RPM trying to collect a fake debt
Complaint
JP
Country: United States
On 4 Apr 08 I got a call from Receivables Performance Management (RPM) claiming that I owe $85 on a Verizon account from 2000. I know that I’ve never had a Verizon account, and that my phone account from 2000 (I forget which company) was paid properly. So I told the RPM rep that they were full of s**t, and that I wanted written proof that this debt is actually mine. They had the last 4 of my SSN and tried to pass that off as “proof” that their info was legitimate. I still didn’t fall for it and asked for everything in writing.
Fortunately I have records that go back that far. I also called Verizon to confirm that they don’t have any account information with my name on it. Surprisingly they have no record of me ever having an account with them. I then went online to find out if RPM is some sort of scam. They are a “legitimate” company, yet seem to be practicing what I would describe as predatory debt collection, or legal extortion. Unfortunately, there is not much information on the internet yet about RPM. However, there is a lot of information about AFNI, who seem to be doing the same thing.
So, after I found this web page, and read all of the information about AFNI, I downloaded the FDCPA and FCRA and read them. I’m sending RPM a letter in accordance with the FDCPA. I’m also sending the letter to my state’s AG and the WA state AG. (RPM is located in Bothell WA.) I also checked all of my credit reports to make sure that nothing has been placed on them. I’ll continue to monitor my credit reports very closely for the next few months. As this develops I’ll update this comment.
I’m considering contacting a lawyer to see if what RPM is doing is in any way actually extortion. It’s a crime that the max penalty under FDCPA and FCRA is only $1000 or actual damages. Obviously that small amount isn’t enough of an incentive to keep these companies from violating the law. I’m also going to contact my Congressmen about this. Maybe if enough of us complain the law can get changed?
Oh, and a huge thanks to the poster on this site TJ! His information and advice was invaluable!!
Fortunately I have records that go back that far. I also called Verizon to confirm that they don’t have any account information with my name on it. Surprisingly they have no record of me ever having an account with them. I then went online to find out if RPM is some sort of scam. They are a “legitimate” company, yet seem to be practicing what I would describe as predatory debt collection, or legal extortion. Unfortunately, there is not much information on the internet yet about RPM. However, there is a lot of information about AFNI, who seem to be doing the same thing.
So, after I found this web page, and read all of the information about AFNI, I downloaded the FDCPA and FCRA and read them. I’m sending RPM a letter in accordance with the FDCPA. I’m also sending the letter to my state’s AG and the WA state AG. (RPM is located in Bothell WA.) I also checked all of my credit reports to make sure that nothing has been placed on them. I’ll continue to monitor my credit reports very closely for the next few months. As this develops I’ll update this comment.
I’m considering contacting a lawyer to see if what RPM is doing is in any way actually extortion. It’s a crime that the max penalty under FDCPA and FCRA is only $1000 or actual damages. Obviously that small amount isn’t enough of an incentive to keep these companies from violating the law. I’m also going to contact my Congressmen about this. Maybe if enough of us complain the law can get changed?
Oh, and a huge thanks to the poster on this site TJ! His information and advice was invaluable!!
Comments
Are you people who work for this BS company so desperate for work that it was either that or being a prostitute? Wouldn't being a burger flipper make you at least sleep better at night? Or how about a paper route?
I think it's aboslutely HILARIOUS that you stupid [***] bill collectors claim to be nice, honest, moral **gasp*** people with "feelings" when you call people (and their relatives AND their employers) many many many times a day to harass. I got a call from a bill collecter today who the moment I answered the phone and said, "Hello. Hello? HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO? Helllooooooooooooo?????!!!!!" ended up getting hung up on. Niiiice! I'm sure some [***] with morals and feelings made that call. I tried to block my number (didn't work I guess for an 888 number) and some creepy woman answered. I played the same game with her. I covered the mouth piece of my phone and didn't say a thing. At which point the creep said, "Hello? Can I help you? [Then she said MY NAME!!! Somehow she knew who I was! Then there was a pause. Then I hung up on the wench.]" I think from now on anytime some [***] from one of these companies calls me, I will just do the same thing back to them. They call, I try to be responsible and answer. They hang up. If they seriously wanted to collect money from me that I don't have (since Bush ruined the country with no f-ing jobs, thankyouverymuch), then perhaps a lesson from someone like Emily Post in telephone etiquette would be a nice start. Oh, and also a lesson in the LAWS!
And once we believe you, we require you as the power of attorney, or the executor of the estate to pay for the debt, and if you say that is not you well.................................................too late, we've already entered it into our system that you admit that to being you, and computers don't lie.
Kamal is playing the role of debt collector, in a "dialogue" that portrays their worst practices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
I hate debt collectors and I hate what they do.
But because I used to be one, I can tell you that 90% (if not more or atleast close to it) there is nothing you can do about debts that are not legitamitly yours but pay them.
Or else recieve:
Negative credit,
Constant calling (harrassment),
Wage garnishment,
Calling and airing your dirty laundry to your boss, friends, family, coworkers, banks, agencies, ect.
Interest on the debts that are not even really yours, (so that if they garnish your bank, it will be for even more than what the original debt was even though the debt was never yours).
And the list goes on and on.
These people are trained to feel good about ripping people off, and they don't have to look you in the eye or see you face to face, they are allowed and told to have an alias so you can't track them down and break their legs or ect.
Making it so that they can easily do this and even make it into a game while their at it. Even if you refuse to answer your phone they will then get back at you and put in the record for your bill that you refused to pay and that you admit to the debt being yours, then next thing you know on your credit report it shows negatively, and in most cases you don't check your credit report because in most cases this isn't your bill so you have nothing to check, and if you don't check then you don't know and if you don't know then you don't dispute and if your don't dispute then your screwed for a bill that isn't even yours!
Then when you do want to dispute it, you call up the company or when they call you you tell them you are disputing it, so they say fine no problem and they write in the records that you are REALLY NOT DISPUTING IT! You have to make it so that they can't do that, by proving everything that you do, like disputing it with a letter. And not just any letter, because anyone can throw away the letter and say that they never recieved it or ect.
You have to have a certified, return reciept, notorized, hell maybe even a signed by lawyer letter to prove anything, and even then they will doctor up something as proof showing that you owe the bill even when you don't.
Like TJ and I've been saying I'm against debt collectors, but like I've said if you don't know how to handle me without getting upset as your only defense your screwed.
So please read and go by this edited version instead.
Tj's right. I'm really a retired debt collector who is on your side. But at the same time nothing I have said is untrue. Everything I have told you is what I used to do to people and what other co workers of mine act like and do. The way I've been acting is exactly the way other collectors including myself have acted. Your right it is completely wrong and immorrall which is why I stopped working for these companies a long time ago, but you needed to understand exactly what a collector would say in response to anything you guys have been saying if you were on the phone with a collector whom ever he or she is.
I hate debt collectors and I hate what they do.
But because I used to be one, I can tell you that 90% (if not more or atleast close to it) there is nothing you can do about debts that are not legitamitly yours but pay them.
Or else recieve:
Negative credit,
Constant calling (harrassment),
Wage garnishment,
Calling and airing your dirty laundry to your boss, friends, family, coworkers, banks, agencies, ect.
Interest on the debts that are not even really yours, (so that if they garnish your bank, it will be for even more than what the original debt was even though the debt was never yours).
And the list goes on and on.
These people are trained to feel good about ripping people off, and they don't have to look you in the eye or see you face to face, they are allowed and told to have an alias so you can't track them down and break their legs or ect.
Making it so that they can easily do this and even make it into a game while their at it. Even if you refuse to answer your phone they will then get back at you and put in the record for your bill that you refused to pay and that you admit to the debt being yours, then next thing you know on your credit report it shows negatively, and in most cases you don't check your credit report because in most cases this isn't your bill so you have nothing to check, and if you don't check then you don't know and if you don't know then you don't dispute and if your don't dispute then your screwed for a bill that isn't even yours!
Then when you do want to dispute it, you call up the company or when they call you you tell them you are disputing it, so they say fine no problem and they write in the records that you are REALLY NOT DISPUTING IT! You have to make it so that they can't do that, by proving everything that you do, like disputing it with a letter. And not just any letter, because anyone can throw away the letter and say that they never recieved it or ect.
You have to have a certified, return reciept, notorized, hell maybe even a signed by lawyer letter to prove anything, and even then they will doctor up something as proof showing that you owe the bill even when you don't.
Like TJ and I've been saying I'm against debt collectors, but like I've said if you don't know how to handle me without getting upset as your only defense your screwed.
If there are anymore typos, I apologize.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/773zB20V3ADpQgjKwW1zSg
When I was a Debt Collector I would have instant and free membership to that site not only when I was at work but from any pc outside of work including home and I would use it to get anyones SSN/current number/ and business contacts, including familys ssn and the list goes on. Simply go to work and enter it into the bill and send to the credit bureos as refuse to pay and wait for them to come to you, when they do, tell them they either pay or ect. When they ask about how this happened, blame it on the original creditor who is really innocent but they don't know that, and come out the hero for accepting a easy and affordable payment plan, and bring home a paycheck and commission and laugh about it all the way to sleep. And it's all made EVEN MORE POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF ACCURINT.COM who gives you information that you wouldn't want ANYONE to have!
Hell many collectors share their username and password of the site with their closest friends and next thing you know every and anyone can use the site. That's why other sites profit off of it in selling reports....That's just people who collect the information, the payment, and address to send the results to and there ya go. Making identity theft as easy as one, two, three!
So now you have to pay companies that specialize in keeping your identity safe...But either way your going to pay.
Which isn't right, you shouldn't have to pay to stop someone from ruining your credit. It's a no win, but a lesser of the two evils.
There's a simple way for this country to avoid debt.
When you go to a restaruant you are given the chance to eat without paying, it's called dining and dashing, and unfortunitly places allow you to eat and then pay for the bill.
But if you go to a fast food place, you pay right after ordering, and then you wait for the meal, making it so that you can't owe anything, because you paid it already. Instead of the other way around.
That's the problem with this country, people want something now and then pay for it later. And for some stupid reason their are companies that do it. And then they blame the consumer and report them and the debt to collection agencies.
Now every agency is in competition with each other to collect the most money or go out of business, so now the only way to right the wrong done to the original creditors is to ripp off innocent people and to harrass them until they do. And ofcourse that's what happens.
Society needs to change, businesses WILL change by the fault because they will have no other choice IF they no longer have collection agencys to use to make up for their losses! So you take out the collection agencys you change business practices. Once you do that you change bad habits of consumers where they spend money on crap or overspend or spend what they don't and will never have. Next thing you know you have a perfect and responsible society, of businesses and consumers.
Then population control is implimented because people cannot afford to have children until they are ready for it, or they can't afford to have as many children. So there is a chain reaction simply by fixing these corrupt, businesses.
Oh and by the way, can you all help me out?
You see I don't want your money or to buy anything from me or this site, but I do credit if you click on the exact URL I list here because it records ONLY /UNIQUE CLICKS from unique IP addresses, so if you don't click on the link exactly as it is you basically didn't do me any favors.
If I get enough UNIIQUE CLICKS I get something for free.
So if it's not too much trouble please click on the link exactly as it is, and then click on the other link that will show on the page that loads, and then YOUR DONE!
Thanks I really do appreciate it!
Here is the link and remember to click the link that loads on the page, so just two links with two clicks can make a world of difference!
http://www.alexchiu.com/intelliscript/in.cgi?id=1227737798
You see I don't want your money or to buy anything from me or this site, but I do credit if you click on the exact URL I list here because it records ONLY /UNIQUE CLICKS from unique IP addresses, so if you don't click on the link exactly as it is you basically didn't do me any favors.
If I get enough UNIIQUE CLICKS I get something for free.
So if it's not too much trouble please click on the link exactly as it is, and then click on the other link that will show on the page that loads, and then YOUR DONE!
Thanks I really do appreciate it!
Here is the link and remember to click the link that loads on the page, so just two links with two clicks can make a world of difference!
http://www.alexchiu.com/intelliscript/in.cgi?id=1227737798