NOT FRAUD
Complaint
NONE
Country: United States
AFNI IS REAL AND NOT A FRAUD. IF YOU WOULD NOT HAVE RACKED UP THE BILL YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. YOU MAKE THE BILL YOU NEED TO PAY IT THAT IS HOW LIFE WORKS. SO PAYING YOUR FREAKIN BILLS YOU DUMB IGNORANT PEOPLE.
Comments
They appear to have bought AFNI's claim that the accounts are legitimate, rating them "B+" despite noting that there is a pending lawsuit by the Minnesota Attorney General that alleges a pattern of continued collection with failure to verify debts. Peoria BBB may be assisting AFNI in reducing the number of complaints filed with FTC and state Attorneys General.
AFNI actively steers consumers toward disputing their bogus debts as "id theft", resulting in larger numbers of id theft complaints filed with FTC than in connection with any other debt collector. They appear to be using suggestions of "id theft" to put barriers in the way of consumers disputing and requesting validation of alleged debts sent as a result of intentional or sloppy errors in skip tracing.
No mention of the Minnesota Attorney General's lawsuit. It just "disappeared", and they are now rated "A+".
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2 ... _sdt=2&as_vis=1&
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CONCLUSION
The Court finds that AFNI's statements in its form letter are "false, misleading, or deceptive" in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e, and AFNI is not entitled to assert the bona fide error defense under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c). Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability under § 1692e of the FDCPA is GRANTED and Defendant's motion for summary judgment is DENIED.
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A federal law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act limits what debt collectors can do to harass you about debts. In most states, like Missouri, the state laws do not provide much protection against harassment. However, the federal law applies to all debt collectors, including attorneys.
The law applies only to "debt collectors." This means that the person calling you is collecting the debt that you owe to someone else. If the XYZ Company calls you directly to collect their debt, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not apply to them. However, if the XYZ Company hires a debt collection agency to collect the debts, the law does apply to the debt collection agency.
Debt collector contacts
A debt collector may contact you over the telephone, by mail, in person, or by fax. The debt collector cannot call you at unreasonable times or places. Typically, this means that they should not call you before 8:00 a.m. in the morning or after 9:00 p.m. at night unless you agree to let them call you at those hours. A debt collector may call you at work unless you let them know that their employer disapproves of this. If you do get contacted at work, immediately notify the debt collector if your employer prohibits this.
Stopping debt collection contacts
You can request that the collector stop contacting you. You should do this by writing a letter to the debt collection agency in addition to telling them over the telephone. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter for your own records. When the debt collection agency receives the letter, they should not contact you again except to tell you if they are going to take specific action concerning the debt.
Debt collector contacts with other people
The debt collector may contact other people such as friends, relatives, or neighbors to find out information about where you live and work. Normally they can only contact these people once. In most cases, they are not allowed to tell these people about your debt, but only obtain information about your address and work.
If an attorney represents you on this debt, notify the debt collector of your attorney's name, address and phone number. The debt collector should then contact only the attorney.
What the debt collector must tell you
A debt collector may contact you initially by telephone. If they do, they are required to send you a written notice within five days telling you the amount of the debt you owe, the name of the creditor that you owe the money to, and what action you should take if you do not owe the money.
Disputing the debt
If you do not owe all or part of the money that is being collected, you can request that the debt collector verify the debt. For example, if you signed a loan agreement, you can request that they send you a copy of this document. If you dispute the debt, you should notify the debt collector in writing within 30 days after you are first contacted by the collection agency. You should write them a letter explaining why you do not owe the money and requesting that they verify the debt. During the 30-day period after you are first contacted, the collection agency should not contact you again until they provide you proof of the debt.
Prohibited Harassment
Debt collectors can call you and request that you pay the debt. However, they cannot harass you or abuse you. These are the types of things that they should not do:
* Use obscene or profane language.
* Make repeated frequent calls to annoy you.
* Telephone you without identifying themselves.
* Use threats of violence or harm against you.
* Threaten to arrest you if you do not pay the debt.
* Threaten to take action such as lawsuits, garnishments, or taking your property unless the collector intends to do so and it is legal. (Creditors must usually take you to court and get a court "judgment" against you before they are able to garnish your wages in Missouri.)
Debt collectors cannot make false statements about themselves or the debts. They cannot misrepresent:
* they are government officials;
* that you have committed a crime;
* that they work for the "credit bureau";
* that the papers you received are legal summonses
or legal papers, if they are not;
* the amount of your debt; or
* that there is an attorney involved, if there is not.
Debt collectors are also prohibited from:
* depositing a post-dated check before it is due;
* threatening to take your property unless it is legal to do so;
* contacting you by postcard.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/10/alliedinterstate.shtm
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For Release: 10/21/2010
Debt Collector Will Pay $1.75 Million to Settle FTC Charges
Ignored Consumers’ Disputes Without Checking Its Information for Accuracy
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“Debt collectors had better make sure their information is accurate, or they could end up paying a big penalty,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “There is no excuse for trying to collect debt from someone if you can’t confirm that they actually owe it.”
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I have been called a number of time and the qwest account that afni claims I owe on is an even legitamate account number. Don't not give these bottom feeding scum bags your money!!!
If they are harassing you over a nonexistent account, they have probably also already trashed your credit.
Dispute the alleged debt, demanding that they obtain and send you proof from the original creditor. If they actually check with Qwest, they would be able to catch their error and stop damaging you over this nonexistent account. Odds are they will instead make up some deceptive letter of their own and send it.
Check your credit reports, and dispute any negative information you find with the credit reporting agency. Again, odds are they will just "verify" it, but you have to go through this process to hold them liable for their "mistake".
If they send you fake, deceptive "validation", continue to attempt collection without sending you validation from the original creditor, or fail to remove erroneous negative information, get an attorney and sue them. You might try www.naca.net
It is no excuse for AFNI to claim it is "going off what the original creditors are giving them". If you dispute, they are required to go directly back to that original creditor and obtain and send proof, rather than just parroting back the records they already have.
AFNI is a debt collector, as defined by FDCPA, regardless of whether the alleged debts are assigned or bought. They act as "customer service" for some telecoms like Verizon, collect on assigned delinquent accounts, and ALSO buy old accounts, such as the large portfolio they bought from Verizon in 2006.
When you get a collection letter from a debt collector, FDCPA gives you the right to dispute that debt and request verification with the original creditor. If you send your written request within 30 days of receiving your first letter from AFNI, they MUST cease all collection activity until they obtain proof of the debt from the original creditor, and send it to you. If they never send you that proof, and they continue to collect (demand payment, etc.) they are in violation of FDCPA and you can sue them. AFNI has been sued many times for violations of FDCPA.
They routinely attempt to deflect consumers from disputing alleged debts, instead suggesting excuses for why the debt is owed, or they don't have to send proof. They got sued a couple years ago over sending deceptive letters in response to validation requests, and a federal judge ruled in that 3 state class action lawsuit that their letters were deceptive and violated FDCPA.
They have also been sued and investigated by the Minnesota Attorney General, for billing MN residents over unowed "debt" and failing to validate. After a settlement of the AG lawsuit involving Verizon accounts, they were again investigated for the same problem with Qwest accounts.
Debt collection employees are legally responsible for the abusive and deceptive tactics they use in collection of debts. If you lie and deceive, trying to fool consumers about their rights, why not "shoot the messenger"? Just add another "Doe".
NONE
13 Jun 2007
AFNI IS REAL AND NOT A FRAUD. IF YOU WOULD NOT HAVE RACKED UP THE BILL YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. YOU MAKE THE BILL YOU NEED TO PAY IT THAT IS HOW LIFE WORKS. SO PAYING YOUR FREAKIN BILLS YOU DUMB IGNORANT PEOPLE.
You obviously are a loser that works for AFNI. Don't tell me how life works idiot...these crooks sent be a bill for an account the was settled 8 years ago and expected me to pay it even after they couldn't validate. I pay my freakin bills and these losers are trying to extort money from me and apparently many other people.