- The Newest Victim …..The Debt Collector -
In response to -
*****Warning - Sarcasm Below*****
I’ve been reading a lot of press recently about the poor debt collector. It seems that consumers are on a litigation frenzy (aka LITIGIOUS) against debt collectors! One recent report states that 18% of ALL new FDCPA law suits are filed by consumers that have sued another collection agency. As the advertisements and media points out, this can only show one thing - that debtors love being in debt, they look forward to getting harassed, just so they can sue the debt collector. This is amazing, I never knew this!! You should be ashamed, debtor!
So, there are several new companies out there that search FDCPA lawsuits that are filed and mail collection agencies lists of these “LITIGIOUS” debtors so the collection agencies can compare the names to their current list of accounts so they will know if they have an account for one of these ”LITIGIOUS” debtors.
Shame on you Debtors!! How dare you sue TWO collection agencies if TWO collection agencies harass you! Shame Shame Shame! You know, these collection agencies have a job to do….they can’t stay in business if they don’t have readily available data that tells them if YOU will sue them if they harass you. I mean after all they have a job to do!
WAIT…..or MAYBE, just maybe, most debtors don’t know their rights against collection agencies until they are educated that there is recourse for collection agency harassment. I find it interesting that collection agencies want to know when they are dealing with a “LITIGIOUS” debtor. What are they doing once they find out? They certainly aren’t sending the account back to the original creditor! I doubt if they purchased the debt they are selling it to another unknowing “victim”. I imagine if they know a debtor has filed an FDCPA lawsuit before, they will treat that debtor differently. Maybe, just maybe, they will obey federal law when collecting the debt. If only they did that all the time they wouldn’t need to know who the “LITIGIOUS” (aka educated) debtors are.
…..Imagine if another type of company was able to see if you would actually “tell on them” before they sold you something. And, based on that answer, the product they would sell you would ultimately change… I can’t imagine that being accepted anywhere else. So, I guess its the debt collector that should be ashamed….again.
-Jeffrey S. Hyslip
March 30th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Jeffrey (Warning: More sarcasm below),
I guess we’re just a bunch of freeloaders who have absolutely No intention of paying the debt we’ve so justly earned. We just love running up bills for stuff that we just have to have: furniture, televisions, DVD players, fancy equipment, all the “toys” that mainstream Americans thing are necessary for living.
My debt? I guess I just have decided I have the “right” to survive! How dare I? How could I possibly think I have the “right” to go to the doctor when I get sick? OMG, I am so awful. Those poor doctors who collect $200 for each visit, and walk into the next room immediately after seeing me, spending 3-5 minutes, when my “insurance” is paying for 30! Those poor clinics who think that because I am on public assistance, that I am a freeloader, and that I am NOT disabled, in such severe pain that I can barely walk. I guess I am just a faker.
Unfortunately, my MRI proves differently. And no one believes me because of all the drug seekers and fakers that live all around me. As soon as I say “back pain” their eyes glaze over, and they look at me like I am a bad person, and then when they hear I have over $150,000 in medical debt because of a post-surgical wound infection that nearly killed me, and the $150K is the 20% that my “insurance” did NOT cover, so imagine how much the hospital collected. That does not include what the doctors collected from the insurance, and what they’ve sent me to collection for. I make $10,500 per year. Where am I going to get that kind of money? In addition, the infections have become chronic and I am in and out of the hospital.
I am not looking for pity-it drives me crazy! I am just now educating myself on my rights, and found that I actually have some. For the last 10+ years, I and my family, including a terminally ill stepfather, have been harassed and threatened with “legal action.” I have been sued, and my wages (disability check, which is well below the poverty level, and I won’t tell you how they calculate that) to the tune of $125/month-which leaves me unable to pay anyone!
But these agencies-they seem to love their jobs a bit too much. They treat me like I am dirt on their shoe, and I welcome the opportunity to become a “litigous” consumer. Jeffrey, well put! Thank you!
Jennifer C.