Here's an article from today's Minneapolis newspaper
Debt collectors going too far, state suit charges
Conrad Defiebre
Star Tribune
Published June 17, 2004
Debt collection agencies are becoming so aggressive that some have routinely harassed Minnesotans for money they do not owe, state officials said Wednesday as they filed consumer protection suits against two agencies.
"It's a change in the industry," said state Solicitor General Lori Swanson. "I think it's lucrative for debt collectors to engage in these tactics of harassing the wrong people."
Some people simply pay whatever is demanded to get persistent collectors off their backs, Swanson said. Others call the attorney general's office. Swanson said that more than 100 consumer complaints led to Wednesday's suits against Allied Interstate Inc. of St. Louis Park and JBC and Associates, P.C., a law firm in Bloomfield, N.J., alleging repeated violations of state collection laws.
According to the Allied Interstate suit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, the company failed to notify consumers of debts in writing and misled them about procedures for verifying or disputing a claimed debt. It continued collection calls even after people told collectors that they had the wrong person or that they did not owe anything, the suit alleges.
The JBC suit, filed in Ramsey County District Court, alleges that the firm unlawfully continued collection efforts after failing to provide required written verification of debts. It also improperly threatened to sue over dishonored checks covered by Minnesota's six-year statute of limitations and sought to impose directly civil penalties that under the law only a court may assess, the suit says.
Allied Interstate's attorney did not return a reporter's call Wednesday. JBC's attorney, Michael Poncin of Minneapolis, said he had not seen the suit against his client and could not comment on it.
The attorney general's office issued these tips for consumers to follow when debt collectors call:
• Do not pay a debt if you do not believe you owe it. The collection agency will not be interested in "clearing things up" after it has received payment.
• If you dispute a debt, do it in writing. Claiming you don't owe a debt to a collector over the phone may not provide you with full legal protection. A letter disputing a debt should include a request for verification of the debt and it should be sent within 30 days of the initial collection call.
• Keep copies of letters to or from collection agencies and log all calls from collectors, noting the time, date, name of the caller and substance of each conversation. Under the law, collectors may call only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. and they may not call you at work if your employer prohibits it.
• Check your credit report to see if the collection agency has reported a false debt to national credit bureaus. If so, ask both the agency and the credit bureau to investigate any debt that you believe to be inaccurate.
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