For the record, I have no accounts whatsoever assigned to collections, never use credit cards, don’t owe a dime on ANY delinquent debt and have all the legal evidence needed to back that up. But that didn’t stop a number of collection companies, including West (formerly National) Asset Management from targeting me for multiple accounts I was never responsible for including at least one for an individual they knew to be deceased. (no identity theft was involved -simply mistaken identity)
If these vile scum had been even half the “caring professionals” that assclowns like :Flip Side” make them out to be, the whole unfortunate matter could have been resolved in about a week, instead of the nearly three years it took to shake them loose and force them back down the cesspool they came from. Regardless of your own financial situation, Whether you owe or not, NEVER TRUST A BILL COLLECTOR!. They are but rough copies of Humanity, devoid of soul or conscience who don’t care how they get the money just as long as they do. Go to budhibbs.com to see everything every collector wishes NO ONE knew. Learn your rights under FDCPA and use them to beat these vermin – then beat them again and again by sharing what you learn . I did it and so can you!
All the best: V.H.

For all of you that are tired of being “harassed”, as I have been by different collection agencies, learn some of your rights and exercise them. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) has several things you can to do to help protect yourself against the unwanted phone calls and the attempted collection of debts that are not yours.

15 USC 1692c 805(c) (A section within the FDCPA) allows for a consumer to notify a collection agency to “Cease Communication” with a debtor provided the debtor notifies the collection agency in WRITING. Though I do not recommend you cease all communication, on legitimate debts, just demand a cease of phone calls and to correspond strictly via USPS. I have not had any experiences with WAM, but I can tell you that a couple agencies I have dealt with over the years have honored this request.

15 USC 1692g 809. Demand validation of the debt. Once an agency has received a letter demanding validation of a debt they have to cease all collection activities until they have provided “proof” of the debt and that it is yours. This is critical for any debt that you feel is not yours, and extremely important for debts that may be yours, however you may question how a bill you remember being only $200 3 months ago is now suddenly $800. In some cases it was a simple crossing of goods being returned while debt is being purchased.
For example, you moved and did not receive your final billing for your DirecTV, hence bill didn’t get paid. You go and unpack for your new house and realize you still have the receivers you were supposed to return. You make arrangements to return receivers. Meanwhile collection agency purchases debt which has final bill and the receivers. Through the validation process it gets corrected you pay the final bill and all is well.

Now the most important thing with these steps are that you send everything certified mail, signature required, return receipt. Collections agencies are notorious for claiming they did not receive anything. After they have received your letter you do need to give it about 3 business days for them to update their systems before the calls will stop, provided the agency plans on obeying the law. It also doesn’t hurt to answer the phone after the 3rd day and politely inform the agent that their company has received a letter demanding validation and to cease communication via phone.

Other important factors that “flip side” will hate. Keep all your documentation and facts straight. If your state allows it record any, and all, phone conversations with the agency. My state is considered a “single party consent” state. Simply put I can record any conversation that I am directly involved in WITHOUT having to ask the consent of the other party. Finally pull out that digital camera and take pictures of the caller id.

I have sued a few collection agencies now for violations of the FDCPA and all have been settled out of court for as much as 8 times the amount supposedly owed. Needless to say it paid off the debt and then some. As for Flips comment “jackpot you just hit the lottery” that is BS. You might see a few thousand dollars, unless you can prove violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA allows for far more liberal payouts for violations.

If you document everything accurately, and honestly, most lawyers will charge $400 up front (the cost to file in federal court) but the rest they will collect out of the settlement.

Now as for what Flip has to say. He does have valid points here and there. It is always difficult for people to remember that there are a lot of agents out there just trying to do their job and pay their bills like the rest of us. History has also shown that there are people who make a living off of running up debt, let it all build in collections, and then file bankruptcy. This was done a lot in the 70′s and 80′s and the reason why the banks fought so hard to have the bankruptcy laws changed.

There is something that you need to realize as well Flip, the FDCPA was created because of the abusive practices committed by collection agencies. There is also the fact that for every single collection agency that is in “good faith” trying to follow the rules, there are 10 more eager and willing to break the law for a buck.

As for tax dollars being wasted, how about the $100 million it costs every year by tax payers so the Federal Trade Commission can monitor and investigate all of the illegal activities your industry commits every year. And as for the number of false claims sent to the FTC, well just refer back to the last paragraph.

If you are so opposed to your tax dollars being wasted then I would ask you to please contact our congress and advise them in writing that you waive your rights to any, and all, city, county, state, and federal programs, including, but not limited to, unemployment compensation, social security, and my favorite disability. It is apparent that everyone in this conversation will be glad to watch you suffer when you get laid-off, are then hit by a car and permanently disabled, and should you reach retirement age starve to death under a bridge.

The point is that there are people out there who did well to live within their means and bad crap just happened. I know because I have had to watch my wife suffer with a career ending spinal injury that she received on the job while working for the federal government, as a nurse, on a locked down psych ward for the VA. She has dedicated her life to caring for other people and more importantly our veterans. The men and women that have sacrificed their lives so we may have the freedom to sit on our computers, exercising our right to free speech, and bitch at one another.

You know what the government says we are entitled to…NOTHING! So get off your high horse and realize that your client the government doesn’t pay their bills either! Also you need to realize we are all humans and we all screw up somewhere along the line.

And if you really don’t want your tax dollars wasted why don’t you tell your other clients, the banks, to stop lending to illegal immigrants so they can leave the country and not have to pay back, or have their loan officers convincing the under educated they can afford a house they can’t, or when a decade old customer with a flawless payment history hits a rough spot in the road and has to pay his bill one week late they take the interest from 6.99% to 29.99%.

Wake up and smell the coffee Flip. Its called greed and that is what drives this country everyday and you are just as guilty as the next person. Your attitude and demeanor shows why you are a collection agent. Just remember the simple rule about collection agents…Jesus may love you, but the devil us gonna get you.

It wont solve or help anything. Youre getting a dozen or more calls a day? I call shenanigans. If you were getting that many calls a day you would actaully have a harrassement case and wouldnt be so unhappy cause you could go to a lawyer and get money from WAM for your woes.

Being sick sucks. It does not however give you the right to somehow be exempt from your bills. When you took that loan/didnt pay those taxes/ bought that phone whatever you didnt sign a contract that said “I agree to pay this, and if i dont pay it to talk to your colelction agents. Unless I get sick. Or lose my job. Or something else happens then forget it!”

You agreed to the collections activity when you started. The truth of the mter is if you ahd a harrassement case then you would haev filed it. you -clearly- understand that harrassement is not allowed. Have in fact been very vocal about it. so why wouldnt you? Lawyers would even take the case for free, they just take a larger percentage of the money at the end.

you want to call original companies thats fine, their your minutes but that cmopany is either going to telly ou, its not their debt anymore so go deal witht eh collection agency, or that they pay the collection agency to do that and please call them. maybe 20 percent of the time does it actually help.

Your comments about not caring if we all lose our jobs and the industry collapses are selfish and petty. Sick or not tere are ridiculous. Those charities that are paying fro your chemo? Bet they get donations from state and federal governments that higher collection agencies to get there money.

That hospital you are getting your treatments at? Yup. They use debt collectors. Nobody likes debt collectors because they are so self centered they dont see the bigger picture.

Its disgusting the way people think that they are so entitled that htey can borrow money, or run up bills then just not have to pay it cause they dont like the phone calls.

People like that are the reason I dont feel bad about my job. I dont feel pity, I feel ashamed that my tax dollars go to pay for people whos attitudes are childish and entitled. Were you one of my debtors I gauruntee I wouldnt hesitate to put the account up for involunatry if it qualified.

The people that get my help? the ones Ill go around rules for, the ones I will walk through the process to get any WAM debt discharegd due to disability (easy to do BTW) are the ones who answer the phones, speak honestly, and face their problems.

They get help.

People like yourself who seem to think that just because they have ahd a shitty life means they are somehow allowed to be jerks who dont pay their bills… they get nothing from me. I have cancer patietns who pay, I have elderly who pay, I have people who are on dialysis who pay hoping that they can kep things ing ood standing until the get a transplant.

Dont want debt collectors calling you?? “harrassing” you? try this.

Stop taking money you cant pay for.

No one forced debt on you. If you dont dispute the debt then stop hiding from it under a thin veneer of being the victim. You are no more the victim then anyone else.

Being harrassed? File a complaint in writing and it will stop.

Doesnt stop? guess what you jsut hit the lotto, juries love taking money from Collection agencies?

Not going to do that? then stop bitching, face the truth and stop hiding behind caller ID.

You should be ashamed of such childesh behavior.

Me, I keep the ringer off and we use caller ID. If I want to pick it up, I do. If I don’t know the person calling, oh well! So other than WAM making me shake my head at their frantic antics they’re not going to bother us one bit.

I’m not denying I owe. But I can’t work at all now due to severe illness and there is no way I am going to sit there while I’m undergoing this hellish nightmare that is very likely going to end up with my death and be berated by a collection’s agent out to get money I simply do not have anymore.

Sorry Mr./Ms. Collections agent, but these days I don’t have a bank account. It all went for dumb things like chemo and medications, and now we’re to the point where if it wasn’t for charity and the people at the local Catholic hospital I wouldn’t even be getting treated.

Believe me you’re the least of my worries right now, but I promise you this, IF I make it? I still won’t talk to YOU. I’ll talk to the original debtor or to no one, and no, I don’t care if every last collection agent in the world loses his or her job and the industry dies immediately thereafter.

Dealing with an original debtor that’s one thing. I feel they have a right to collect from me and I will always deal with them as politely as I can even when I can’t resolve the issue at hand. You however are getting nothing from me. Not my reply, nor any money, nor even an acknowledgment that you are calling me night and day, PERIOD.

For the record I did try to tell someone at WAM my situation once. It was like talking to a brick wall and the harassment got even worse after the fact, and that after they KNEW what I was fighting?

I’m sorry but NO, you don’t get to harass me when I am this sick. I will leave off the phone ringer and I will ignore you all Have your fun calling and calling and calling.

It will get you NOWHERE.

Believe it or not this could be ATT fault. We get given files by a client. Those files are often recalled by that same client. We have zero control over that. and often enough they resend us a file we have had previously that now has none of our notes in it. Dont blame the colelction agency, good odds your issues stem from ATT’s poor record keeping which is believable since that same poor record keeping started the issue.

>but lets face facts. Most people hate you because you DO harass those who >are innocent and guilty, regardless of the facts. You don’t simply don’t >care, so why should we care about hurting your feelings?

-I- do no such thing. I can’t deny that some people are ore aggressive then others but again remember a few things. Being what you call rude and pushy, is what ATT PAYS us to be. Agressiveness is proven more successful. They spend millions trying to find out the most successfulw ays to collect money and agressiveness works. If people responded better to customer service I assure you we would use it.

As to harrassing innocent people, 99 percent of the time we are doing the right job witht eh right person. Is there error? Of course there is. Is what you described the norm? absolutely not. Let me share with you our policy on disputes for WAM. Anytime a debtor claims a dispute the account is put in a 3DIS disposition (dispositions are how we organize our accoutns) once in that disposition it remains there for 30 days while we wait for paperwork. Once we receive that paperwork we forward it to our Client services dept and it is forwarded to our client. Until we get a responce the computer wont even let us dial it.

What happened with you was bad, but do not confuse a bad collection AGENT who maybe did not do his job well, with a bad collection agency. I work for a government contract and the phones and other bills happen out of another office so maybe things are different there, but I take pride in my job because from waht I can see we do our bet to not be one of the agencies you complain about.

we have 60000 employees who handle 5 million accounts, in excess of half a BILLION dollars. Yes, our employees sometimes overstep the boudns of good taste. Yes, sometimes mistakes are made. But policies are in place to limit them and discipline them when they do happen. Violating the FDCPA is an on the spot termination offense at WAM. A collection agency has a hard job because EVERYONE says they dispute it and dont ahve it and are broke.. you cant honestly expect us to just take everyone at face value… we have to be agressive cause as mean and rude and decptinve as collection agents are… they cant hold a candle to the debtors.

What happened to you sounds like a crappy situation but it is not the norm.

PS your arguement that its okay to “hurt our feelings” because of how they act is ridiculous. How someone else behaves should never be a justification for poor behavior on our part. We teach our kids that in kindergarden.

What pissed me off about the situation is AT&T admitted I didn’t owe them money, I did EVERYTHING WAM asked for, and they STILL continued to call even though there was nothing else I could do other than pay them to leave me alone. Their calls served no purpose at that point other than to harass me into giving them money which they admitted (hence the point of disputing) I may not owe.

Also, when they called back later (after I told them off for calling me after I disputes the charges) they said it was the first time they called, and they had no record of calling me. They had no problem the times before telling me how many times they’d called me prior. They’re either incompetent or con artists.

Flipside, I get that you work for WAM or some other collection agency, but lets face facts. Most people hate you because you DO harass those who are innocent and guilty, regardless of the facts. You don’t simply don’t care, so why should we care about hurting your feelings?

By the way- fun fact, my new favorite word is “actionable.”

1. WAM is a 60000 employee multi BILLION dollar company. They are not some sweaty guy in a basement trying to trick you.

2. If they are calling you, the following things will NOT stop the calls. Hanging up as soon as they identify themselves, yelling at them. stating you dont work and hanging up. screaming, whining, crying, cussing and lying.

3. If you are going to cry harrassement and whine that they are collecting “bogus” debts keep a few things in mind. Look up what harrassing means for a collection agency. 2 calls a day? not harrassment. thats called due diligence.

For once in your self focused lives take a moment to think about this from the collection agencies side. let us say an average collection agent talks to 100 people a day, of which 10 stay on the phone long enough to talk. of that 10 every single one is crying that htey are broke, have no money its not real its a dispute they are disabled, they cant pay cause their mother died, there father died, they died, there cat died and a billion other lies.

In a given month there is maybe 1 legitimate dispute out of the hundreds of claims. What do you expect the collection agencies to do? take veryones word for it? just trust that everyone on the phone is being honest with them? people lie folks, they cheat and many do anything they can to not pay their debts.

Collection agencies are responisble for collecting the money that paves your roads, pays your teachers. covers unemployement and medicaid. WAM itself collects no less then 4 seperate state tax contracts and 2 federal government collection contracts.

Stop being so juvenile and assuming that some big bad collection man is out to get you and understand that that collection agent that you call asshat spends 8 hours a day working with people who threaten him. swear at him. curse hinm. cry at him. lie to him. call him every racial epitath you can think off. imagine being a 20 year old college kid being called a the wrost racist comments you can. Get cussed out for 6 hours straight and tell me youre going to be a super customer service guy.

Collection agents are normal people doing a job. What do you want? you want the 750000 in the collection industry to lose their jobs?

You want the BILLIONS of dollars of federal money brought in via collection agencies to dry up?

Get real people, if a corporate collection agency with government contracts is calling you saying you owe them money. you either A. owe them money or B. need to understand that when you deal with 14 MILLION accounts like WAM does, theres mistakes made.

It isnt hatefulness. It isnt maliciousness, it isnt spite its human freaking error. I get so tired of self righteous pricks who think that just because I happen to work as a collection agent that makes it okay to call me whatever you want.

We have what might be the hardest job in the world I can think of, and 99 percent of the time if we sound pissed, its probably because weve had a rough day.

Yall need to get off your high horses and take a look at things from the other side of the coin.

Oh and before you all go off on how many complaints are online about a colelction agency, use your thinkign caps. People GATE collection agencies. There are whole websites dedicated to howt oscrew them over. Of course people are going to complain and most of the ones who complain are the same ones who should be paying their debt.

So here is the BIG SECRET on how to get good service from your colelction agency.

1. stop treating them like dirt, if they call you at work talk to them politely and give them an alternate number and then ANSWER IT.

2. if you cant pay dont lie and dont give us a sob story (I assure you weve all heard worse then whatever youre saying. Ive spoke toa women was was currently watching her dead husband get gurneyed out. you are better off then some trust me)

3. IF you cant pay thats fine. say that. and lastly

4. STAY IN CONTACT be an adult, set upa plan to touch base 1 time ever 2 weeks to track changes.

Do that and I promise you you will not only get the best collection agents, cause they will fight to call you. but you will earn the respect of the person on the other end of the phone and that person is actually trained in things that might help you…

I just filed a formal complaint with the State Attorney General’s Office in NE. The parent company is West Corporation, home based in Omaha, NE. I will be filing with Arkansas also. The office contacting me is in Texarkana, AK. Although they have a 703 area code, which is a VA. number. Must have an office there. If you “Google” 703-398-0001 you find many other complaints that are very similar.

Did I mention the amount they are trying to collect is a random number of 67.00?? not the $7.49 that was my final bill?