Comments on: Dateline NBC Airs Segment on Debt Collection Industry

By: Rich Frankford

Rich Frankford — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:18:26 +0000

I work for Academy Collection Services. My manager Crieg Shmugger ( unsure of spelling ) would tell his collector ( Say what ever you want, just get the money ). Mr Shmugger is still working there. He would use his collector to do the dirty work and fire them when they were caught. This was the cost of doing business. It cost him nothing but it cost his worker there jobs

By: Collection Agencies Closed by NY AG « How to Stop Debt Collectors

Collection Agencies Closed by NY AG « How to Stop Debt Collectors — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:30:19 +0000

[...] may remember LHR from the Dateline NBC special about a month ago. Perhaps Cuomo will thank Chris Hansen and Dateline for helping him out on this [...]

By: Debt Collectors React to Dateline « How to Stop Debt Collectors

Debt Collectors React to Dateline « How to Stop Debt Collectors — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:49:11 +0000

[...] fallout from Dateline NBC’s debt collections episode has generated a real buzz in the collections [...]

By: Brent H.

Brent H. — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:10:04 +0000

Joan – this sounds like a typical case of an invalid debt being collected. This could be due to someone with a similar name owing a debt or simply to shoddy record keeping or in the worst case, a total scam. My advice for LHR is to send them a Validation of Debt letter. This should force them to tell you who and what they are collecting on and you can proceed from there. You may also want to send them a Cease and Desist letter.

By: Joan

Joan — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:21:44 +0000

We have LHR calling our house on a DAILY basis… they even called my sister in laws house looking for the deceased me, almost giving her a heart attack thinking I was dead. My husband has a credit score of over 800 and mine is like 780… I receive our credit report in the mail every year. We do not owe anyone anything we don’t know and pay for. How do we get these people to stop?????

By: Brent H.

Brent H. — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:56:10 +0000

Tim – I definitely see your point. However, I see things a little differently. Blog like mine should not have to report on how to pay off your debt or what payment options might work – that should be the job of legitimate debt collectors.

The problem as I see it is that consumers have no knowledge of how illegal or at least unethical these collection companies are. So, they pay them FIRST and leave the legitimate collection agencies who do not harass debtors for last! This in turn rewards the bad collection agencies and frustrates the honest collectors.

So, sites like mine try to educate people on the abuses and prevent the bad actors in the collection industry from “getting away with it.” In turn, this should help legitimate debt collectors to collect more money.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:29:49 +0000

In this industry too much attention is put on the ones who break the law.. Instead of trying to get companies in trouble, shouldn’t more attention be brought to the consumers who WANT to pay? Shouln’t more attention be put the people who don’t know how to negotiate terms with collections agencies. Most of what I witnessed in this report is zeroing in on the people who have had bad experiences. I saw nothing on how to negotiate payoffs, payment plans, or the most important thing in debt collections, time. More often than not thats all a consumer needs to pay bills, is time. Just because someone offered $20/month on an account ie: example, doesn’t mean the creditor would accept the offer as a payment plan. More often than not it wouldn’t resolve the account. I agree credit card companies are predatory lenders. However the debt still needs to be addressed. Caller id, answering machines, and goverment required scripted messages are all ways to get out of the call. I’ve rarely seen any reports on education for consumers on how to pay back the debt. More education goes into what a collector can and cannot do. I’m not speaking on generalities. I’m speaking on 10 years on collections experience. As long as this continues debtors will not know how to negotiate terms, good agencies will continue to close up shop, and lenders will continue to go under. Unfortunately cheap employment is the norm in this industry. Education isn’t required, just training. However the same goes for becoming a debtor; no education is required just training to avoid the debt by reports like this. This report doesn’t do anything to the people who WANT to pay. It just tells them what to be afraid of. THank you for reading.

By: Brent H.

Brent H. — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:43:12 +0000

Bill – unfortunately, that’s all too common. In my experience, unethical debt collectors are often using carefully chosen words to make consumers believe that they are going to be arrested or go to jail. A common one I’ve heard is “you will be located and addressed in accordance with city and state law… so you might want to get a lawyer.” Technically, this means that they are going to send you a collection letter, but we all know what they are trying to lead you to believe.

By: bill jones

bill jones — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:50:20 +0000

Just recently my prenant daughter became a victim of these dept collectors..They said they were sending the police to arrest her. She had seen this video and told them they were breaking the law. They proceded to call her names and threaten her..the agency is world wide records..

By: Brent H.

Brent H. — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:11:59 +0000

DIYDM – harassment is illegal in the United States too, but unfortunately enforcement is the problem. Except in the most egregious cases, debt collection harassment is left to plaintiff’s attorneys to handle with civil suits by the FTC. The issue with that is that both the attorneys and the debt agencies want a quick settlement, so it’s not that big of a deterrent.