Fellow Credit Netters, I was following another thread in which one of the members was successful in suing 3 CA's for violations. The monetary awards were minimal. In fact the award was called a â??nuisance awardâ? by a visiting CA troll. That characterization, of being found guilty of a violation of federal law, as a nuisance shows the mind set of the CAâ??s. That statement implies; â??It is our God given right to violate federal law and all that will happen is a few nuisance awardsâ?. That statement clarifies why the courts and the FTC need to make the penalties severe enough that the cost of violating the law outweighs the benefits. I doubt that the FTC is receiving the evidence of violations that the Credit Net members are collecting. How many of you are actually filing an official FTC violation on EVERY CA violation? I would guess very few of us are. I propose a thread or separate threads for each CA that is notorious for violations. After we collect this evidence we should submit it to the FTCâ??s enforcement division. The FTC carries the â??big stickâ? of enforcement in this game and they are looking for repeat and systematic violators of federal law. They just donâ??t get all the complaints that we hear every day on this board. The FTC only received 15,000 complaints, thatâ??s an average of 40/day. This board could generate almost as many complains as the FTC received from all other sources combined! Imagine next years report to congress listing 30,000 complaints, a 100% increase in one year! We would certainly get someones attention. I live in Virginia and would be happy to visit DC and the FTC office to present our evidence and establish a liaison with their office. This effort could really give this board a stronger position with CAâ??s, if they knew that every violation is going to result in a formal FTC report, the accusation that you are a Credit Netter would take on new meaning. I open the thread to discussion on how best to structure such a database and \or coordinate this project. JohnM
John- I think it's a great idea, I don't think it would be good for the people just starting to rack up the violations, you know the ones that only have 1 or 2 violations. It would be great for the people who have 5-6 violations throughout an extended period of time (3-6 months). Scanning documents so you could bring copies with you would be best, that way you aren't going in saying "KHM from creditnet said....." I think some form of task force would be great. Even a state by state task force, especially the people that have gotten friendly with their states AG and BBB. I know my states AG is USELESS. Theres so much we here at creditnet can do. I believe Creditnet is THE best source of credit related information on the web. There are a few other good source, but nothing compares to the members here.
IT is a great idea but unfortunately people would rather bitch and whine instead of doing anything about it. Also, if the CA backs down they just quit worrying about it and let the CA abuse the next person. I would always be willing to help also but the FTC works on volume and unless they receive a ton of complaints they will not even know they exist.
picantel, After being here for a few months I tend to agree with you, people find it easier to just "bitch and whine", and not report the violations to the FTC. I bet very few have actually taken the time to file an online FTC complaint. It takes all of 3 minutes! Hello..Wake up people, file the complaint, help yourself, help the next guy! . Here is the link use it https://rn.ftc.gov/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 Only 15,000 complaints were filed last year, lets make it 30,000 this year! The FTC has to report to congress each year on FDCPA and FCRA complaints and actions taken, you know if we can cause a spike in this years numbers questions will be asked. Be proactive stand up for your own rights. I propose a Credit Net rule, If you ask for help here on a CA or CRA violation, you should file the online complaint. Before you sue, before you call, before you write, let the FTC know your rights have been violated, the more violations logged the more they (the FTC) can do to stop this repeated abuse. JohnM
I've filed 2 FTC complaints, but I agree that most people don't or won't. It takes less than 5 minutes online and about 5 minutes via phone. I got a few positive bits of info by calling once, and the other time the CSR was as dumb as a CA or CRA CSR. Charlie
Charlie, I have filed the online complaint and it is a breeze. Like you said it takes all of 5 minutes. I just don't hear it discussed on the board much and it might be that people are not aware how easy it is and how important it can be. Each complaint helps to document the actual scope of the problem with CA's and CRA's on a national basis. If you don't complain they don't know! If we truly want to change the CA's behavior and stop repeated violations the FTC is our best bet. The threat of a fine the size of the one DC Credit Services got hit with is more than a "nuisance award". ($300,000 fine see http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/07/dccredserv.htm JohnM
Charlie, It might be as simple as posting in this thread who you filed against and the reason. This is my actual FTC complaint filed last month: Commercial Recovery Systems Dallas, Texas. Reason: Reaging of account, Failure to report as disputed Failure to validate, Continued collection activity during the validation period. JohnM (as each of the above reasons is a seperate violation I made each a seperate complaint. So CRS now have 4 complaints against it to add to the other 1000 or so they have. Like KHM said the government loves big numbers) A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money. Senator Everett Dirksen
I just filed a complaint online w/ the FTC this morning. This is what I wrote: I sent a validation letter to American Recovery Systems over 30 days ago, which they failed to respond to. They have also failed to report the account to the CRA's as "in dispute", resulting in continued collection activity during the validation period. Instead of investigating the error on my credit reports, American Recovery Systems has chosen to violate the FCRA/FDCPA.
I do everything in this order. 1. Write letter, ie Validation 2. Dispute CRA 3. No letter-write another 4. No response-File complaint with BBB & FTC 5. Lawsuit. To this day I have filed 12 complaints. One really heated the CA. They insisted I call and remove my complaint. Actually it was with the Colorado attorney general. Hope this helps.
I do it in that order also. About half drop off after the validation attempts. Of the remaining 6, 5 dropped off after the intent to sue letter and follow up phone call telling them I do not bluff. One called my bluff, got sued, and settled out of court.
quigs Could you share the names and violations with us, If we are dealing with the same slimeballs, knowledge that they were sued or had an FTC violation could be helpful in forcing compliance with the law.
I've been saying this for a long time. I filed complaints earlier this year against a ca. The FTC also has a mailing address. I mailed my complaint along with all of the documentation - validation, estoppel, crrr receipts, etc. The FTC couldn't respond to my individual complaint but said they are holding the info. just in case. When that ca got contacted by the BBB and 2 other governmental agencies they got their act together and acknowledged receipt of the letters and removed the listing because they couldn't validate, hadn't responded to me after 6 months and still were listing it on my report.
Betacredit, Even though the FTC will not investigate individual complaints, it is the pattern of abuse and repeat violators it looks for. I would hope that each one of us files a complaint for every violation, as the first step when dealing with a CAâ??s violation of the law. It is free and takes 5 minutes. Enough complaints against a CA will trigger action. It may not help your individual case but in the long run it will make a difference. Only 15,000 complaints were filed last year to the FTC about CA and CRA conduct. We get 20 or 30 posts a day here about violations, we could add 10,000 complaints if we each took 5 minutes every time our rights are violated. If the CAâ??s want to watch this board, lets beat them at the game, when they violate the law we file a complaint. Then after filing we can send letters, sue or settle or whatever. Filing an FTC complaint does not affect any of your other remedies. Lets all take the 5 minutes and do it. John M
1. Gulf state- continued collection, Intent to sue worked. 2. CAC Financial-Intent to sue, deleted from report, still calling me though-this one is going to court. Currently talking with FDCPA lawyer. 3. Cambece Law Firm-breach of contract, un-permissable purpose, faxed intent to sue-problem solved. 4. Collect America-Continued collection, failure to list as dispute. Fax intent to sue, problem solved. 5. RMA-failure to validate, second letter-stopped action 6. American Agencies-Continued collection, pending, just recieved second letter. Looks like lawsuit. 7.Coldata-first letter/removed. 8. Dynamic recovery- second letter/estoppell -removed. The rest are with OC's. I have filed complaints on every one of them that broke the reg's. I figure that if every one else was doing it that they would add up.
