subject: The Ugly Side Of Debt Collection Companies [print this page] The Ugly Side Of Debt Collection Companies
Debt collection harassment often takes ugly turns with debt collectors resorting in sleaziest techniques. If you were to think that debt collectors are a set of sophisticated lot, it is time to reconsider our feelings. In what can be termed as a spine chilling incident, a debt collector operated despite being in prison.
Lamont Cooper from New York owns Legal Action recovery, a debt collection agency, Legal Action Recovery known to be a professional debt collection firm, served term in prison. The chilling fact was that not only did this collector and his collection agency resorted to terrible tactics, but he continued business as usual from prison.
Prison surveillance showed that he corresponded with his employees and demanded to be informed of all banking activities. The New York Attorney General's office filed charges against him for continuing business from prison. He will be arraigned after he is discharged form federal custody.
A reporter of a news paper turned debt collector for three months to understand how this business works. His confessions include how unpaid bills are considered a boon by debt collectors. His stint at the collection agency taught him some hard truths. Motivated strictly by cash, collectors manipulate, shame and threaten people into paying, without caring whether the bill is legitimate. If they do not do this, their superior takes them to task. The cash benefits of collecting are huge and encouraging enough for collectors to use unethical means.
Debt collection is a massive industry where each debt collector is trained in collection tactics. Each one of them makes roughly 150 to 200 calls per day. They are taught to pose as para legals, give financial advice should the debtor opt to settle, try harassing techniques and so on. At the end of the day a collection agent has to complete his task of making those many calls and strike deals.
Typically debt collection training requires a debt collector to be polite, well mannered over phone, handling the conversation and closing the call on a pleasant note. But the real debt collectors are far from this description. They use abusive and illegal methods and end up violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA was established to ensure fair debt collection and is enforced by the Federal trade Commission and private litigants.
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