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Business Blog

Debt to rights

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Record-breaking refund programs are usually cause for celebration. But the FTC’s largest-ever debt collection redress case offers sobering insights into the lengths some companies will go to illegally...
Business Blog

3 dos, 3 don’ts, and 1 don’t-even-think-about-it

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It’s a text that would make most people take notice: ALERT ALERT ALERT .. YOUR PAYMENT WAS DECLINED DUE TO AN INSUFFICIENT ACH TRANSACTION…CALL 866.597.3075. But it wasn’t really an alert. There wasn...
Business Blog

Debt collection double feature

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The 2011 science fiction movie “The Adjustment Bureau” dealt with a dystopian future (Is there any other kind in sci-fi movies?) where mysterious forces plot against individuals. But for many...
Business Blog

Needle and threats

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The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lays out some pretty clear dos and don’ts for debt collectors. Do identify yourself as a debt collector. Do follow up within five days of your initial...
Business Blog

When a data oops becomes an uh-oh

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We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Glitch Happens. In the case of Accretive Health, Inc., it was a laptop taken from the passenger compartment of an employee’s car. What transformed this...
Business Blog

Phantom of the owe-pera

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This tale of phantoms doesn’t involve crashing chandeliers and operatic crescendos. But according to a lawsuit filed by the FTC, the results were just as dramatic for consumers mistreated by debt...
Business Blog

DONT VIOL8 FDCPA. K? THX

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If we were sending a text about the FTC’s case against Glendale, California, based debt collector National Attorney Collection Services, that might be all we could convey, given space limitations...
Business Blog

Collection deception

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On classic episodes of the Tonight Show, affable sidekick Ed McMahon sought guidance from Johnny Carson's all-knowing Carnac character. But as demonstrated by a recent FTC law enforcement action —...
Business Blog

Nightmare on Main Street

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With a company name like Broadway Global Master, you might expect high kicks and jazz hands. The defendants told a dramatic story, all right — but according to the FTC, it was a harrowing tale of...
Business Blog

Watch what you're doing with time-barred debts

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Of course, people are responsible for their debts. However, at a certain point, how much time has passed becomes an affirmative defense under state law and creditors can’t prevail in court. But what...
Business Blog

Quoth the Maven

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In celebration of Halloween — and with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe — here’s our take on what companies can do to make sure spooky business practices don’t come back to haunt them. Once upon a...
Business Blog

Reader discretion advised

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It’s unusual for an FTC court document to come with a warning label, but the allegations contained in a recent debt collection case against an outfit doing business as Rumson, Bolling & Associates...
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