Nationwide Debt Collector Will Pay $2.25 Million to Settle FTC Charges

Academy Collection Service, Inc. and its owner, Keith Dickstein, have agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that Academy and its collectors misled, threatened, and harassed consumers; disclosed their debts to third parties; and deposited postdated checks early, in violation of federal law. This is the largest civil penalty the FTC has obtained in a debt collection case.

“These defendants are responsible for their debt collectors’ abusive practices,” said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They ignored people's complaints and rewarded the collectors who broke the law. This is not a business model that the FTC tolerates.” More...

Comments

  1. I ma glad to see that those who are breaking the law in this way are being made to pay for it. Maybe they all will take a lesson in following the law.

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  2. Academy Collection remains a member of ACA International, the trade association for collection professionals, despite ACA purporting to enforce a "Code of Ethics" by means of an "Ethics Committee," whose membership remains unidentified, as does the Board of Directors of ACA International. The so-called "Ethics Committee" does not issue opinions in writing and has no appeal process - one haqs to ask for a "re-hearing." They purpose to permit an appeal - after a "rehearing - to an outside attorney - chosen by ACA - but this somehow never comes abvout. by the time this point is reached one is exhausted. ACA is what used to be called a "pious fraud."

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