Local Debt Collector Fined for Harassing Customers
Buffalo, NY (WBEN) — A local debt collection agency has agreed to pay a $125,000 fine, as part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Hamburg-based Lewis Hastie Receivables acknowledged that it violated debt collection laws by “harassing and intimidating consumers.”
“Consumers did not receive verification of the debt,” Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs David Samson explains. “What that means is, once a call is placed to them by LHR, and the consumer requested [to know what] the debt [was], LHR has an obligation under both federal and state law to either provide proof of the debt to the consumer, or cease their collection activities. And we found, in numerous cases, that they failed to do so.”
According to Samson, LHR’s failure to verify the debts it was attempting to collect led to some instances of collection calls being made to people who didn’t even owe the company any money. In other cases, people who received phone calls were harassed, and even threatened.
“There were instances were consumers were called up to 16 times in one day, in an attempt to collect the debt,” Samson says.
“In another case, involving a Mississippi man, they were trying to collect a debt that was owed by his ex-wife. And after he explained to them that it was not his obligation, the LHR collector told him that he would call him every day at 8 AM until he paid that debt.”
Aside from paying the penalties, LHR also agreed to reform its business practices, as part of the settlement. The Attorney General’s Office will closely monitor LHR’s business for the next four years, and any complaints it receives from consumers will have to be addressed by LHR immediately. LHR has also agreed to create a section dedicated to complaints on its website, where consumers can file a report if they are still being harassed by a specific debt collector.
Source: http://www.wben.com/Local-Debt-Collector-Fined-for-Harassing-Customers/7782951
