In recent negotiations with NCO Financial it is comical with some of the things I am hearing. I am told my case is only worth $1000 against them and they want me to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Here is what I feel that they have done and owe me for.
2 violations of the TCPA at a minimum in my state carry a statutory penalty of $500 each, however a judge or jury could treble that amount up to $1500 for each call. Just the TCPA violations are valued at $1000 minimum.
This does not even taken in account the FDCPA claims I may have against them. I was willing to settle with them for the $1000.00 but would not agree to a confidentiality agreement and they have balked and their attorney told me it is only worth $1000, but I must sign the NDA.
I may just be a layperson, not an attorney, but I know this an order of appearance to defend them from an attorney in my jurisdiction for a prima facie claim of the TCPA will cost them more than $1000.00 and I am guaranteed at a minimum of $1000.00 with the evidence I have against them, which could be trebled to $3000.00 plus the FDCPA claims. Then it would be public record.
It is worth more than $1000 to enlighten other consumers of their shenanigans and to eventually win a suit against them and collect it via a garnishment filed against their client.
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.
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.
