Original creditors can call you to collect the payments for debts owed by you. However, creditors do not pursue beyond a few calls and letters. They sell unpaid debts as delinquent debts to collection agencies known as the third party debt collectors for a pittance. These third party debt collectors try to extract as much money as possible by following whatever tactics they can for this.

Third party collectors are not employed by the creditors to collect money from you and hence are governed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

The FDCPA regulates debt collection practices to ensure fair collection. Third party debt collectors resort to nagging you by calling repeatedly to get the payment from you. This constitutes one of the violations under the FDCPA. Debt collectors can call you and request you for a payment. But calling before 8 am in the morning and after 9 pm in the evening is a violation. Along with the calls if the debt collectors.

The debt collection agency engages agents who do the dirty job of calling consumers. They use any and every technique possible to scare you into paying. They leave voice mails or resort to using auto dialers for continues calling.

The FTC received 88,190 FDCPA complaints about third-party debt collectors in 2009. 46.5% of the FDCPA complaints the FTC received in 2009 or 41,028 complaints were about collectors harassing the consumers by calling repeatedly or continuously. This was the most frequent complaint that consumers filed in both 2009 and 2008. The FDCPA lays down strict guidelines on the number of times a debt collector can call and the frequency of his calls. (FDCPA 15 USC 1692d] § 806(5)

When the debt collectors but delinquent debts they get into the business of collecting knowing they don’t have much to lose. They start calling you repeatedly with the notion that after all a few calls from their end and you may succumb to pressure of the calls. Some collectors are very enthusiastic and resort to using profane and obscene language. They try to strike at your emotions by embarrassing you or calling you neighbors or relatives about the debt. In 2009, 14, 321 complaints were about debt collectors using abusive language and 9.684 complaints were about calling at inconvenient times.

Brian P Parker quotes, “The uniqueness of the case is that we are citing the “false name exception” to the general rule that creditors like Consumers Energy are not debt collectors”.  He adds, Creditors like Consumers Energy are using debt collectors like Midwestern Audit to collect their utility bills and avoiding the Federal Debt Collection Protection Act in doing it.”

Consumers Energy notifies its new customers of old bills from other households, relatives, friends or ex- spouses by notifying the new account holder through a letter from a separate collection agency that they are transferring the old bill to the new bill within the next ten days. If the new bill that now contains someone else’s bill is not paid by the new customer, the new customer faces a shut off of his utilities.

“It is very clever”, admits Brian P Parker “The letter that is sent by a collection agency has none of the FDCPA and Michigan Collection Act (MOC) provisions regarding a debtors rights to dispute the bill.” “The collection agency like Midwestern says they are not acting as a collection agency and that they are only communicating the Consumers’ transfer notification.” Both organizations are trying to avoid providing people their rights under both Federal and Michigan law to dispute the old debt placed on their new account.

The collection agency makes it appear very legal and casual, “Consumers Energy controls everything.” Normally, Consumers Energy, as a creditor under the FDCPA cannot be prosecuted for a violation of the FDCPA. However, the FDCPA is still there for the consumer even if Consumers and Midwestern are not. Parker recognizes the help from Federal law in calling their bluff, “Under the ‘false name exception’ to the FDCPA, if a creditor controls the collection agency it uses as is the case in the class action here, it is a collection agency under the act and people must be told of their dispute rights in the letter Consumers is sending.”

“If you have a old Consumer’s bill being forced on you by Midwestern or any other debt collection agency, let us know right away,” urges Parker.

Our firm goes after the agencies that believe that breaking the law is the only way to make money in collections. We see fear and harassment as part of the DNA of a lot of the agencies we sue. We turn the thing around and let them worry for a while as we come after the bad debt collector with the power of the Federal Law.

Smile, you just got contacted by a debt collector!

Whether you owe a debt or not, you should not suffer at the hands of a collection firm that uses intimidation and bullying tactics instead of working with each debtor within their means. When the debt collector crosses the line we act fast for our clients in giving them peace of mind and comfort that only the power of the FDCPA (and your state collection statute) can bring in cleaning up the bad guys.

Just hiring us is the best first step. Once you hire an attorney, the collection company is not allowed any further contact. If you send a validation or “cease and desist” letter, that too serves to end any further disruption of your life or fear to answer the phone. This is all before any suit is filed. If a debt collector contacts you after sending them a validation letter or obtaining an attorney, you have an even better case. Make them pay you.

Next, we sue the debt collector. You can receive money damages, an elimination of the debt or a possible removal of the debt from you credit report. Either way, or clients are happy from almost day one and they don’t pay us anything. We make the bad guys pay under the FDDCPA.

If they sue you, Smile again.

Debt collectors sue first and ask questions later. They give their law firms little of any information to sue on figuring you will not answer the lawsuit, there will be a default and then they will not have to prove anything to get your money. Don’t let that happen to you. If you get sued by a debt collector, call us. We will represent you for free if there is an FDCPA violation and then sue them to get you money damages for wrongfully suing you. Parker Power!

Why we Smile

All we are doing is suing really, bad guys for breaking the law. We are also supplying our clients with the proper means to protect themselves and punish those bad guys that make our clients’ life a nightmare. In less then 24 hours we can put a smile on our clients’ faces and make the debt collector have the nightmares. There is a new Sherriff in town and our silver badge has the letters FDCPA printed on it. So hang in there pardner, and smile.

Author: Brian Parker