Thread Title: and they wonder why collectors are hard....
Created On Thursday 08/19/04 4:43 PM


Derek
Senior Member

Posts: 365
Joined: Mar 2004


Thursday 08/19/04 4:43 PM (NEW!)



This from our fans and lurkers over at AoC:
"I pulled my CR a couple of days ago to begin chipping away at old accounts which are in collections and begin rebuilding my credit. I have ignored my credit problems for awhile and moved and changed phone #s enough that I’m not receiving correspondence from my creditors."

.... the crybabies of AoC would have their Congressmen and Senators believe that they're all oppressed victims of the CA's, and that they've all simply "fallen on hard times" and doing their best to try and work with those big, bad CA's that simply won't listen to reason. The REALITY of our jobs is reflected in this debtor's admission. By far, most debtors duck, dodge, evade, hide, and ignore their debts. And they wonder why we are so hard-nose when we catch up to them.

He continues.....

"Now that I have my CR and accurate contact info for my creditors, I would like to approach them, offering a settlement in exchange for them either deleting their tradelines from my CR or changing the status to Paid As Agreed w/ no derogatory comments."

...the thinking process is amazing, isn't it? After hiding, ignoring, lying, and cheating, he wants to SETTLE the debts and have them all marked on his CBR as "paid as agreed with no other derogatory comments" !!!! This bizarre, unreasoning mentality is not foreign to us, but it never ceases to astonish me.

He continues....

I have about $6k in outstanding CC debt, all of which is way old and/or in collections. I’d like to settle it all for $2k or less and have the slate wiped clean. Am I being delusional?"

YES. He IS delusional.

Now do you think his cronies at AoC counseled him to pull his head out of his a-- ? Of course not. They are assisting him to determine the SOL on his old debts, and they will then educate him on the 'ol "1 - 2 Punch", as they call it. From there, he will learn the dark arts of extorting the CA's for money.

...and he is only 1 of HUNDREDS that post over there EVERY DAY. Their training camp is like a mill that continues operating around the clock, 24/7, with trainees and cadets "graduating" from it's ranks every day. This process is only going to continue to grow and expand. Don't ignore it! Right now it's an occasional annoyance. But in the future, their kind will be the standard, and CA's will be writing extortion checks on a regular basis.

-------------------------
"It is apparent that the dispute is FRIVOLOUS and/or IRRELEVANT" - Trans Union's written reply to an AoC debtor, July 2004.

Thread Title: Debtor won't accept verification
Created On Thursday 08/19/04 11:54 AM

Stiffler Senior Member Posts: 577 Joined: Jun 2004

Thursday 08/19/04 11:54 AM (NEW!) border="0" height="4" width="1" /> I have a 25k debt at 12.9 % for a home improvement loan that a debtor defaulted on. Theoretically there should be a lien position on the house, since she still lives in it ( rare for these loans, since most are foreclosed and short sold). The trick is we bought the debt and its actually from Conseco, which no longer operates as a lender due to the 3rd largest bankruptcy in US history. I have searched nexis but it is difficult to find out about these liens and the only way I can reach the debtor is a learning center for kids that she operates under her name. She had previously asked for me to validate it to her (informally, just asked for some documents) and I complied by mailing her all the images I had with her initials and/or signature, per company policy. She then claims she never got them and how is stalling with this everytime and/or having her people cover for her at her business. I have tried to reach the guy who rents her the office space for a home# but he is a busy plumber. This account was rejected for legal in March. What would you do? I suppose I could send the docs by Fed Ex or Certified mail..... helpfull answers only please, no tripe from the peanut gallery. ------------------------- Troll NOT Tyrone... remember those innocent persons claimed by violent IP banning...

An interesting set of comments by a debt collector.

Thread Title: Don't abuse the skiptracing sources.....
Created On Thursday 08/19/04 10:24 AM

Derek Senior Member Posts: 358 Joined: Mar 2004

Thursday 08/19/04 10:24 AM (NEW!) As collectors, we have access to very sensitive information that most companies (and virtually NO consumers) can gain access to. Although the information we are entitled to access is used to recover debts owed to our clients, we need to remember that our access to that information is a PRIVILEGE. It should be treated as such. September 11 caused the extreme element of the consumer protection groups to back off for a while, but they've returned. Some collectors are abusing the access we have and performing searches that are in violation of the data provider's TOS and the agency's PP. I've known people that were able to go to public skiptracing sites on the internet and obtain much of the same personal and private information that WE have access to, but they did so by mis-representing their PP for the information. The ease of access to the information we have is frightening. This is serious business. These days we are plagued with activists that are working hard to REMOVE the access we have to personal and private information. Rogue collectors and skiptracers that either access information without a PP or who provide information to a party that does not have a PP for the information accessed are jeopardizing not only their company's access, but they are jeopardizing the entire skiptracing industry. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act has already put a lot of skiptracers and private detectives out of business, and it has greatly impacted the ability of other industries to obtain personal financial information on people. As collectors, we are still privileged to gain access to information that other industries only dream of. But we cannot assume it will always be this way. Just as the federal and state governments continue to tighten the leash on collection agencies, we can expect there will be continued leash-tightening as to the skiptracing data sources we currently enjoy. The extreme consumer protection advocates would love nothing more than to completely shut down all data providers, especially from collection agencies. Let's not give them reason to be petitioning their senators and congressman. Below is a disturbing article in today's CI news. Although in Canada and nothing serious occurred, the disturbing aspect of this article is the fact their government has decided to review the skiptracing processes of the company named and it's collection agency. To me, this represents smoke on the horizon of things to come for us. Smoke on the horizon for the skiptracing industry To some, I may sound like Chicken Little screaming "the sky is falling", but I disagree. Bill, I think this subject would be terrific material for another article you should write about. The tendency for people to abuse the skiptracing sources is enormous. That abuse will most assuredly be the catalyst for further regulatory restrictions if we do not handle this privelege responsibly. For now, things are all quiet on the homefront, but it's only a matter of time before the abuse of the system causes a public outcry from the extreme consumer protection advocates. I'm stepping off my soapbox now. It's my staff's fault. They let me drink too much coffee this morning.... ------------------------- "It is apparent that the dispute is FRIVOLOUS and/or IRRELEVANT" - Trans Union's written reply to an AoC debtor, July 2004.