Category: Debt Collection

Government starting to crack down on debt collectors

Last week, a Minnesota-based debt collection firm with a long history of shady practices and consumer complaints was slapped with a whopping $1.75 million fine by the Federal Trade Commission. It was the second-highest fine ever issued in a civil trial against a debt collection company. Among the offenses committed by the company, Allied Interstate, Inc., were charges that it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the FTC said. Allied also tried to collect debt without proof or checking for accuracy – the same accusation that’s now roiling the foreclosed mortgage market.

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10 tips for dealing with debt collectors

Debt collection is big business and because of its potential impact, the government has established very strict rules about how it should be done. Clearly, as we wrote in our story about the aggressive tactics collectors sometimes use, not every company plays by the rules.

Here are some tips for dealing with debt collection and understanding the rules:
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Debt Collectors Using Aggressive Tactics

Debt collectors using aggressive tactics to pursue payments

Jorgen Wouters

When Betty Perez bought new bedroom furniture for her children earlier this year, she never dreamed that being a few days late on her payments would result in a collection agency barricading her front door and threatening to call the police.

Perez is just one of an untold numbers of consumers, many of them struggling to make ends meet in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, who are facing increasingly aggressive tactics by debt collectors determined to do whatever it takes to make people pay up.

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