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September 27, 2021

Atlanta-Based Debt Collection Company Agrees to Permanent Ban From Debt Collection Industry

​On September 27, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with an Atlanta-based debt collection company and its owners​ that would ban them from the debt collection industry.​

​The FTC had originally filed suit in ​2020, after which the court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order​ ​prohibiting the company from doing business.  The complaint, filed in September 2020, alleged violations of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), and of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692–1692p, for “deceptive and abusive debt-collection practices, including attempts to harass consumers into paying debts they do not owe.”​  The complaint alleged that defendants pretended to be attorneys or law enforcement officers and used “threats or fear to persuade consumers into paying phantom debts that [were] no longer owed or were never owed.”

Under the settlement​, defendants are banned from debt collection and debt brokering activities and will pay $266,258.95​ in monetary relief to the FTC.  The total monetary judgment of $3,010,123.65 was partially suspended given defendants’ inability to pay.

The post Atlanta-Based Debt Collection Company Agrees to Permanent Ban From Debt Collection Industry appeared first on Consumer Finance Enforcement Watch.