It is a violation of Illinois Law for telephone calls to be recorded without the consent of all parties. I reside in the State of Georgia so I am allowed to record calls without the other parties permission, however if you are in Illinois you have to have all parties permission. It is a crime by their State law for them to do that without getting your permission.
I have a recording of their manager admitting that they record calls which will be available as soon as it is edited for brevity.
The reason I had contacted them is because an account that was in their office has been resolved and wanted to see if they were still trying to collect on it. This one will be fun to expose. As they are already under scrutiny from the Illinois Attorney General.
Debt Collectors do not generally do not fall under the Do Not Call laws if they are calling your landline. However the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) does apply if they are using automated dialing equipment to call your cellphone.
One of the tale tale signs that you are being called by an automated dialer is the clicking sound or dead line silence before a person actually speaks after you answer the phone. Automated messages to your voice mail are also a dead giveaway.
Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems and Artificial or Prerecorded Voice Calls
The FCC has specific rules for automatic telephone dialing systems, also known as “autodialers.” These devices can be particularly annoying and generate many consumer complaints. The rules regarding automatically dialed and prerecorded calls apply whether or not you have registered your home phone number(s) on the national Do-Not-Call list.
Autodialers can produce, store, and dial telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator. They often place artificial (computerized) or prerecorded voice calls. The use of autodialers, including predictive dialers, often results in abandoned calls – hang-ups or “dead air.” Except for emergency calls or calls made with the prior express consent of the person being called, autodialers and any artificial or prerecorded voice messages may not be used to contact numbers assigned to:
any emergency telephone line;
the telephone line of any guest or patient room at a hospital, health care facility, home for the elderly, or similar establishment;
a paging service, wireless phone service (including both voice calls and text messages), or other commercial mobile radio service; or
any other service for which the person being called would be charged for the call.
This rule of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act applies to all companies that use predictive dialers. The only exemption that callers recieve for calling a cell phone with a predictive dialer is with expressed consent. A prior business relationship is not express consent, as mattr of fact the ACA is trying to get this law changed and appears stymied in their efforts.
One of the way that collection agencies capture consumers cellphone numbers is when you call into their toll free number. You cannot block your telephone number when you call a toll free number as they are paying for the call. So if you call a collection agency from a cell phone and they can identify you with that number then more than likely they will add that number to their database. So if you do not want a collection agency calling your cell number with a predictive dialer do not call them from your cell number.
If they do happen to call your cell number from a predictive dialer then they are liable to you for a minimum of $500 up to $1500 under the TCPA if you can document their calls, unless your state has exemptions or enhanced statutory damages. Those amounts are per call not a one time event. They absolutely owe you $500 if they call your cellphone one time with a predictive dialer and $500 for each call after that.
Each call with a predictive dialer would also have Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations as well as they are using an illegal means to attempt to collect a debt.
Looks like the powers that be at FBCS Inc is starting to get the picture that ignoring this situation will not make it go away. They spent over an hour today in a video conference with someone listening to their collector and manager break the law and try to intimidate me.
It looks like the meeting took place between 12:30 and 1:30 EST today, which would of been between 11:30 and 12:30 their time, via Global Crossings online meeting software.
I had given them every opportunity to resolve this matter prior to me filing suit against them and their attorney has stonewalled me. I made a very clear and cost effective offer in compromise to them and they never responded. The time has now by far passed for them to accept that offer.
I had mentioned to them I am a professional web publisher. I own over 150 web domains and provide content and SEO to several hundred other sources. There will be a professional redesign of this site in the very near future. I admit that in its current form it is ugly, but then again I never proclaimed to be a designer. My strong point is SEO and half assed content creation. I just have accepted this site as mine and will not turn over content creation to one of my writers.
If you are receiving calls from Federal Bond and Collection Service to your cell phone you are in luck. Hopefully they left you a message with their automated dialer and you still have a copy of the voice mail because each call from any of these numbers made via an automated dialer to your cellphone is worth $500 - $1500 under Federal Law. (866-594-8640, 866-594-8641, 866-594-8642, 866-594-8643, 866-594-8644, 866-594-8645, 866-594-8646 and 866-594-8647) Your state laws may be different so make sure you research before you sue them.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act makes calls from an automated dialer to a cellphone illegal and in some states it is criminal unless they have your prior express permission. I don’t know of anyone that would give a collection agency permission to call a cellphone with an automated dialer!
In a recent Federal Trade Commision Action against LTD Financial Services validates my position on holding collection agencies responsible for violation the law.
“We are not saying the people they called didn’t owe the money,” but the methods used violated the law, said Thomas Carter, senior legal council for the FTC’s Southwest region in Dallas. As a result, all of the money amounts to penalty, not restitution.
“This is a precedent-setting case,” Carter said, sparked by nearly 1,500 complaints to the agency about LTD’s tactics. “It sends a strong message to the debt collection industry: You can’t turn a blind eye to this kind of stuff. Quoted from - The Los Angeles Times -[www.latimes.com]
No matter if you owe the money that a collection agency is attempting to collect from you they still must not violate your rights. It just so happens that some of the agencies highlighted here so far that have violated collection agency laws in dealing with me are trying to collect on debts that have been long paid. I will be adding more to the fold as information becomes available about their violations.
If you do find yourself being harassed by collection agencies you must take the steps to report them. If enough consumers complain about a collection agencies illegal activities then the FTC will wake up and investigate them and hold them accountable.
I received a letter from FBCS Collections offering me a settlement on an account that has long been paid off which has been purchased by Midland Credit Management, a Junk Debt Buyer. I originally called them to get a web address so I could issue a cease and desist in the most timely manner. Having dealt with collection agencies before I knew that I needed to record the conversation with the agent, because collection agencies routinely violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
After speaking with their collector I was genuinely amused by her attempts to browbeat my into paying a debt that I do not owe and was amazed by her violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. After this call with America’s Dumbest Collection Agent I called to speak with a compliance officer and was transfered to their collection manager. He would not let me get a word in edgewise and also violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
He accused me of attempting to “shake down his company” and of baiting their simple minded collector.
Here is a short snippet of him accusing me of a “shake down” -
You will notice he used several declarations like entrapment and hearsay. Which are laudable to say the least. He also claimed that he knew how a judge will look at things. It is not a judge that Federal Bond and Collection Services needs to worry about now. It will be a jury.
She did not need to be baited to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and with the way that their collection manager also trampled upon the FDCPA it seem to establish a pattern of abuse of collection agency laws. I don’t think any reasonable person could deduct that I baited their collector. Yes I did call them to see if they want to settle for their violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act but never even used that word in my conversation with them.
I found a very interesting post this evening at Samuel J Glovers Blog Caveat Emptor dealing with collection lawyers getting taken in by a variation of the Nigerian Scam. I really don’t know whether I should just shake my head in disbelief or just LMAO.
Here is how the scam worked:
The pitch is simple: An Asian company says it’s seeking a law firm to collect delinquent accounts in the United States.
Once the parties sign a retainer agreement, the company forwards a check allegedly from a past-due account. It asks the law firm to process the check, since it’s handling all the company’s U.S. accounts.
After the firm deposits the check, it deducts its fee and wires the remainder to the Far East. Then the check is discovered to be counterfeit.
The firm is left on the hook to the bank for the money it spent from the account
What this should show consumers is that Collection Attorneys and Collection Agencies are so greedy that they fall for scams like this. That is who they target. Hapless individuals with no common sense or the exceptionally greedy. Junk Debt Buyers and collection attorneys fall in the same class to me. They use their abilities and knowledge to damage peoples lives instead of putting them to use to help people, they only look for ways to profit and not help out consumers.
If they would of done some research they would of discovered that scams like this run rampant and are easy to identify. You can thank www.419eater.com for the picture that describes how this collection attorney must feel. Click on the picture to read the whole story of a 419 scammer getting taken for a ride.
“There’s a sucker born every minute” - Unknown and often attributed to P.T. Barnum (from www.wikipedia.com)
If anyone can help me identify the name of this collection attorney these collection attorneys it would be greatly appreciated. I have a special page to dedicate to them.
FBCS Collection Agency is very manic when it comes to collecting debts. They pull out all stops to try and intimidate people to collect nonexistent debts. I had received a letter from them regarding a Providian account that has long been paid off by my records and encountered Americas Dumbest Collection Agent.
When I called back to speak with their “Compliance Officer” I was transfered to their collection manager. After the attempted intimidation by the first agent I spoke with there i was not surprised when the manager proceeded to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well. Listen to the short snippet of him violating the law.
Notice he tried to play attorney with me on the phone and advise me of the law. He also overshadowed my my validation rights and used false and misleading representations in an attempt to collect a debt which is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
I have tried to resolve this matter amicably with Federal Bond and Collection Services amicably to no avail now it looks like I will be forced to file suit against them for their violation of federal and state laws. The good thing is that the violations by the first agent and then by her manager it shows a pattern of abuse.
If you are having the same type of problems with them, abusive collectors, I have put together a special page that you can use to Report FBCS Collection Agency to the correct authorities. It gives links to all the online forms that you can use to draw attention to their abuse.
Being in collections is not the end of the world, but becoming a victim of Identity Theft can be devastating. Even if you have less than perfect credit you are still susceptible. Identity thieves do not steal personal information just for opening new credit accounts they also use it to obtain bank accounts, drivers licenses, duplicate social security number and commit crimes using the victims personal information.
If you are dealing with Midland Credit Management their agents have all of your personal information. For the most part they are Junk Debt Buyers who receive all of your pertinent data from the companies they buy defaulted accounts from. Listen to this short recording snippet of a conversation I had with an agent at MCM.
You will notice she did not even give me her last name and would not answer the question that I proposed to her. Obviously this is not the full recording of this call I edited out other parts of it for sake of brevity. I will post the full recording in the near future as I am not concerned with Identity Theft and it has other points I wish to make in future post.
It is a true travesty that the agents that work for Midland Credit are not allowed to give their last name, chance are they are not even giving their true first name and they have access to all of yours. Not only does this prevent you from finding out more information on who you are speaking with it also does not allow you to name them as a possible suspect if you become a victim of Identity Theft.
The job of a collection agent is not a high skilled job nor are detailed background checks done on the individuals that work at most collection agencies. The main requirement on a collection agency preemployment back ground check is to make sure they are not wanted currently. If even done at all. You would think that they would be screened better but let’s face it usually working at a collection agency is last ditch effort for people to find jobs that does not require manual labor.
The reason that I am not really concerned with Identity Theft is that I use Identity Theft Protection Products to protect my Identity from collection agencies or anyone else wishing to steal it. I don’t hide my name online and you can find a kinds of information about me online. I just do not care.
To pay or not to pay that is the question. Personally I would never pay a collection agency. Yes I have had to deal with them and I have never paid a single one after I became an informed consumer. I have actually had collection agencies pay me for their violations of collection law.
I do not know your personal situation. There are a few rare situations where I feel it would be ok to pay a collection agency if it is stopping from buying a home and obtaining or keeping a professional license. But even then you need to be careful how you pay them.
Horror stories abound where collection agency employees use consumers credit cards and checking information for illegal purposes or an attempt to hit the next level in their bonus plan. There are also stories of collection agency employees committing Identity Theft. Just think many times if you speak to a collection agent they are not even using their real name or will refuse to give their last name and they have all of your personal information right there in front of them. Things such as your social security number, Credit Report and date of birth, items that would allow a dishonest person to steal your identity in a heart beat.
If you must pay a collection agency make sure that you never give them a credit card or checking information over the phone. This is just asking for trouble. While many that work at collection agencies would never misuse your financial accounts why take the chance. Use money orders or bank drafts.
To answer the real question of this article you are under no obligation to pay a collection agency. If you owe money to a company that has turned you over to collections try to work it out directly with them. There is no legal requirement that says you owe a collection agency anything.
If they are a Junk Debt Buyer they may own the debt now, but even then you are not obligated to them. If they try to sue you you have so many different valid defenses that their lawyers will run if you put up a fight. Do some due diligence if you are worried about a collection agency, but remember you are the one ultimately responsible for your actions so like anything unknown tread lightly and learn as much as you can. I would not pay them a dime.
I am not an attorney make sure you read My Disclaimer.
If you are receiving calls from Federal Bond and Collection Service to your cell phone you are in luck. Hopefully they left you a message with their automated dialer and you still have a copy of the voice mail because each call from any of these numbers made via an automated dialer to your cellphone is worth $500 - $1500 under Federal Law. (866-594-8640, 866-594-8641, 866-594-8642, 866-594-8643, 866-594-8644, 866-594-8645, 866-594-8646 and 866-594-8647) Your state laws may be different so make sure you research before you sue them.
