I have recently sent a request for validation letter to
NCO and haven't heard anything but I did get a call last
night from F MS Inc. I didn't recognize them on caller ID
and when I answered they said they were representing NCO.
They were very professional and very nice but my
question is does anyone know of this group
or what their role is?

The important part here is did they tell you they were a
debt collector and any information they gained in the call
would be used for that purpose? Did they give you a full
and meaningful disclosure of who they were, meaning their
full name, their full mailing address, phone number, the
name of the creditor, their full mailing address and the
amount of the debt they are trying to collect?

Have they put an inquiry on your credit report?

If they pulled your credit report then they must have a
demand letter in your hands within 5 days after the
date of their pull or within 5 days of their initial contact
with you by whatever means.

If not they are in violation of the law and probably in
multiple ways. You need to learn those things and how to
defend yourself against their attempts to collect.

Your failure to know the law and how to defend your
rights under the law means that you really don't have any
rights except those which the other fellow is willing to give
you and that isn't much. Don't let them abuse your rights.

Your credit ratings and your rights under the law are really
among the most important assets you have in this life.

Another thing we need to understand is that our
Constitution and the law is not there to give us any rights
but to protect the rights given us as human beings by God.

Also our constitution does not give rights but rather limits
the power of government and protects us from the abusive
actions our government might concievably heap upon us
were it not constrained in what it can do were it not so
constrained.

Many supreme court decisions tell us that it is our duty
as citizens to know the law.

Is there any cases where an actually collector was nailed
either criminal or civil? I know the company gets named
in most suits but I wondered if there are any cases that
the actual person that did the damage get it also.
Basher do you know what happens at NCO if a particular
collector goes above and beyond the call of duty and
violates law big time? Do they get yelled at or fired or
nothing? What if they recover the tape and the employee
screwed up big time? What is the worse thing that ever
happened to a collector for violating, ever any
criminal action?

Poster: If a collector violates any of the laws, yes, they
are addressed. Depending on the severity of the violation
(NCO takes them all seriously), the collector always gets
written up, loses their entire bonus for that month, and
some even are escorted out the door on the spot.

You asked about it being on tape, yes, they have it on tape,
that is how we get caught if we violate any of the laws.
As for the collector being sued, I'm sure it has happened.
But, being a confidential issue, it isn't discussed with us
on the floor.

That information would be kept behind closed doors
with the legal dept.

Creditwrench replied:
[[[As for the collector being sued, I'm sure it has happened.
But, being a confidential issue, it isn't discussed with us on
the floor. That information would be kept behind closed
doors with the legal dept.]]]

I have my doubts that it has happened except for the two
cases I know of and then they were not jailed because of
their FDCPA violations.

They were jailed for theft of services. There are no criminal
actions possible under FDCPA and they weren't NCO
employees nor even from the same company.

And there were no FDCPA lawsuits filed in either case.
What would be the point? Once the guy is jailed for theft
of services then he is probably broke from trying to
defend himself.

Their companies could not help them because if they did
then they would be admitting their own complicity in the
crime and might become civilly liable themselves in the
process. And yes, even if an employee were to be sued
for FDCPA violations it would be kept tightly locked up
in the legal department because if it were to become
common knowledge among the employees then the
company would probably start losing it's emplayees
and might find it difficult to hire new ones.