Lawsuit accuses collector of harassment over invalid debts

[question everything]

StarTribune.com
Lawsuit accuses collector of harassment over invalid debts

By KARA McGUIRE, Star Tribune

July 15, 2008

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson Monday sued an Illinois debt-collection agency for attempting to collect invalid debts from Minnesotans.

"This debt collector crossed the line by pursuing debt people said they didn't owe and failing to verify that they did owe it," Swanson said. The office received more than 50 complaints about AFNI Inc., a collection agency in Bloomington, Ill., that's been in business for 70 years.

Swanson said she's seeing an uptick in the number of debt-collection complaints as the economy falters. Indeed, complaints about collection agencies are on the rise nationwide: The Better Business Bureau reports that it received more than 18,000 complaints in 2007, up 26 percent compared to 2006. The agency's Minnesota and North Dakota branch saw 29 percent more complaints in 2007, for a total of 798.

The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, alleges that in addition to not verifying debts, AFNI collectors would "badger Minnesota citizens into paying debts that they do not owe, improperly reported illegitimate debts to credit bureaus, and refused to take steps to remove the debts from Minnesota citizens' credit reports," violating state and federal collection laws.

(snip)


http://www.startribune.com/local/25489134.html?location_refer=$urlTrackSectionName

[DFW]

1. Debt collectors can resort to some scary tactics

Many are too intimidated to act against them on their own.

It need to be a felony offense to go after someone for a debt they don't owe,
and to SEND someone to collect on a debt they don't owe. Once a few bad apples are
charged, even if high-priced lawyers get them off, they'll get the message and
verify that they are going after legitimate unpaid debts, and not being part of
an extortion racket.

[dysfunctional press]

2. NEVER pay a debt collector- if you're going to pay- pay the people you owe in the first place.

i had a collection agency contact me about a medical bill that i didn't even know existed. it was for a lab that had done a biopsy when i had a mole removed. they transcribed my address incorrectly, so i never got a bill, and i didn't send the sample for biopsy, the dr. did- so i didn't even know that the bill existed.

i asked the collector who the bill was with, and for how much. they gave me the name of the lab, and said that i owed $180-something. since i had never even heard of the bill prior to this, i told them i'd have to look into it and get back to them, and hung up. i contacted the lab- they told me that my insurance payment had come in, and all i actually owed was $5.32. i sent THEM a check.

but the collection agency kept trying to get me to pay them the $180+ amount for a couple more weeks after that.

[question everything]

4. And while doing this, they can ruin your credit report

and then try to get them to correct it.

There was a recent TV program about credit card debt, and the people working for the collection agencies were really the lowest of the low.

[bluestateguy]

3. Collection agencies are about as reputable as child molesters

A debt is between the creditor and the debtor. No one else. Period.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. the biggest scam going with collection agencies is

trying to collect on debts that were already discharged through a bankruptcy. They often aren't even representing the creditor - they just obtain bankruptcy documents and start dialing having neither purchased the debt or having been retained by the creditor - 100% pure fraud.

Somebody who works for me called me in a crying panic because a collector had told her that if she didn't pay a debt that had been discharged in her bankruptcy that they were going to seize the entire contents of her apartment including the damage deposit. The same collector later told her that they had a court order to collect her child support.

I had helped her with her bankruptcy so I took it upon myself to get rid of the collectors, but this clearly happens everywhere and I bet they are very sucessful.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I forgot to put a stamp on an envelope one time

And the collections dept called. By that time the letter had been returned to me without the stamp and I had remailed it. So I told the guy that and he didn't believe me. I said look we have had this account for x number of years, never missed a payment and it is almost paid off. Sorry I made a mistake but my check will be there by tomorrow and if I owe any penalties, I will add them on to my next payment. He said he would call me tomorrow if it didn't arrive. I said sorry I am leaving town in the morning. And he said "Well isn't that nice, you leave town on a vacation but you don't pay your bills!" So I asked for his name and he hung up on me.

I called to complain about his assinine comment about me going on a vacation and they forgave the remaining 4 payments on the account. :)