American Law Division

This company contacts consumers by telephone attempting to collect on allegedly non-existent debts. Consumers are contacted and advised they owe a debt for a payday loan they know nothing about. Reports received by our office allege alarming claims by consumers of threats of incarceration, or public embarrassment. The callers demand to be given bank account or credit card numbers and other personal information as a means to resolve the alleged debt. Consumers also report they company fails to identify themselves by providing a valid address for their company, or verification of the debt.

The BBB urges caution! Never give your bank account, credit card numbers, or other personal information to unidentified callers for any reason. If you are contacted by a debt collector about an unfamiliar debt, don’t allow the collector to intimidate you into paying a debt you do not owe. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, FDCPA, gives you the right to verify debts from debt collectors. Within 35 days of being contacted by a debt collector, you can send a letter requesting the collector validate your debt. This validation needs to include some documents from the original creditor proving you owe the debt, the amount you owe is valid, and the agency is allowed to collect the debt from you. Your request for validation must be made in writing and should be sent via certified mail with return receipt requested.

Within five days of its first communication to you, the debt collector is responsible for sending you a debt validation notice. This notice should be in writing letter letting you know you have the right to dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days. The FDCPA allows the collector to include the debt validation notice in the initial communication. So, if the debt collector’s first communication with you is by phone, you should receive a debt validation letter from them within five days. If the first communication is by letter, that letter might already include the debt validation notice; otherwise, you should soon get another letter including the notice. The written notice must also tell you the amount to the debt, the name of the creditor, what you must do to dispute the debt, how to contact the creditor, and a warning that “This is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.” If you don’t dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, the debt collector has the right to assume the debt is valid. During the 30 day period, the collector can continue attempts to collect the debt from you until it receives your validation request.

Keep in mind that federal and state consumer protection laws do not permit debt collectors to collect, or attempt to collect a consumer debt by use or threat of use, of physical force or violence, by any criminal means to cause harm to the person, or the reputation, or the property of any person; or the threat to any person that nonpayment of the consumer debt will result in the arrest of the debtor or the seizure, garnishment, or attachment of wages, unless such action is in fact contemplated by the debt collector and permitted by the law. The law also prohibits the practice of using obscene or profane language; placing telephone calls without disclosure of the caller's identity, misrepresenting the purpose of the telephone call or communication; or by repeated calls or contacts to annoy or harass.