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Collection Agency Fined $800,000

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

Collection Agency Fined $800,000

Two companies, a debt collection agency and the law firm it teamed up with, have been fined almost $800,000 by the Federal Trade Commission. The defendants misled people into paying unnecessary, invented fees, and falsely threatened people with lawsuits. The two parties, debt buyer Security Credit Services, LLC, and Jacob Law Group, PLLC, agreed to the FTC settlement, to head off potentially greater fines. Both of these companies are based in Mississippi; the FTC filed complaints against them in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, on March 13, 2013.The FTC alleged the companies broke both the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when they deceptively charged people fees for payments authorized by telephone; they stated this fee was unavoidable—but people who paid by mail or online were not charged this fee (of $18.95). The defendants also broke the laws when they threatened lawsuits against debtors. Under the proposed settlement terms, the two companies must pay $799,958 in restitution for consumers. And they’re barred from making any misrepresentations when collecting a debt, including false claims that consumers must pay an extra fee when making payments on a debt or that they will be sued for not paying a debt. $799,958 is the minimum amount the defendants collected through fraudulent fees since 2008.If a collection agency has harassed you, you may be entitled to money damages up to $1,000.00, based on the FDCPA, which has been around for almost 35 years. The FDCPA is a federal law that applies to every state. In other words, everyone is protected by the FDCPA. The FDCPA is essentially a laundry list of what debt collectors can and cannot do while collecting a debt, as well as things debt collectors must do while collecting a debt. Plus, the FDCPA has a fee-shift provision. This means, the collection agency pays your attorney’s fees and costs. Founding attorney, Michael Agruss, has settled over 1,500 debt collection harassment cases. We want to help you, too. 

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