A sudden emergency can throw your finances off track if you’re living paycheck to paycheck trying to meet your obligations. Paying an unforeseeable expense can cause you to leave other bills unpaid. This can trigger companies to assign debt collection to agencies that often overstep their boundaries and commit harassment.
If American Recovery Service contacts you, it may be time to contact a reliable debt collection attorney. A lawyer from Mike Agruss Law ensures collection agencies follow state and federal law and provide you with legal options you can pursue.
What is American Recovery Service?
Also known as Patrick K Willis Company Inc., American Recovery Services (ARS) is a service provider in the collection industry. The company manages debt on behalf of companies, financial institutions, and organizations while offering litigation services and self-pay outsourcing. ARS’ clients include entities from retail, healthcare, credit card companies, and United States government industries.
American Recovery Service is a debt collection agency that works closely with lending clients. The company has a portfolio of solutions in recovery and vendor management. ARS also leverages its technology and partnership with former law enforcement and military personnel to provide investigations into “hard-to-find” assets.
How the Better Business Bureau Rates American Recovery Service
American Recovery Service has a Better Business Bureau profile with a 1 out of 5-star rating. The BBB lists the company as accredited since 2017 and in business for 37 years. American Recovery Service headquarters are at 5118 Robert J Mathews Pkwy, El Dorado Hills, CA, with a second address of PO Box 4917 El Dorado Hills, CA.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
The Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that protects consumers from abusive practices that debt collectors often use. This law outlines how debt collection should happen and details the penalties debt collectors face for violating consumers’ rights.
The FDCPA protects you from American Recovery Service and other debt collecting agencies by:
- Letting you control communication: you have the right to limit how debt collection agencies like ARS contact you. They cannot contact you overnight or talk with a third party about your debt, including your boss, friends, or family. If you have legal representation, they must communicate through your lawyer.
- Restricts unfair practices: ARS cannot take or threaten to take your assets or collect fees or interest on your debt.
- Requires debt collection agencies to be truthful: Debt collection agencies cannot use misleading or false pretenses to collect your debt, including how much you owe, when the statute of limitations is, or the consequences of not paying them.
- Prohibits harassment: ARS and others cannot threaten you, swear at you, or repeatedly call you just to harass you.
- Validating your debt: Debt collectors must prove the amount of debt you owe and are required to send you a debt validation letter if you request one.
You Have Legal Options If Your Rights Are Violated
The FDCPA protects consumers throughout the United States. If American Recovery Service violates any of these rights, you may be entitled to monetary damages of $1,000 per lawsuit and, if you win, reasonable costs and legal fees.
You can also collect damages if ARS violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Consumers can receive $500 for each robocall and up to $1,500 if the robocall is considered willful. These damages can quickly add up if you receive many harassing robocalls from a debt collector.
What Should I Do if American Recovery Service Contacts Me?
Receiving persistent and harassing calls from a debt collection agency can be unsettling. Avoid losing your temper and lashing out at the American Recovery Service agent. Instead, remain silent other than to inform the caller that you will only receive communication from the company’s attorney.
Contact the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and submit a complaint regarding the debt collector’s harassing behavior.
Send the debt collection agency a hand-written letter in which you instruct them to stop contacting you. Send the letter via certified mail and get a return receipt to verify that American Recovery Service has received your demand. Most importantly, contact a consumer rights protection lawyer. The legal team at Mike Agruss Law can handle communication with the agency.
Do Your Due Diligence and Contact Mike Agruss Law
Legislation is constantly changing, and keeping up with developments can give you an advantage when dealing with lenders and debt collectors. In New York, the Attorney General is taking the initiative in banning lawsuits on old debts.
The Consumer Credit Fairness Act of 2021 reduces the statute of limitations for consumer debt collection from six years, where it stands now, to three years. This will potentially affect how debt collectors operate as they will no longer be able to badger consumers as persistently.
Consulting the consumer protection legal experts at Mike Agruss Law ensures your rights are protected, and you get help in dealing with abusive debt collection agencies like American Recovery Service.
Our legal team will review your case to see if the debt collector is violating your state or federally protected consumer rights. We will communicate with American Recovery Service to get the company to stop harassing you, and we will pursue damages to the fullest amount possible if we find violations.
