Do a search on NCO on the FTC website, I'm almost positive they were fined BIGTIME and almost put out of business last year for violations of the fair debt collections act.
What makes things worse is that it's illegal for a company to collect or send out to a collection agency any disputed bill, yet they do it all the time!!!!
Hey, check this out!!!
CONSUMER ABUSE ALERT
For Release: May 13, 2004
NCO Group to Pay Largest FCRA Civil Penalty to Date
One of the nation’s largest debt-collection firms will pay $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by reporting inaccurate information about consumer accounts to credit bureaus. The civil penalty against Pennsylvania-based NCO Group, Inc. is the largest civil penalty ever obtained in a FCRA case.
According to the FTC’s complaint, defendants NCO Group, Inc.; NCO Financial Systems, Inc.; and NCO Portfolio Management, Inc. violated Section 623(a)(5) of the FCRA. The law specifies that any entity that reports information to credit bureaus about a delinquent consumer account that has been placed for collection or written off must report the actual month and year the account first became delinquent. In turn, this date is used by the credit bureaus to measure the maximum seven-year reporting period the FCRA mandates. The provision helps ensure that outdated debts – debts that are beyond this seven-year reporting period – do not appear on a consumer’s credit report. Violations of this provision of the FCRA are subject to civil penalties of $2,500 per violation.
The FTC charges that NCO reported accounts using later-than-actual delinquency dates. Reporting later-than-actual dates may cause negative information to remain in a consumer’s credit file beyond the seven-year reporting period permitted by the FCRA for most information. When this occurs, consumers’ credit scores may be lowered, possibly resulting in their rejection for credit or their having to pay a higher interest rate.
NCO is so bad, that in 2003, they have been sued 40 times for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). These suits are usually filed when consumers are abused in violation of state and federal debt collection laws.
NCO is a money-mill, gobbling up competitors, buying portfolios of old debts for pennies, and expanding globally. These money-beggars are making their bottom-line profits at the expense and abuse of consumers.
One wonders how many lawsuits are NOT being filed because consumers do not know their rights or that NCO CAN be held accountable for their illegal debt collection practices.
Apparently, NCO is not spending enough time and money to properly train their debt collectors in accordance with law, the FDCPA. Do they hire any derelict that may be in-between court and treatment dates simply to harass, abuse, and oppress consumers? There is no mention of drug testing at their web site, so can you be hired at NCO if one has bad habits and a need for fast-cash. This must be a 'dream-job' for anyone with a prison record, drug habit, or any con artist out to defraud some fast money off unsuspecting consumers. Are you aware of the personal consumer information these money beggars have access to? I shudder to think how much information is being illegally used at agencies such as NCO. You should be VERY nervous about the type of individuals who have this unprecedented and open access to ALL of your personal information.
It may be just a matter of time until collectors start calling with accents from country's like India, Pakistan and ....(ooohhh my gawd!!)
NCO's CEO, Michael J. (kinky) Barrist seems to be astonishing Wall Street (NASDAQ:NCPM) with his financial wizardry. He certainly appears to be pumping up the bottom line. (One lawsuit at a time?) In my experience, this type of greed and consumer abuse will catch up with NCO, just as it did with Commercial Financial Systems (CFS) and Outsourcing Solutions Inc (OSI). Both operations were out of control just prior to their filing for bankruptcy protection. CFS's top brass is facing federal criminal charges in highly anticipated court proceedings scheduled for later this year.
If you are receiving abuse from NCO, contact me for referral to a local consumer law professional in your area. NCO, with $800+million in revenues last year, has more money than a South American drug cartel, so use the law to make them pay when they violate the laws and your consumer rights.
Do not let NCO's under-trained, uneducated and FDCPA lacking debt-collectors make a paycheck at your expense.
Big agencies pay big salaries to their ego-driven brass. NCO should spend a lot more time training their collectors and dealing with consumer complaints, in this case BIGGER does NOT mean BETTER! (Except for Kinky and his top brass team of money beggars)
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