Anyone Know Merchants Credit Guide Co

[drini7]

me too!! Arizona

I just got one too: Our Client : NCO PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT, INC.
Original Creditor : BANK OF NEW YORKDELA
Current BALANCE: $11,000.05
From: KEN HUGHES
Collection Agency Representative


" I Just send a letter to dispute the validity of the debt and any portion thereof."
CA
08/19/2005

i just got a letter from the same mr. hughes for $10,707.67 for an American Express card i never had. thanks for the info about the cease and desist letters.

BTW.....this same scam was going around in the early '80's......back then they were using Master Card as their collection of choice. i told them to send me the original signed application or one bill i had signed and never heard from them again.

 

[beetlebailey]

I too have been contacted several times by MCG regarding an automobile that was repossessed in Maine fifteen years ago. I never got a bill for the remaining balance, so I called the bank and they told me there would be none because the dealer had signed a buy back guarantee (he was my employer and wanted me to have one of his cars.) Anyway, I never heard any more about it except it was on my credit report for the normal 7.5 years and then disappeared as it should.

Now that I am deployed with the Georgia National Guard, he is bugging my wife with phone calls and letters. Yes, I got the three options letter, but I'm choosing the fourth option: The shut up and go away option. The Maine SOL is six years and it expired while I was still a resident of that state. The link that LadynRed posted early in this thread for the C & D letter is not working for me. But rest assured, I'll find one to use. The internet is a very large place.

Does any lawyer here know if I could join any class action on perhaps an intentional infliction of emotional distress cause? I really don't care about the money, I just want this scum out of business. He needs to be locked up too. God only knows how many people have sent him the money not realizing the scam this thing is.

beetle

 

[mop]

Merchants Credit Guide

Would there be some benefit to filling out a complaint at the FTC website.

At the FTC website there is a link at the top of the page for File a Complaint.

http://www.ftc.gov/

Merchant Credit guide contacted me and at first I thought it was some phishing scheme the way they acted on the phone. When I called them, finaly got through and gave the person my "file number", she said that "by federal law we are required to verify your social security number". When I refused, (I never do this from an unsoliscited email, snail mail or phone call), she disconnected. My letter refers to a non-existent bill for a cable company. (AT&T Broadband). It is under $100. Can I safely ignore this?
Thanks in advance for any advice,
MOP

 

[ajsan]

anyone Know Merchants Crdit Guide

California
Today, October 18, 2005, I received a collection letter from Merchants Credit Guide Company for the amount of $554.20 for the creditor Household Finance from 1991. I have never had an account with them, and this letter is my first, and only ever, notification. I will be sending a letter disputing the valifity of the debt, and requesting validation from the initial creditor based on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Certified Mail). I will be omitting my signature because I am aware that scam-artists obtain signatures from dispute letters as part of their fraudulent practices.

I found this forum only by chance when I searched for Merchants Credit Guide Company on the Web. I just thought this was a scam, and based on what others have written, I am certain of it.

ajsan
Southern Caliornia

 

[drini7]

Arrow Industries in Il/Wisconsin

BTW........Arrow Industries (probably a division of Merchants Credit Guide) is located in Illinois but the collection call center is in Wisconsin.

I first encountered them when trying to refi my home.......they had an $11,000 plus collection on one of the 3 bureaus........sometimes they put them on one at a time.........the lender got them on the phone on a 3 way conversation with this guy screaming at me that i had PROMISED to pay him. i had never ever heard of them before. they had to take it off my credit (still don't know what the collection was for). they waited about a year and then put it on another one of the 3 bureaus.......which i disputed and had removed.

be aware these people are either part of the same scam or they are selling each other "paper" back and forth.........they are just too similar not to be affiliated.

 

[chicagogirl123]

Two Thumbs Down to Collection Agency

undefined I just recieved a letter from Merchants Credit Guide Co today. Asking the same thing for some companies I've never even heard of. Right off I think this is a SCAM, it must be. Probably some little old lady is shaking in her boots as she recieves the same letter and actual pays it to this scam artist of a collection agency. Sending my DISPUTE letter first thing in the morning..notorized and certified. You can find great information om fair-debt-collection.com also doesn't hurt to check your credit report on www.myfico.com or www.freecreditreport.com ... Lots of great info at all three websites too. FTC, FBI, CIA ... fraud is fraud and it is punishable by law, we should hold this fraudulant company accountable. Petition anyone???? Oh by the way, I am from Nevada, con-artist capital of the world..

 

[BDTN]

8 Months of automated calls to the wrong person!
This company pestered me with calls for months! I didn't know who they were and I never returned "Ken Hughes" calls. But I Googled Ken Hughes and bingo! When a letter came (my address and someone else's name) I returned it marked "No one here by that name". The calls continued and they sent another letter. This time I opened it to find an 'official looking' bill. They had MY address and MY phone number and someone else's name AND their returned letter stating that person did not live here and yet they CONTINUED their annoying calls.

Through this forum and other sites I found enough information to realize what kind of company they were and through good advise from another victim began writing letters. I had documented all the call dates and aprox times but never needed that information. And I never responded to their 'requests' to call the infamous Mr. Ken Hughes. Some have mentioned the phone number that their calls were being generated from but not having Caller ID I never had that information.

My solution:
I wrote M.C.G. and demanded they stop calling! I listed websites where others had complained *AND* I copied my letter to the Attorneys General of all the States involved (Ill, NY and TN), the FCC's Do Not Call List and the TN Do Not Call List ...and to the BBB of Chicago. In fact NY State has an branch office for the Attorney General in the city listed on the bogus bill from MCG so the NY State Attorney General received two letters from me ...there and in Albany. The Chicago BBB and Do Not Call Lists had online complaint forms and all replied. The BBB followed up twice, each time asking me to Reply if NO action had been received. I DID!

Finally I have received a letter from the office of the Attorney General - State of New York - Bureau of Consumer Frauds And Protection saying that "..the company has agreed to our request to resolve your complaint". Along with it is a copy of a letter from Merchants' Credit Guide Co. apologizing "..for any inconvenience this may have caused". MCG also mentioned the list of websites that I had referenced in my complaint saying that 'in the type of business they are in they receive their share of complaints' and that they "question the credibility" of the peoples thoughts and opinions on these forums!

If you are in the right then WRITE LETTERS!!!
...and good luck!
BD in TN

 

[Ladynred]

Attention Mcg Victims !!

You might all be interested in reading the TOP article on this Bud Hibbs page:

http://www.budhibbs.com/budsnews.htm

NCO bought a HUGE portfolio of dinosaur debts that were formerly CAMCO's - the scumsucking CA that was put out of business by the Feds ! NCO has assigned these moldy old accounts to MCG !!

 

[sbye]

California

I got a letter from Merchants Credit Guide Co. a couple of days ago. They say they are trying to collect $9,700.00 for their client CFB Financial LLC, and the original creditor was Chase Manhattan. I haven't had an acct. with Chase Manhattan since the late '80's, and I never had a limit even close to that amount. Even if there was a debt, the SOL is way expired.

I found plenty of info on Merchants and nothing on CFB. I sent a C&D letter to Merchants via certified mail RRR, and cited long expired SOL, and directed them to stop collection efforts, and not to contact me in any way, and I'm hoping that's the end of it. I'm a little worried, though, after reading some of these posts. These scum-suckers obviously don't play by the rules so I'm betting I'm going to hear from them again; I'm planning for the worst. I have a couple of questions: If they report this to the CRA's, I know I have the right to sue them, but how do I go about it since they are located in Chicago? And my other question is, if they are fraudulently trying to collect invalid debts, isn't it one count of mail fraud for each collection letter they send to us? Doesn't mail fraud get reported to the FBI? I'm onboard with turning these crooks into every agency possible.