far as credit goes, I have found some debtors that have superb credit, they just misplaced their student loan! It is not up to the collector to contact the credit reporting agency, it's the original creditor who does so and collections does not necessarily mean ruined credit! As for "threats", interest accrual, wage garnishment, litigation, and suspension of professional license are the extent of it and they do happen.
According to fdcpa law, collectors are legally allowed to contact borrowers twice a week at home and twice a month at work, unless of course the cease communication letter arrives which rarely happens because good collectors build respectful rapport with debtors for the express purpose of HELPING THEM!
As for the social security number, it was required information on the loan application or credit card application and therefore collectors already have it. It is used solely as an identifier for privacy purposes. Also, where I come from, collectors cannot access the pay-by-phone checking account information unless they are on the phone with the respective debtor. It is this way because the information including account numbers and payment dates have to be verified each time by the debtor with a collection manager. The collection managers have password to the pay-by-phone window to prevent unauthorized checking account transactions, after all, when we rehabilitate a loan, we DO NOT want any checks to bounce!
Wage garnishment is only 15%.
Finally, "forcing" a collection agency to accept $10 a month on a defaulted student loan is just ludicrous. It does nothing to slow interest accrual, it's a shot to the foot. Collectors who specialize in defaulted student loans, myself for instance, are more than ready to set up reasonable and affordable loan rehabilitations. We enjoy rehabilitating loans that particular payment plan does more to benefit all three parties (debtor, creditor, collector) than a balance in full or compromise. When a loan is rehabilitated, it benefits the borrower by helping them improve their credit. It benefits the creditor by getting them a return on their investment, and it benefits the collector by showing that we are doing our jobs and we are reasonable with borrowers.

In the future, Roxette, please get your facts straight before you go and tell all these unsuspecting borrowers to tell the collector off, stay in debt, and shoot themselves in the foot.

Regards,
Ari

Ari,

If you read the post carefully, Roxette mentioned "some" collection agencies. She did not make a reference to all. If your place of employment does not fall within this category then you should not be offended. Roxette was merely stating words of caution to those hounded by these agencies.



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hooray ari!! it's clear certain people on this forum are trying to help the debtors skip out on what they owe. that list is rubbish! while i admit, i make a very nice living being in 3rd party collections (as the #1 collector), i am not making a huge amount of $. it's certainly less than $55,000.00 a year.

my favorite one is 'repeated calling over the phone is a violation of the fdcpa law' WRONG!!!!! and remember, a cease and desist does not make the debt go away

Ari

I have my facts straightened up before I post anything in the forums. I intend to help the community and make them aware of the illegal practices done by SOME companies. If you don't fall in that category, you don't have reasons to get offended. Do you?

Thanks Rhonda for giving it the immediate attention.

I have one thing to say to Guest, collectors do repeat calling several times a day even after they talk to someone. Cease and desist letters are our way of getting you collectors to back off and QUIT HARASSING!! Collectors have no compassion for people who have fallen on hard times. They simply do not care. All a collector cares about is the big fat bonus at the end of the month.

Roxette,

Forgive me, it was not my intention to fire up a big debate. Especially in the faces of these folks like Mom of Twins who are clearly under siege by the jerks who are making me look as villainous as them. Overall, I just thought your post was a bit of a generalization. That's where my feeling came from. When I collected defaulted student loans, there was no big fat bonus to get all excited about. The purpose was to recover lost funds so that the Department of Education could continue funding students.

I have sinced moved from Boston to Pensacola and am seeking a new collections position because I believe in what I do. However, I will be selective in which place I hang my hat in. I will not ever work for a company like Encore or 1st C of A who terrorizes people because I'm not going down with them when the Attorney General comes marching in with a warrant.

I love the fdcpa! It's my ice-breaker!

ARI

I also feel sorry if I have hurt you in anyway.

Actually, I have read and gone through so many posts about the illegal collection activities which resulted to this type of conclusion. But believe me, I know it very well that only those agencies who do bad practices get focused immediately. In this forum, you will read about many companies that are doing unfair to the community. It does not imply that good agencies and good people associated with them do not exist. They do exist and they are helpful to the people. That is why, nobody brings them to the cover.

I know you are one of those rare good collectors who have the self dignity and understand the fact that people should not be harassed for unfair reasons.

Ari, I really appreciate your help in the forums and hopefully, your posts will guide people in the proper direction.

Take care
Roxette :D

Ari, do you feel that its right to harrass someone 5x a day every other day from 7am to 10PM? What do you think about that? You said your agency collects student loans.

i have signature conformation stating tfor you to remove my phone number. I have SallieMae's number (3 different numbers same company same messages) all over my caller id and recorded messages.

any suggestions? I wrote Cease and Desist and I have copies of Sallie receiving it w signature conformation

Dear Guest,

Legal calling hours are between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. all times zones. Legal telephone correspondence is twice a week at home and twice a month at work unless the borrower asks the collector to refrain from calling them at work.

I never worked for Sallie Mae, so I don't vouch for them. I worked for the third party agency CCA.

I have, however, built rapport and worked out settlements with attorneys hired by borrowers who didn't know what else to do. You might want to try that avenue.

Exactly what kind of exchange is going on between you and Sallie Mae? I'd like to know why they are over-stepping the fdcpa, agencies that recover government money such as student loans really do have to walk softly since student loan debt is often huge.

The FDCPA was written back during the Carter administration I believe, because it seemed as though another Great Depression was on the rise because in pre-FDCPA days, collectors were so awful and cruel that many borrowers, often victims of circumstance, were driven to suicide!

HarassedBySallie

Have you recorded the telephonic conversations made at odd hours of the day? If not, attach a recording device with your phone and start recording the calls.

Inform the caller that the call is being recorded for legal purpose. In some states, consent from both the parties is necessary before recording. To be in the safe side, tell him in advance about your actions and write down the dates and times of the calls being made. Talk to your lawyer for further help.

Whatever may be the reason with Sallie Mae, but it is a violation of the fdcpa law to call you after receiving the cease and desist letter. You should consider legal counsel.

lots of confusion in regards to laws here (big surprise). as ari pointed out, the 'normal' calling hours are 8am-9pm in the debtor's time zone... UNLESS the ca has been informed to call at other times. as far as the frequency of the calls goes... there are certain states which restrict the # of calls to the debtor, their place of employment, the parents and to 3rd parties. most states do NOT restrict the # of calls to the debtor. HOWEVER....

a 'call' is not the same thing as a 'contact' in the collecting biz. i can call someone 15 times a day if i wanted to. however, i cannot SPEAK (contact) a debtor 15 times a day (without permission). a 'contact' is classified as actually speaking to a debtor. so, if some of your debtors out there are being called and NOT identifying yourself as the debtor, the collector as the right to try back later that day. if the debtor id's themselves, that is considered a 'contact' and the ca cannot call back until the next day (unless restricted to do so by state law).

KarmaPolice

Thanks for the difference between a call and a contact.

As you have distinguished 'call' from a 'contact', please tell us what should be done when the CA is not identifying himself on phone. They are leaving recordings to call back at a number which in turns leads to some recorded message.

It becomes quite tough when the CA is not clearly stating the purpose of the call. Is that 'call' considered legal?

ben, i can understand how irritating it is when ca's use 'unattended messages' and other recordings. while it isn't fdcpa law, some companies have a policy that does not allow them to state what company they are calling from. other companies (like mine) will only state what company they are calling from if asked (by anyone). of course we can't state it's in regards to a debt. it is also our company policy NOT to leave our company name on an answering machine. every single legitimate collector should have no problem stating their FULL name and company when asked. PLEASE NOTE: by law they are not to state what the nature of the call is unless the person id's themselves as the debtor!!

if someone is getting a ton of calls on their machine from a 'mysterious' company, i would suggest they pick up the phone (if they can) and ask what company they are from and who they're trying to contact. never be afraid to ask the collectors questions, just keep in mind they may not be able to tell you what the call is in regards to.

KarmaPolice

(Just getting off the topic here for a while. Please join this forum because your posts are very informative and as a guest, you are loosing those valuable debtcc points that can later get encashed.)

I hope the moderators and the site admins won't mind me getting off the topic here for a while. :wink:

now that i have some time, i thought i'd correct a few things posted by roxette. i think some of the things you found are a little misleading:

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I really appreciate the term gross generalization here used by you right at the beginning of your post.

We both are not able to reach a common platform until now because you have shown the side that is considered legal and I have shown those aspects that are practiced illegally by some of the collectors.

It is clear in this statement made by you



You can't access that info but what will you say to those who actually do so. Don't you think that is illegal?

roxette, i believe i have also pointed out some illegal practices? at least i thought i have! i think it's important to hear about both sides.

in regards to looking up one's banking account balance.. i'm sure if it's illegal or not. nothing in the fdcpa laws speak of that.

let me confirm, i think i have pointed out some illegal practices in other topics, not this one. ;o)

Yes, I know that you have been speaking fair enough looking into both the sides. :D

OK since we have CA folks coming here, I have a question. Why is it the CAs "re-age" old debt when that is clearly illegal?(change the date of last activity so that the old debt stays on the credit report for well past the 7 years allowed by FCRA) This has happened at least 3 times to me, for 15 year old debts (non student loan), and took 6-12 months for me to clear up? This is the kind of practice that gives CAs a bad name, and in my experience is the NORM rather than the exception.

Re-aging

The reason of re-aging an account is there in your post and you know by now that this is absolutely illegal.

This is done only by some specific agencies that purchase junk debt and do all sorts of illegal activities in the respective accounts.

Speaking in legal terms, each collection agency has to keep a report of the accounts that are past due. This report will divide the accounts into 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, etc.

If an account is re-aged, the FICO score drops down immediately because the scoring model finds the particular account to have defaulted recently.

Bewares of all these illegal tactics that includes changing the dates of accounts opened, changing the dates of last activity, the account is brought back under the SOL period.

If you are ever contacted by an agency pressing you to pay a past account, consider the following avenues:
Never think that you are wrong by getting intimidated. Assume that you are doing the right thing and your rights are being violated.

• Keep a file of all the letters, account statements. These will help you to prove your side of the story.
  
  
• Do not update your personal information until you have identified that the agency is legitimately holding your account.
  
  
• Do not acknowledge any debt or make payment agreements until the debt is validated by them. Keep in mind that if a company shows you the past billing statements, it is not considered to a part of the debt validation procedure.
  
  
• Do not accept any kinds of offers that settle these accounts for less.
  
  
• And it is very important to monitor your credit report. You will be aware of any illegal activities done by a company in your credit file.
  

My husband received a call at work from someone claiming to be a attorney calling on behalf of Sears. He couldn't talk so I called them back, they told me the debt had been sold to a group of investors who didn't care about anything but getting their money. They would be willing to do anything, garnish my husbands wages, sue us, put a lien on our property (what ever was allowable in our state). I got scared and gave them my bank info to pay $1000.00. After I did so, I realized what a mistake I had made. I called my bank and asked them to stop payment and then called Sears who told me the account had been sold and was out of their hands. I did a lot of research on this company (Leading Edge Recovery Solutions)and found out that the AT of Ill. has filed a Class Action Suit and they have the WORST rating with the BBB. Does anyone has suggestion what I should do next?

I'd start by sending them a letter demanding validation of the alleged debt, and mail it return receipt.

How old is the debt?

karmapolice, and others who claimed similar to this:



Please go back and review the law in question because you are wrong on this. This is an excerpt directly taken from the text of the FDCPA--section 806:



Clearly, the federal law plainly states that even if no one answers the debtor's phone, calling multiple times repeatedly is a VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW. This is a violation that can land you in a lawsuit. go ahead karma--call my phone 15 times a day.....and watch what it gets you.

as for the guest, if you dont know the law yourself, you sure do end up looking pretty foolish trying to mock someone else that does know the law. Man, I just love the stupidity that some collectors display when they post comments like this:



Someone either cant read or doesnt care enough to know the law that governs his own employment....

Also, to ari, I am glad that you are an honest collector. But know this--you are part of a very small minority because of it. Think about it--why are there so many companies routinely violating the FDCPA if your experience was the norm??? Clearly, the list that started this thread was not directed at every single CA, but if youre honest you should have no trouble admitting the problems within your industry.

On a final note, for any of you collectors to come in here and think that this is a place where people tell others not to pay their debts, well, thats ridiculous. The posts in here pertain to the rights people have under the law....not "how do I get out of paying legitimate debt". More times than I can count off hand, I can recall plenty of people being told in here to pay their debts. Dont misunderstand the messages we present in here.

Is there a collector here who wishes to match wits with me? I am tired of you table scraps employees coming here attempting to dishearten people who know their rights, and most, no, I would say, all collection companies violate every law made to govern that trade.

Yvonne, at least the collector told the truth about one thing: they don't care about anything but getting money. Follow Morningstar's advice.

Be sure to tell them to FUK off in fine print at the bottom :)

hi, just wanted to know if i have any recourse. my bank account has been frozen. I live in Texas and use to live in NY. i guess a judgement was filed in Ny because I own property there. I never received notice of judgement intent and yes I did give forwarding address. The monies in this account are from my pension. What do i do now? thanks

I'm pretty sure that even though you own property there you cannot be served there as it is not your residence. I'm also pretty sure that you have to be served and sued in your county of residence. You may be able to speak to the judge that oversaw the case and request vacation of judgment due to improper service and improper venue.

I think that a lawsuit can be filed in:(a) the county where you live, or (b) the county where the contract or agreement was signed.

I'm glad this topic popped up again, it was a very interesting read. Thank you.

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great commissions?!?! i laughed when i saw that. when i was collecting, the highest rate i got in commissions was 1%. thats right - THE HIGHEST! and the average rate was .3%. how's that for incredible commission rates?

To Ari or those who work for CA that follow the law, id like to think that this list isn't directed towards you. But there is a rise in CA doing illegal actions against innocent people. Attempting to collect on loans that are even closed and paid off. With how money hurt this country is today, these CA are doing anything and everything to get money. And usually its done illegally. I am seeing that a 'kind ,nice" CA is an exception these days. And the many bad apples are just honestly destroying your job for you. The ones that knowingly break the law are actually hurting you too. Making your job all the more harder to do fairly. They abuse people and cause so many to not trust ANY CA that tries to contact them. You should be as equally upset at these companies. who not only hurt innocent people.. but also hurt the good, honest people, who work in their same field.

lol unregistered. You worked for the *wrong* collector. The collector I worked for (for a very short time) paid 10% to 15% (gradated system) and most experienced collectors there made 2 or 3 times their salary ($10/an hr base) per month. You got pwnd!

Anonymous up there,
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