at least the debt collectors in this country arent this bad: Hong Kong Debt Collectors Ruthless By MARGARET WONG .c The Associated Press By MARGARET WONG HONG KONG (AP) - First came several dozen annoying phone calls. The next day, the anonymous debt collector became more persistent, phoning Albert Ho's law firm more than 300 times to scream obscenities, play pornographic tapes or just stay silently on the line. On the third day, the number of calls shot up to 687. ``It was extremely disturbing,'' said Ho. ``It jammed the normal calls, keeping my clients waiting and affecting my business.'' And Ho wasn't even the target. The husband of an employee had gone bankrupt, leaving his office at the mercy of Hong Kong's often unscrupulous debt collectors, who have gone on a rampage as the economy worsens and bad loans multiply. Collectors have been known to throw snakes, or a swarm of grasshoppers into an apartment to hasten debt repayment, or to hang the carcasses of dogs and cats outside. Banks, credit card issuers, telecommunications companies and other lenders employ debt collectors who sometimes threaten the lives of debtors and innocent third parties, including friends, relatives, business partners or credit references. Cases of personal credit delinquency jumped 53 percent to 105,815 in the second half of 2001, from 69,208 in the first half. Bankrupt property dealer Alan Chan recalled foul-mouthed debt collectors pestering him outside his home and office and sending threatening letters containing fake paper money from the ``Bank of Hell.'' Tsang Fan-kwong, a senior medical officer at the Castle Peak Hospital, recalled a woman who tried to kill herself after a debt collector moved into the family home, demanding food every day until she paid her gambling debts. ``She couldn't stand it,'' Tsang said. The woman was rescued, then referred to him for treatment of clinical depression. While a few big players run Hong Kong's debt collection services in a professional and ethical manner, many smaller, unscrupulous agencies employ hoodlums or poorly qualified people who work partly on commission. In 2001, police received 1,959 reports of debt collectors resorting to such tactics as assault, arson, robbery, kidnapping, splashing paint on debtors' homes and jamming their door locks with glue. In one particularly gruesome case, three men tortured and dismembered a 23-year-old nightclub hostess and stuffed her head inside a Hello Kitty doll. She allegedly owed $2,560. The men got life in prison. Police statistics also showed a 118 percent increase in reports of non-criminal harassment tactics between 1999 and 2001. In July, Hong Kong's Law Reform Commission proposed broadening the categories of harassment to be outlawed. ``Many debt collectors are maneuvering in a gray area, and our recommendations aim to narrow that,'' said Cathy Wan, secretary of the commission's debt collection subcommittee. Many Hong Kong lenders decline to discuss the issue, saying they know of no improper tactics by their debt collectors. American Express Co. acknowledged receiving complaints from credit card holders about alleged crude phone calls from collectors. But it found no evidence of such calls in the records, said spokeswoman Catherine Lai. The reform commission suggested establishing debt collection guidelines and licensing collectors, while allowing creditors to share more information about potential debtors to reduce bad loans. Some debt collectors fear that would make their jobs harder, saying they already tend to recover only about 10 percent to 20 percent of the bad debts. Bobby Rozario, co-founder of the debt collection company Communication Business Consulting Ltd., said a vague definition of criminal harassment would put collectors at great risk. Benedict Wong, managing director of Total Credit Management Service Ltd., agreed. ``If you are talking about phone harassment, how would you define it?'' he said. ``The debtor could ... say he is threatened and humiliated even if a collector does it in a polite and professional manner.''
I know this article isn't meant to be funny, but I had to laugh at the throwing of snakes. How the heck did that guy move into her home without her throwing him out? That is so weird. Thank God we live in the good old USA, and our debt collectors only call 50 times a day. LOL..............
In Venezula, there is a CA known as "El Diablo" (The Devil). His technique is to humilate people into paying. He shows up at their business or home dressed as satan. He is accompanied by two sexy girls dressed as devils in bikinis, a large lawyer dressed in a suit with a briefcae, and some thugs to back him up. The then refuses to leave until paid.
All of that and they still only recover 10-20% of bad debts. Very little difference between their bottom line result and the results that CA's here obtain.
OH Yes.. some nightly news show either on ABC or Fox did a piece on them. They will show up to your business or home making a big scene to shame the debtors to paying. They actually showed a guy paying thousands to them to get them off their backs... Thank goodness for CAs like RMA, Arrow and better yet NCO wait a sec... WHAT AM I SAYING?!?!@?!@? hahaha
here is a link to an ABC article on Dr Diablo http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/LeeCam_DrDiablo020814.html
I tell you what, I just read the article about Hong Kong collectors and I think that each and every "debtor" on this board that thinks they are being hounded be collection agencies should read it and rethink their gripes. I say an article a couple of years ago about another group of far-eastern collectors that kept a guy chained naked in a cage for a week without food or water to collect what amounted to 20USD. Granted, that is a lot of cash in some parts of Asia, but that is almost standard procedure in some parts of the world. Hell, there is a debtors prison in Turkey with a twist - if you are a man you do not go, your WIFE does. Guess what she does in this place until your debts are paid off? L B 7283
Maybe if we sue enough of ours they will all head to these plases where they can operate the way they please. Wouldn't that be great getting them off our backs . PS. If it wasn't for what few laws we have they would be doing the same things here,
The CAs already have the ideas they just haven't found a way around the laws yet,but they are diligently working on it.
Re: foreign debt collectors (scary! In one country I heard about, debt collectors actually telephone the consumer repeatedly, at least once a day but sometimes more! They even have the audacity to telephone consumers at their places of business or even flood them with often frightening mail! Moreover, they've arranged themselves into a system whereby these debt collectors report to semi-secret depositories of "information" and then -- get this! -- if the debtor is late enough he becomes at risk for losing his insurance policies! And, if that isn't enough, the consumer also becomes at risk for losing other credit accounts which can become payable immediately which may cause other financial snowballing problems! Finally, if the consumer happens to work for the government or a company which has certain kinds of contracts requiring security clearances, the consumer can actually lose their clearance and their jobs as a result!!! In any case, even people who were moderately late lose their ability to acquire a place to live or to buy a vehicle. Even more unbelievable than that is the fact that even if you become current with ALL your debts, you'll still have financial trouble for around SEVEN YEARS!!! Also, even though that country has passed laws to "protect" the consumers, the debt collectors and the information repositories (called "credit bureaus" in that country, I understand) often violate those rules, causing all manner of trouble and heartache for unsuspecting consumers. It's my understanding that only the loudest and most informed consumers who aren't afraid to challenge the bullies are really "protected" when it comes down to it. It's hard to believe that some people in this world live under such repressive circumstances. Frankly, it might be easier to live in a place where they just send out "Diablo" to embarass you or "Enzo the Jawbreaker" to threaten you; at least those guys simply go away when the debt is settled with no other long-term impact. Doc
Re: foreign debt collectors (scary! Even if we didn't have federals laws (FCRA and FDCPA) to protect consumers rights, we have something else much better to deter outrageous collection activity.....the SECOND AMENDMENT. Gib
