FTC's response to my complaint about National Check Control (LONG)

Posted by Matt C (208.206.232.67) on April 07, 2003 at 14:12:51:

I filed a formal complaint with the FTC last Friday against these creeps, and they and sent me this reply. I have snipped out certain bits of the response so it will fit in this web form, but have tried to leave the most pertinent information. You should all file a similar complaint, and you'll get a full response with more detail than this has. Even though the FTC cannot intervene directly on our behalfs, it will be good for them to have a record of how many people have complained about this company.

... The Federal Trade Commission enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA" or "Act"), which prohibits unfair, deceptive and abusive debt collection practices by collection agencies and other third-party debt collectors. It also gives you certain rights when you are being treated improperly by a debt collector. Although the FTC staff is not in a position to intervene on your behalf in resolving your problem, we would like to outline some of the provisions of the Act for you and explain how you can use it to avoid further distress. ...

Congress enacted the FDCPA in 1977 in response to mounting evidence of the use of improper debt collection techniques in the marketplace. The Act prohibits several of these techniques, including, for example, disclosing consumers' debts to most third parties without the consumers' consent. It also forbids false threats to coerce payment (such as threats of suit or other actions when they probably will never occur) and any sort of oral harassment (such as threats of violence, profanity, and continuous calls) over the telephone. No calls may be made very early in the morning or late at night, calls to a consumer at work are restricted, and debt collectors may not add charges to the debt unless the consumer has agreed to them or they are permitted by state law. ...

If you believe that you do not owe the debt, you may file a dispute with the debt collector. If you do so in writing within thirty days of the date the collector notifies you of this right, the Act requires the collector to stop all collection efforts until it provides you with written verification of the debt. The Act also specifies that the debt collector inform you of this requirement at the beginning of the collection process. If you were not so informed, the collector violated the law.

... [ Text explaining why disputes are better than "Cease-and-desists", because the latter does nothing to stop the collection enforcement, it only causes the company to stop telling you what they're doing ] ...

If you believe that the debt collector that is contacting you violated the law in this or any other way, you may additionally:

1) File a complaint with your state or local consumer protection office and/or the party to whom you originally owed the debt (the debt collector's client). If you file a complaint, describe the circumstances in detail and send copies of all written materials received from the collector. Any of these parties might take independent action against the collector.

2) File a private suit against the debt collector in any court for violations of the Act and, if you are successful, receive actual damages, attorney's fees, and additional damages up to $1,000.

... [ Text explaining what debt collectors can do if the debt is valid, and reminding us that the FDCPA does not serve to erase a valid debt. ] ...

If you owe the debt, we suggest that, before you resort to some of the stronger measures outlined above, you try to work out any payment difficulties, first with the debt collector and next with your creditor. Finally, if you decide to proceed further, or if you think that the collector or creditor is about to take legal action against you, be sure to contact your local legal aid office or an attorney for advice.

Like the FDCPA provisions discussed above, you may also find certain Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provisions helpful if you believe that a debt collector is providing inaccurate information about you to a credit bureau. To fully protect your rights under the FCRA, we strongly recommend that you dispute the credit report item in writing to both the credit bureau and the debt collector. When you dispute the item to the credit bureau, the FCRA requires that the credit bureau pass your dispute to the debt collector, along with all relevant information you provided. The debt collector must investigate the dispute (which includes a review of the information you provided) and report what it found to the credit bureau within thirty days after you first disputed the item to the credit bureau.

During this same period, the credit bureau must also review the information you provided. If the debt collector reports that the credit report item is incorrect and should be deleted, or fails to report to the credit bureau at all within the thirty-day period, the credit bureau must delete the item from its files. If the debt collector reports that the item is inaccurate and should be changed to a less delinquent status (e.g., 30 days late, rather than 120 days late), but not deleted, the credit bureau must make that change in its files.

... [ Thanks for writing, your input is helpful and important, etc. ] ...

Sincerely yours,
Consumer Response Center

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup