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
NAF caved just days after the Minnesota Attorney General filed suit.
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2009/july/july23b_09.html
"July 23rd
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO SUES TO THROW OUT OVER 100,000 FAULTY JUDGMENTS ENTERED AGAINST NEW YORK CONSUMERS IN NEXT STAGE OF DEBT COLLECTION INVESTIGATION
37 Law Firms and Collectors Statewide Named in Lawsuit for Failing to Properly Notify New Yorkers Being Sued for Owing Debt - Over 17,938 Faulty Judgments Across Long Island
Cuomo Also Subpoenas Two Additional NYS Process Servers in Ongoing Investigation of Fraudulent Debt Collection Practices
..."
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/Consumer/PressRelea ... tionAgremnt.asp
"July 20, 2009
National Arbitration Forum Barred From Credit Card And Consumer Arbitrations Under Agreement With Attorney General Swanson
Swanson Also Wants Congress to Ban “Fine Print” Forced Arbitration Clauses
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and the National Arbitration Forum—the country’s largest administrator of credit card and consumer collections arbitrations—have reached an agreement that the company would get out of the business of arbitrating credit card and other consumer collection disputes.
“I am very pleased with the settlement. To consumers, the company said it was impartial, but behind the scenes, it worked alongside credit card companies to get them to put unfair arbitration clauses in the fine print of their contracts and to appoint the Forum as the arbitrator. Now the company is out of this business,” said Swanson.
Swanson sued the National Arbitration Forum on Tuesday, alleging that the company--which is named as the arbitrator of consumer disputes in tens of millions of credit card agreements--hid from the public its extensive ties to the collection industry. The lawsuit alleged that the Forum told consumers and the public that it is independent and neutral, operates like an impartial court system, and is not affiliated with and does not take sides between the parties. The lawsuit alleged that the Forum worked behind the scenes, however, to convince credit card companies and other creditors to insert arbitration provisions in their customer agreements and then appoint the Forum to decide the disputes. The suit also alleged that the Forum has financial ties to the collection industry. The suit alleged that the company arbitrated 214,000 consumer arbitration claims in 2006, nearly 60 percent of which were filed by laws firms with which the Forum is linked through ties to a New York hedge fund.
..."
Here come the class action lawsuits:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/07/16/ArbitrateIllionis.pdf
Both FDCPA and FCRA allow the courts to award attorney fees on top of damages if you are successful in suing. You don't even have to sue in their state, as both federal laws allow for suit to be filed in "any court of competent jurisdicton" such as you local federal or state courts, including small claims courts. Congress wrote both laws to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors, and expected that they would be enforced by "private attorneys general", also known as plaintiffs attorneys. That is why they allow for a private right of action, not just enforcement by government regulators.
One place you can find an attorney specializing in this area of practice is:
www.naca.net
Or if you can't find one easily in your area, find one in any area, even via news stories, and they will likely be able to put you in touch with an attorney in your area with expertise in this.
They can't even blow smoke without tripping up.
Making a payment does NOT allow the delinquency to be legally reported for any additional period. It may, however, reset the statute of limitation, which determines the period that the creditor has to sue, based on state law.
There are so many consistent complaints of repeated calls per day, even to the wrong person, that it credibly overcomes any doubt about what it has been set up to do.
File complaints with FTC, your state AG, their state AG, and the U.S. Postal Inspector.
If you don't normally have delinquent debts, than the most likely cause of credit damage for you is likely to be incompetent and malicious acts by this sort of debt collector. Since in fact more people do NOT have delinquent debts than do (just as far more people are NOT in forclosure than are), in most cases where a debt collector is really incompetent and non-compliant, odds are very high that they will be harassing and damaging innocent people.
That pretty much undermines the "cost vs. benefit" argument used by debt collectors to justify their existance, since they are basically cheating by not paying the "costs" they transfer to "misidentified" alleged debtors, much like a polluting factory that contaminates public water supplies ignores the cost to the public of their poisoning.
Your ability to stop such damage depends on responding as required by FDCPA and FCRA to have an actionable case.
1) "Skip-tracing" (if that term is even valid for just matching names all over the country) is done by people separate from the phone drones, since the phone drones don't know how bad it is.
2) If after a few months a new employee realizes what they are up to and stays, then they are either "simple-minded" or willing participants in a con game.
3) The policy of sending bills and harassing people who don't owe debts comes straight from the top. This is not just "a few bad apples".
One of my previous calls with Phil was Phil disputing that my brother
still lives at my home.
Seems to me that Phil and RPM are chasing a debt that is over twenty years old, is that legal ?????
Where they usually get into trouble is in what they claim about these old debts, such as that they don't have to prove you owe it but if you can't prove you don't you have to pay it, that you can't request validation, that they can legally sue you past SOL, that they can legally report it on your credit reports past 7 years, that you agreed to pay (when you didn't), that they can keep calling you forever (they have to cease communications if you request, in accordance with FDCPA), etc.
All of the above are prohibited practices under FDCPA and state laws, along with deceptive, abusive, or harassing collection, making illegal threats, such as that you will be arrested, that not paying them is a crime, etc.
Debt collectors pursuing old debts have little legal recourse, but they are in that business because they can buy them cheaply. They often violate federal and state laws, using threats instead where they have no legal right usable in court. Typically, the pay is low, turnover high, and they will go after anyone they might convince to pay, even if they have contacted the wrong person. As such, some of their illegal activities could be characterized as criminal fraud, yet they may get away with this for years before state or federal authorities take action.
As you can see, they skip-trace connected addresses and phone numbers using databases of dubious accuracy. It is common for such databases (Accurint being one) to toss out a bunch of possible leads, many of which are simply wrong. People who have pulled their own Accurint or ChoicePoint reports have found their lives apparently mangled with relatives of old boy friends or exes, complete strangers, unrelated addresses and businesses or properties they supposedly own, etc.
Such data would normally be used by an investigator, either law enforcement or private, who would weed out the nonsense. Instead, you have a bunch of maybe high school graduates given access to trash data, on low pay but incentivised with bonuses to get money from anyone they can.
Your brother might not even have any connection to the alleged debt, or it might have been paid long ago and no longer be owed. Or it might have been a billing error, corrected at the time, but due to a later merger, the new company sells off their old written-off account information (which could include both bad debts and corrected billing errors) for these low lifes to work through and see who they can con.
The other major error where such information is erroneous is in the dates and timing associated with the information. As you noted, they could trace the connections between your phone number, your address, and your brother's name, even though your brother never lived there at the time the phone number was active. Their skip trace data is blind to this sort of error, since it is randomly collected from multiple companies mailing lists, public records, etc, and just linked where anything might loosely match. The search program just lumps together anything that might be related, or what might be related to what might be related. A couple degrees removed, and you have nonsense.
You caught them in a lie claiming your brother gave them your number. He never did, nor would he have had any reason to, nor could he have even known it at the time he did live at your address, but lying is so common in this business they as soon lie as say hello.
http://www.lawpoint.com/index.php?option=com_ ... tid=5&Itemid=35
http://www.accurint.com/relavint_plugin_desktop.html
"...
LexisNexis Accurint does not constitute a "consumer report" as that term is defined in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. (FCRA). Accordingly, LexisNexis Accurint may not be used in whole or in part as a factor in determining eligibility for credit, insurance, employment or another permissible purpose under the FCRA. Due to the nature of the origin of public record information, the public records and commercially available data sources used in reports may contain errors. Source data is sometimes reported or entered inaccurately, processed poorly or incorrectly, and is generally not free from defect. This product or service aggregates and reports data, as provided by the public records and commercially available data sources, and is not the source of the data, nor is it a comprehensive compilation of the data. Before relying on any data, it should be independently verified. ..."