69,204 Complaints Filed Against “Bad Debt Collectors” According To FTC Report
A report published by the FTC found that 69,204(!) complaints were filed in 2006 against third party debt collectors who acted abusively or in violation of the FDCPA(Fair Debt Collections Practice Act). Yet,the FTC filed only 3 lawsuits against debt collectors in the past year, 2 of these settled and 1 went to court. With the large number of complaints filed, and these were from consumers who actually took time to file a complaint, it makes you wonder why there weren’t more lawsuits? It does seem that in today’s debt collection culture, there is a lot of illegal activity that many debt collection companies encourage in an effort to “get the job done”.
Some of the statistics included in the report show that the problem is definitely NOT decreasing.
- 40.3%, 27,929 consumers, complained of debt collectors attempting to collect more than they were owed
- 3.4%, 2,387 consumers, complained that collectors were attempting to collect interest, fees, or expenses that were not owed, such as collection fees, late fees and court costs
- 21.2% or 14,656 consumers complained of harassment from repeated or continuous calls
- 22.1% or 15,314 consumers complained of debt collectors making calls to employers, friends and family repeatedly in an attempt to allegedly gather information to assist them in collecting the debt
- 11.5% of the FDCPA complaints or 7,967 consumers complained of being harassed with collectors using obscene, profane or otherwise abusive language
- 11.4% or 7,913 consumers complained that they were threatened with a lawsuit or some other legal action that the debt collector could not or did not intend to take, such as seizure of property or arrest.
Even if you legitimately owe or owed the debt at one time, that is not reason enough to put up with abusive collectors calls and letters. The most common complaints involve collectors attempting to collect a sum much greater than what was owed and collectors calling Consumer A about a debt that doesn’t even belong to that them, but rather to Consumer B, yet dissuades the collector from continuing to call Consumer A.
Take action instead of just putting up with the harassment, contact an attorney today for legal assistance.
