Alliance One, San Diego Harrassing Phone Calls: scared about action San Diego California

""you may call exactly ZERO times beyond that point. Any further contact regarding that so-called 'debt' constitutes a violation of federal collection law and a $1000 fine.""

They are allowed ONLY to communicate what, if any, further LEGAL action they are going to take. That's it! No more requests for payment or information. As far as collecting the debt, the debt collector is DONE until such time as there is a money judgement.

Section 805, subpara c:

(c) CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except
(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector's further efforts are being terminated;
(2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or
(3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy. If such notice from the consumer is made by mail, notification shall be complete upon receipt.
(d) For the purpose of this section, the term consumer includes the consumer's spouse, parent (if the consumer is a minor), guardian, executor, or administrator.

You wrote:

'The FDCPA is very vague when it comes to the statute outlining the number of times a collection agency can call daily. It is limited to the number of contacts not the number of calls. Maybe everyone should look that up. It does not define or outline a certain number of calls that constitute harassment..'

Actually, the FDCPA is very CLEAR regarding the number of times a collection agency can call daily. Once a CEASE COMMUNICATIONS LETTER has been received (and I know it must just burn your a** that I keep bringing that letter up...), you may call exactly ZERO times beyond that point. Any further contact regarding that so-called 'debt' constitutes a violation of federal collection law and a $1000 fine.

Was that clear enough - or should I draw you a picture in crayon to better help you to understand?

Ann, you owe absolutely NOTHING to these creeps. These sleezy lowlifes can do absolutely NOTHING to you - and if they try to, file FTC complaints and take them to court (as has been successfully done in the past...just ask Steve). Most of all, please do not let these idiot bottom-feeders intimidate you into ANYTHING. They have no legal standing to do ANYTHING to you or your husband. YOU have all the power in this situation - and they are counting on your fear to make you pay them money they are not entitled to.

""It does not define or outline a certain number of calls that constitute harassment""

Absolutely correct. The FDCPA does NOT define the number of calls, but that doesn't stop monopoopyman from making claims that it does. I guess his numbers are low and so he posts such rubbish hoping some of his "clients" will read his tripe and knuckle under when he calls.

The FDCPA leaves the "determination of harassment" up to the courts. However, the FDCPA does specify that harassment, or INTENT to harass (if determined by a court) is a violation of the FDCPA, and as such the successful consumer can sue for up to $1000 in statutory damages based on harassment alone. What this means is that the consumer can sue for the statutory damages even if there are NO OTHER damages (which is very rare) and reasonable legal fees.

The FDCPA is very vague when it comes to the statute outlining the number of times a collection agency can call daily. It is limited to the number of contacts not the number of calls. Maybe everyone should look that up. It does not define or outline a certain number of calls that constitute harassment..

""As for the laws, I know the laws very well.""

LOL! You fooled me! Tell me again how the FDCPA says a debt collector can call 5 times a day. Better yet, repeat your nonsense about how a debt collector can call every day until it's paid.

Kindly tell us what paragraph of the FDCPA states this. Take your time. We'll wait....

""Once a cease communication letter is sent to us, we stop collecting it. However, we just send it to another collection agency, which means that you need to send another, then another, and then another, until finally we get sick of your BS and just sue you.""

Hmmmm. If your acting as a debt collector (per the definition in the FDCPA) you can only return the "collection assignment" back to the creditor - you cannot hand it off to another debt collector; that's the providence of the creditor. This is different if you have purchased the debt, which makes you the creditor.

But it begs the question "why not just sue after the first collection attempt failed?"

But then again, whenever you sue someone you run the risk of a countersuit. Perhaps that's the reason you and your kind don't appear to be in a hurry to sue folks.

It's obvious in your posting above, that you and your agency use a tactic of harassment to attempt to pressure folks into paying you. The good news is that more and more courts are ruling in favor of consumers who are harassed in this fashion. As a matter of fact, it's becoming so common place that now we have tv commercials in this area by law firms who are specializing in suing collection agencies who violate the FDCPA.

""As for the laws, I know the laws very well.""

LOL! You fooled me! Tell me again how the FDCPA says a debt collector can call 5 times a day. Better yet, repeat your nonsense about how a debt collector can call every day until it's paid.

Kindly tell us what paragraph of the FDCPA states this. Take your time. We'll wait....

""Once a cease communication letter is sent to us, we stop collecting it. However, we just send it to another collection agency, which means that you need to send another, then another, and then another, until finally we get sick of your BS and just sue you.""

Hmmmm. If your acting as a debt collector (per the definition in the FDCPA) you can only return the "collection assignment" back to the creditor - you cannot hand it off to another debt collector; that's the providence of the creditor. This is different if you have purchased the debt, which makes you the creditor.

But it begs the question "why not just sue after the first collection attempt failed?"

But then again, whenever you sue someone you run the risk of a countersuit. Perhaps that's the reason you and your kind don't appear to be in a hurry to sue folks.

It's obvious in your posting above, that you and your agency use a tactic of harassment to attempt to pressure folks into paying you. The good news is that more and more courts are ruling in favor of consumers who are harassed in this fashion. As a matter of fact, it's becoming so common place that now we have tv commercials in this area by law firms who are specializing in suing collection agencies who violate the FDCPA.

""As for the laws, I know the laws very well.""

LOL! You fooled me! Tell me again how the FDCPA says a debt collector can call 5 times a day. Better yet, repeat your nonsense about how a debt collector can call every day until it's paid.

Kindly tell us what paragraph of the FDCPA states this. Take your time. We'll wait....

""Once a cease communication letter is sent to us, we stop collecting it. However, we just send it to another collection agency, which means that you need to send another, then another, and then another, until finally we get sick of your BS and just sue you.""

Hmmmm. If your acting as a debt collector (per the definition in the FDCPA) you can only return the "collection assignment" back to the creditor - you cannot hand it off to another debt collector; that's the providence of the creditor. This is different if you have purchased the debt, which makes you the creditor.

But it begs the question "why not just sue after the first collection attempt failed?"

But then again, whenever you sue someone you run the risk of a countersuit. Perhaps that's the reason you and your kind don't appear to be in a hurry to sue folks.

It's obvious in your posting above, that you and your agency use a tactic of harassment to attempt to pressure folks into paying you. The good news is that more and more courts are ruling in favor of consumers who are harassed in this fashion. As a matter of fact, it's becoming so common place that now we have tv commercials in this area by law firms who are specializing in suing collection agencies who violate the FDCPA.

Hey there Steve. The retarded comment was by me. See each of the 3 or 4 posts above your most recent one for the exchange between Monopolyman & I on that note. Monopolyman was referencing me in that paragraph. Just wanted to let you know that he & I discussed that one already.

Good luck with everything!
Ann

"Monopolyman",

You can try to defend your lowlife bottomfeeding practices and occupation all you like, but the facts speak for themselves. And, I never called you retarded. Where did you get that?

Most state laws allow 1 call per day. The FDCPA allows a "debtor" to stop a collector from further contact via a CEASE COMMUNICATIONS request.

5 calls per day is illegal. Period. That is clearly for purposes of harassment, and is illegal.

Furthermore, I do not have any sort of substance abuse problem, but it is a well documented fact that most debt collectors do. It is also well documented that most debt collectors have serious debt problems themselves!

Furthermore, I clearly stated I had no problems with the terms of my agreements, and had no problems paying on them for the 14+ years prior to 9/11. $170k sounds like alot of money, but in comparison to the $1200-$1500 per week+ I was making, it is not. 9/11 came and I had to take a regular job...maybe $400 a week on a good week! That would not even pay the interest on my credit cards. Keeping in mind, that I juggled from 9/11 until 11/2002 using one card to pay another in hopes things would get better. That is how they got up to $170k. Not that it's any of your business.

Also, I called every creditor PRIOR to missing any payments in an attempt to get them to work something out. Not 1 offered any help. I got the take it or leave it attitude from every one of them. So, given those 2 choices, I left it. Never looked back.

Therefore, I did not "steal" anything. Nor did I obtain goods or services without INTENT to pay.

If I stole something, I surely would have been prosecuted.

Go back to your cubicle now.

That's fine, Monopolyman. Let's just agree to disagree & move on. I think we're both ready to stop communicating on this one. I know that the unpleasant, first-time brush I've had with debt collection is enough for me & I'm ready to close out on this chapter, including this website. Bye all - good luck to all of you in life.

That's fine, Monopolyman. Let's just agree to disagree & move on. I think we're both ready to stop communicating on this one. I know that the unpleasant, first-time brush I've had with debt collection is enough for me & I'm ready to close out on this chapter, including this website. Bye all - good luck to all of you in life.

That's fine, Monopolyman. Let's just agree to disagree & move on. I think we're both ready to stop communicating on this one. I know that the unpleasant, first-time brush I've had with debt collection is enough for me & I'm ready to close out on this chapter, including this website. Bye all - good luck to all of you in life.

That's fine, Monopolyman. Let's just agree to disagree & move on. I think we're both ready to stop communicating on this one. I know that the unpleasant, first-time brush I've had with debt collection is enough for me & I'm ready to close out on this chapter, including this website. Bye all - good luck to all of you in life.

90% of what you just got angry about me saying to you was not aimed at you it was aimed at steve.
The only thing i really said to you was that you shouldn't use the word retarded in such a way. In fact I never even called you paranoid..I was calling steve that based on his responses, which are quite humorous.
As for being 'Socially retarded', I assure you, I'm not.

Hi there Monopolyman.

You are right: personal attacks are not what this website is about (& they state that). The reactions to your post stem from the high-&-mighty attitude conveyed in your posts. It kind of goes along with what you said to Steve & what I said to you: you don't know us - we don't know you. I'm not commenting on Steve's modus operandi, but what I can say is that you didn't know me & yet you were the one who initially posed scathing attacks on me without knowing the full story - you called me paranoid & made other derogatory comments. Again, my true story is that the debt was already paid & a paper-trail error had occurred. My husband & I pay our bills on time - again, our credit is perfect. Your comments to me were unwarranted & it would be nice if you took the high road & apologized to me.

I'll take the high road here & say that I'm sorry for calling you retarded. By the way, I work with children & we do use "cognitively challenged" - not "disabled": (a) if you're going to criticize someone with regard to cognition, make sure to spell it right - it kind of makes people giggle given that you were talking about cognitive impairment - rather ironic - & actually humorous, don't you think, that you misspelled that word? (b) brush up on your PC a little more: "disabled" is also no longer used, (c) I would never use that term professionally - your responses were so blindly thrown at people, it's perfectly acceptable to refer to you as socially retarded - a more socially experienced person would not have jumped to such rash conclusions about strangers. In fact, yours were downright incorrect about me.

By the way, I work full time - I don't sit on the internet all day. If you stop responding to this, we'll stop getting email indicators to that effect, & the vilifying will also stop. So let's call a moratorium on this & suffice it to say: you have your opinions, we have ours. My parents are proud of me b/c I too have done something with my life & contribute to society in a meaningful way. I was also not in the wrong in this situation - AllianceOne was wrong. It's also interesting you reference the Bible: note all the derogatory (great job spelling that one right!) references made to debt collectors/tax collectors in the Good Book!

And: to focus on the non-personal, true issue: just admit it, as Rockstar did above: you (debt collectors) still make mistakes & wind up unfairly harassing people like me, who were innocent to begin with. It was a paper trail mistake - we paid these parking tickets 10 years ago & thankfully had the documentation to prove it. Luckily, we were dealing with a debt collector who had the social maturity & cognitive capability to know when he made a mistake & apologize for it.

PS "hastle" is spelled "hassle" & "rediculous" is spelled "ridiculous" for your future ease of reference.

Hi there Monopolyman.

You are right: personal attacks are not what this website is about (& they state that). The reactions to your post stem from the high-&-mighty attitude conveyed in your posts. It kind of goes along with what you said to Steve & what I said to you: you don't know us - we don't know you. I'm not commenting on Steve's modus operandi, but what I can say is that you didn't know me & yet you were the one who initially posed scathing attacks on me without knowing the full story - you called me paranoid & made other derogatory comments. Again, my true story is that the debt was already paid & a paper-trail error had occurred. My husband & I pay our bills on time - again, our credit is perfect. Your comments to me were unwarranted & it would be nice if you took the high road & apologized to me.

I'll take the high road here & say that I'm sorry for calling you retarded. By the way, I work with children & we do use "cognitively challenged" - not "disabled": (a) if you're going to criticize someone with regard to cognition, make sure to spell it right - it kind of makes people giggle given that you were talking about cognitive impairment - rather ironic - & actually humorous, don't you think, that you misspelled that word? (b) brush up on your PC a little more: "disabled" is also no longer used, (c) I would never use that term professionally - your responses were so blindly thrown at people, it's perfectly acceptable to refer to you as socially retarded - a more socially experienced person would not have jumped to such rash conclusions about strangers. In fact, yours were downright incorrect about me.

By the way, I work full time - I don't sit on the internet all day. If you stop responding to this, we'll stop getting email indicators to that effect, & the vilifying will also stop. So let's call a moratorium on this & suffice it to say: you have your opinions, we have ours. My parents are proud of me b/c I too have done something with my life & contribute to society in a meaningful way. I was also not in the wrong in this situation - AllianceOne was wrong. It's also interesting you reference the Bible: note all the derogatory (great job spelling that one right!) references made to debt collectors/tax collectors in the Good Book!

And: to focus on the non-personal, true issue: just admit it, as Rockstar did above: you (debt collectors) still make mistakes & wind up unfairly harassing people like me, who were innocent to begin with. It was a paper trail mistake - we paid these parking tickets 10 years ago & thankfully had the documentation to prove it. Luckily, we were dealing with a debt collector who had the social maturity & cognitive capability to know when he made a mistake & apologize for it.

PS "hastle" is spelled "hassle" & "rediculous" is spelled "ridiculous" for your future ease of reference.

Apparently this has gone from a discussion on debt and debt collection to personal attacks. Your parents must be proud, you sit on the internet all day and pass judgement on people who work for a living, doing really no more than try to get you to do what you are supposed to, which is pay your bills.
Now in reply to steve, I feel you have a lot of growing up to do. I really hope you can find help with your problems.
First of all, I am not sure where you get the idea that I am a "crack-head". I am not quite sure where you get that being that A. You don't know me B. I never have, never will, and never wanted to do crack. I live a fairly satisfying life without illegal narcotics. Is your accusation perhaps a cry for help with your own drug problem?
As for your "walking away from 34 creditors in 2002 with a total of 170k"
Wow you must be proud. Essentially you are a thief. You charged up credit cards and you have merchandise that you didn't pay for. You may have wormed your way out of any sort of legal responsibility, which is a shame, but you are the one who has to live with being a thief. How anyone can be actually PROUD of racking up 170k in credit card debt and not paying it, is sad. You should really be ashamed. Now, I'm sure you will try to justify it, but look at it this way. You never paid for whatever you used the credit cards to buy. That, my friend is stealing. As for "it will not catch up with you" Read the bible.
As for my cubicle? It's really not bad. I have job security, I get paid well, and I get to go home every night knowing that I actually pay my bills and my debt and I don't have to try to figure a way out of it. Can you do that? No.
As for the laws, I know the laws very well. Once a cease communication letter is sent to us, we stop collecting it. However, we just send it to another collection agency, which means that you need to send another, then another, and then another, until finally we get sick of your BS and just sue you. If you want to get out of your debt that badly? Just don't use credit cards. Avoid all the hastle. If you pay your debt, you won't get calls.
Apparently the terms of your credit was an issue, because you were getting collection calls. And then 9-11 came and your income was cut by half. How tragic that something set up by your president becomes the fault of debt collectors.

You are basically proving your point that you can't face your debt so you try to worm out of it by trying to find reasons to sue people. It's rediculous.
As for you claiming that that me saying I could make 5 attempts to contact you daily, is proving an intent to harrass? Think again. It proves an intent to get you to pay your d**n bill.
As for calling you? Why waste my time with a crook like you when I could be talking to people who actually want to pay their bills.

Furthermore, Steve, what makes debt collectors bottom feeders? Is it the fact that we actually try to get you to pay your debt? (how dare we!?) Or is it the fact that unlike you, we are able to go home each night, knowing that we make a decent living actually working and paying our bills.

Oh, and Ann. I am clearly not retarded, furthermore, i suggest you use more politically correct terms like cognitavely disabled. I would like to see a condition like that affect you or someone close to you. I'm sure then you wouldnt be so quick to use such a derogatory term in such a way. It's really a shame.

Ann,

Thanks for setting that straight.

Now, one more thing for "Monopolyman". You state that you could "call me 5 times per day without even talking to me". That statement proves the intent to harass. It is black and white under the FDCPA. It is your intent to harass. Money in my pocket. I really hope you start calling me so I can make some more money!

Hi Steve,

I'm sorry: the way that rebuttal was posted by Monopolyman with your name in bold, large red font, I thought that was you. But my response was meant for Monopolyman, actually. Of course, your post was met with only appreciation: thank you for taking the time to write to me.

Monopolyman: see my response to "Steve" initially - & all the other ones coming in. Obviously I'm not the only one who knows you're retarded.

Ann

""Yes, people can send a cease letter, but that isn't going to make the debt go away, it makes it worse."

No it doesn't. The debt is already in collections and has most likely been reported to the CRAs, so things haven't been made worse by sending a "cease communications letter as prescribed by the FDCPA.

"You don't understand that when you legally owe the balance, we have every right to call you every day, up to five times a day without talking to you.""

If you're trying to collect the debt for someone else (the creditor,) you need to brush up on the FDCPA. Once a debt collector, who is collecting for another, receives a cease communications letter from the consumer, you have ONLY the following legal options:

1. You may contact the consumer ONE time to inform the consumer as to what further LEGAL actions, if any, your collection agency is going take. That's it pal. No more asking for payments, identifying info, or any other requests. You can't even tell the consumer you're going to sue unless of course YOU or your collection agency is actually going to sue.

2. You may now return the "collection assignment" back to the creditor as non-collectible, because until their is a money judgment by a competent court of jurisdiction, there is NOTHING you or your collection agency can LEGALLY do to collect the debt for the creditor. You either sue the consumer, or return it to the creditor with a recommendation to either sue the consumer or drop the matter. The CREDITOR may continue to pursue collections by contacting the consumer and requesting payment, but the collection agency is DONE contacting the consumer and requesting payment.

Any other response to the consumer by your or your collection agency to the consumer is cause for the consumer to sue your collection agency for violating the FDCPA.

Agency Details

Alliance One, Inc.**
4850 Street Road, Level C
Trevose, PA 19053
Phone: (484) 531-5000 866-385-0275
Fax: (484) 531-5057
Web Address: www.allianceoneinc.com

Locations:
8755 Aero Drive
San Diego, CA 92123
Phone: (619) 542-8420
Fax: (619) 542-8528

4797 Ruffner St
San Diego, CA 92111-1519
Phone: (858) 560-6000
Fax: (858) 560-0250

4960 SW 72nd Ave Ste 401
Miami, FL 33155-5550
Phone: (305) 665-5020
Fax: (305) 667-6054

7311 Quality Cir
Anderson, IN 46013-2014
Phone: (765) 640-0403
Fax: (765) 640-0767

930 Blue Gentian Rd Ste 100
Eagan, MN 55121-1677
Phone: (952) 858-5707
Fax: (651) 675-1127

1160 Centre Pointe Dr #1
Mendota Heights, MN 55120-1270
Fax: (651) 675-3903 or (651) 255-2197

644 Linn Street, Suite 601
Cincinnati, OH 45203-1738
Phone: (513) 639-3110
Fax: (513) 721-1493

6565 Kimball Dr, Suite 200
Gig Harbor, WA 98335-1200
Phone: (253) 620-2222
Fax: (253) 620-2232


Compliments of budhibbs.com

Bud Says...

Alliance One, Inc. is headquartered out of Trevose, Pennsylvania but they have call centers all over the world. This company has managed to gobble up several different debt collectors and bring them under their umbrella.
President-CEO
Gregory J. Minniti, Vice President of Operations
Mark Fischman, VP Marketing
William P. Boggess, IFCCE, Vice President.
Jaime Nordstrom, Lic & Compliance Specialist

February 25, 2003 EXTON, PA Alliance One announces the acquisition of Pacific Coast Collections Inc., (PCC) located in San Diego, California.

PCC had a terrible reputation for abuse of consumers; let's hope they clean up the dirty mess left by PCC.

What type of trouble has Jeff Gagney been in that has so many employees mad? Why are women being warned to avoid Jeff the Debt Collector? Is there something about him that we all should be aware of?

Why does this agency seem to be crumbling under it's own management?

Just how bad is the training in San Diego? Why does management allow so many violations of the FDCPA? Are collectors REALLY sent out to homes and businesses to effect collections? Just how desperate are Marlene and Michael Hale to hold onto power at Alliance One? Will they really go to any ends to effect collections?

If this sounds like a sick soap opera than you need to stay far away from Alliance One and it's cast of cast off's. This is a sinking ship with rats all over the place. Everyone needs to sat far away from them, least they be caught up in the stink of this organization.

Color Alliance One as Alliance GONE by using the cease-comm letter on them. Stay away, far away so the smell of this garbage pile does not get on you.

Ann,

I never put you down in any way or said anything whatsoever negative towards you. You should re-read my post. Therefore, I do not owe you an apology. You owe me one. You came on here asking for advice. I gave it to you. My bitterness is only towards uneducated law breaking debt collectors. And, FYI..they do not bother me daily as I cut them off...legally.

As for the condescending know it all crackhead debt collector, "Monopolyman", you have no idea what you are talking about.

I walked away from 34 creditors in 2002 for a total of $170k. As of today, all of these debts are past SOL are are legally uncollectable. And, guess what genius? I do not have even 1 judgement against me, and not one penny has been paid to anyone. So I can disprove your statement that "it will catch up to me". You are a tool. Go back to your cubicle now.

You have no legal right to call me or anyone else, especially 5 times a day. Who told you this? You better read the law. After I send my cease communication request, you call me, you pay me. It is that simple. I have been paid by more bottomfeeders like you than have ever collected from me. Fact.

You have made assumptions about me only because of your limited intellect. They are all unfounded.

We are talking about THIRD PARTY DEBT COLLECTORS here who are fully bound by the FDCPA. Do you even know what that is? Have you ever read it? Do you even know how to read? Put your crack pipe down and pay attention.

FYI..I had no dispute over the terms of my credit. That was never an issue. I fully understood and complied with those terms for over 14 years. No problems. Perfect credit. Then one day I got sick of living just to pay interest after my income was cut by more than half due to 9/11.


>>
Monopolyman
Maplewood, Minnesota
U.S.A.

Steve
You get more and more ridiculous. You are just a paranoid person who is probably up to his eyeballs in debt and is making a feeble attempt to buy time. Mark my words, it will all catch up with you.

Yes, people can send a cease letter, but that isn't going to make the debt go away, it makes it worse. You don't understand that when you legally owe the balance, we have every right to call you every day, up to five times a day without talking to you.
Secondly we aren't a rip off. That is just an attempt at passing the buck because you are mad that you didn't read the small print on your credit application, and now you owe more money than you thought you would.
Quit whining and pay your bills and you won't get calls.

Submitted: 3/4/2008 11:45:17 PM
Modified: 3/5/2008 2:04:34 AM Ann
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
>

From Ann>>

Response to Steve
Steve: (1) you know nothing about me, (2) I have perfect credit (in the 800s), pay my bills on time every month - my credit cards have been paid in full since I've opened them, & read fine print on everything I sign, as that's what responsible, intelligent human beings do, (3) this was not my debt, this was my spouse's debt - it was not a credit card, it was ONE unpaid parking ticket from his college years over 19 years ago - he too has perfect credit, he pays his credit cards on time.

Lastly, it turned out we DID pay this when it was first brought to our attention 10 years ago while securing a mortgage for our first house. AllianceOne WAS mistaken & they have since apologized & closed the case.

So, wow, I think you owe me an apology as well - your response was overly harsh for someone who knows nothing about me, my credit history, or my responsible nature & intelligence. Your rebuttal hardly warrants a response, as I think it just emanates from someone who gets harangued daily as a debt collector, has a crappy job & is trying to boost his morale by publicly (& wrongly) criticizing others, based upon his myopic ignorance & dichotomous assumptions.

Your words may hold true for some, but not for all. I'm a responsible citizen who contributes to society in many ways - both professionally & through charitable works. Instead of blindly criticizing strangers on the internet, why don't you try to do something constructive with your life instead of spreading your scathing bitterness around?
>>

Never, ever give out your social security number. To no one. These harassing collection companies can only ask for the last four digits of your social security number and when they do that I tell them it is none of their business anyway. Check you credit by getting the reports from all three credit companies. You can get a report once a year from each of them for free. I usually spread them out by getting a report from one company every 4 months that way I am checking my credit well being constantly for free every quarter.

Then I use my call blocking device from : privacycorps.com/products/?id=15.

This device is great. I can block all numbers, even by area code alone and these calls never ring my phone again. So I block all 800, 866, or other out of state numbers that I know no one lives in that I know therefore it must be a collection company. Keep in mind. I am not a deadbeat. My credit is immaculate. But I was getting hounded by collection companies looking for anyone resembling my name and often not even near resembling my name. Tell these guys where to go and then never be bothered by them again.

Well said Ann-Our agency doesn't collect on parking tickets etc..but I'm glad we don't! I myself have worked with people whom we have mistaken their debt for, it's an honest mistake and it's simple to take care of. I usually just have them fax me a copy of the recepit paid or a copy of their check or bank statement showing it was paid off. Steve obviously is the debtor we call everyday who wastes his credit and our time. He will find out the hard way how things will end up! Hope we were helpful to you Ann.Good Day

Steve: (1) you know nothing about me, (2) I have perfect credit (in the 800s), pay my bills on time every month - my credit cards have been paid in full since I've opened them, & read fine print on everything I sign, as that's what responsible, intelligent human beings do, (3) this was not my debt, this was my spouse's debt - it was not a credit card, it was ONE unpaid parking ticket from his college years over 19 years ago - he too has perfect credit, he pays his credit cards on time.

Lastly, it turned out we DID pay this when it was first brought to our attention 10 years ago while securing a mortgage for our first house. AllianceOne WAS mistaken & they have since apologized & closed the case.

So, wow, I think you owe me an apology as well - your response was overly harsh for someone who knows nothing about me, my credit history, or my responsible nature & intelligence. Your rebuttal hardly warrants a response, as I think it just emanates from someone who gets harangued daily as a debt collector, has a crappy job & is trying to boost his morale by publicly (& wrongly) criticizing others, based upon his myopic ignorance & dichotomous assumptions.

Your words may hold true for some, but not for all. I'm a responsible citizen who contributes to society in many ways - both professionally & through charitable works. Instead of blindly criticizing strangers on the internet, why don't you try to do something constructive with your life instead of spreading your scathing bitterness around?

You get more and more ridiculous. You are just a paranoid person who is probably up to his eyeballs in debt and is making a feeble attempt to buy time. Mark my words, it will all catch up with you.

Yes, people can send a cease letter, but that isn't going to make the debt go away, it makes it worse. You don't understand that when you legally owe the balance, we have every right to call you every day, up to five times a day without talking to you.
Secondly we aren't a rip off. That is just an attempt at passing the buck because you are mad that you didn't read the small print on your credit application, and now you owe more money than you thought you would.
Quit whining and pay your bills and you won't get calls.

Ann- Keep checking your credit report you can check it three times a year with three different companys. Experion and freecreditreport.com are good. If so called Charlie uses the SSN in any way Alliance One will find out and take corrective action against Charlie. Alliance One monitors all action and calls on a daily and hourly basis. I'm not sure how other Alliance One companies are ran but my team and office is very professional and the bad collectors aren't there very long. I know collectors have a bad name and I knew it when I started there, of course I get the people who curse at me etc..but really it's something you can't take personally and I'm there to help people get out of bad debt and start getting themselves back on track. Hope my knowledge has helped you Ann.

Rockstar: you took the high road & I appreciate that. I apologize for the language & for my tone. It was helpful that you at least acknowledged that there are crooked debt collectors out there. You certainly don't need any stranger's approval for what you are doing either. I think you can understand that when someone is wrongly accused of debt owed, that emotions get heated. You state that you like to help people though. If that's the case, please tell me the best way I can get Charlie's (real) last name so I can find him in the system & make record of him just in case he uses the SSN for personal gain. Thank you for your mature correspondence. I've never met a nice debt collector (historically, even the Bible gives them a bad name) - you must be a rare one. Do you work for Alliance One? I've seen your responses throughout the Alliance One section of Ripoffreport.com...

Rockstar: you took the high road & I appreciate that. I apologize for the language & for my tone. It was helpful that you at least acknowledged that there are crooked debt collectors out there. You certainly don't need any stranger's approval for what you are doing either. I think you can understand that when someone is wrongly accused of debt owed, that emotions get heated. You state that you like to help people though. If that's the case, please tell me the best way I can get Charlie's (real) last name so I can find him in the system & make record of him just in case he uses the SSN for personal gain. Thank you for your mature correspondence. I've never met a nice debt collector (historically, even the Bible gives them a bad name) - you must be a rare one. Do you work for Alliance One? I've seen your responses throughout the Alliance One section of Ripoffreport.com...

Rockstar: you took the high road & I appreciate that. I apologize for the language & for my tone. It was helpful that you at least acknowledged that there are crooked debt collectors out there. You certainly don't need any stranger's approval for what you are doing either. I think you can understand that when someone is wrongly accused of debt owed, that emotions get heated. You state that you like to help people though. If that's the case, please tell me the best way I can get Charlie's (real) last name so I can find him in the system & make record of him just in case he uses the SSN for personal gain. Thank you for your mature correspondence. I've never met a nice debt collector (historically, even the Bible gives them a bad name) - you must be a rare one. Do you work for Alliance One? I've seen your responses throughout the Alliance One section of Ripoffreport.com...

Rockstar: you took the high road & I appreciate that. I apologize for the language & for my tone. It was helpful that you at least acknowledged that there are crooked debt collectors out there. You certainly don't need any stranger's approval for what you are doing either. I think you can understand that when someone is wrongly accused of debt owed, that emotions get heated. You state that you like to help people though. If that's the case, please tell me the best way I can get Charlie's (real) last name so I can find him in the system & make record of him just in case he uses the SSN for personal gain. Thank you for your mature correspondence. I've never met a nice debt collector (historically, even the Bible gives them a bad name) - you must be a rare one. Do you work for Alliance One? I've seen your responses throughout the Alliance One section of Ripoffreport.com...

Ann,

First of all, you should NEVER speak to ANY third party debt collector on the phone!
STAY OFF THE PHONE!! Speaking to them will NEVER do anything positive for you, and will usually just make things worse!

Remember, the legal burden of proof is on the collector to prove that you owe the debt. It is NEVER your responsibility to prove that you don't.

And, in CA, that "debt" is past SOL anyway, and is legally uncollectable. They are NOT collecting for the State of CA! They are JUNK DEBT BUYERS or represent JDB's who paid far less than a penny on the dollar for the old "debt".

The best thing for you to do here is to send a CEASE COMMUNICATIONS request by certified mail, return reciept requested. Be sure to put the certified# on the letter itself and keep a copy for your records. Do not sign the letter, just print.

Never sign anything that goes to a collector, as they can transfer your signature onto anything they like, for example a contract! This happens frequently.

Be sure to check your credit bureau reports to be sure they have not reported this "collection"! If they did, sue them immediately under the FCRA provisions.

Don't get mad, GET PAID!!

I sleep just fine at night because my debt is not in collections. I am in no way trying to be high and mighty, I was giving helpful tips to everyone who is being called by unprofessional collectors. I realize there is rude and mean collectors out there and they are putting a bad name on the collecting industry. It's neither here nor there how you got in debt before it reached collections, everyone knows what they are signing up for when they want that credit card or banking account. I have job security and because I help people every day it makes it worth while. It's not the collectors fault that someone got into debt. It is unfortunate when people get behind and get smacked with all that interest and late fees, again thats the fine print everyone skips over because all they want is their money. I don't sit here and call you names, I have never raised my voice or cursed at a person on the phone, I don't need to do that to prove a point. If you want to talk about this like an adult, I'm only here to help everyone out. Thanks

Thank you to John for your caution about ssn - I had a complete brain lapse - I NEVER do that & think I felt intimidated into doing so. I've learned my hard lesson. In the meantime, I'm putting a fraud alert on all of my husband's credit bureau sites.



Rockstar: as noble as it is for you to present the other side of the coin, I must tell you to get down off of your soap box: not everyone, as you insinuate, is being called due to poor credit management or loan repayment. I have a near-perfect (800) credit rating, as does my husband, because we are responsible professionals. What YOU should understand: Alliance One is "fishing" for outstanding debt - my husband paid off this outstanding parking ticket in 2002. In fact, we are not only going back to the courthouse to get all of our documentation, we will be issuing a cease communication, certified letter to Alliance One so that they cease this criminal & unethical, slimy behavior.



In addition, you state that your company would not use SSN's improperly. Maybe that's the company's m.o., HOWEVER, what's to say that the assholes (oops, did I say that?) working at debt collection companies (can't you find something better to do? How do you sleep at night with all the crooked activity going on - just look at the 90+ entries on this website alone, logged AGAINST ONE such company: Alliance One!! Get a conscience!) aren't ethically challenged themselves? Who's to say that "Charlie" won't use our SSN for his own personal gain??



So, don't be so high & mighty. If you want to be proud of the work you do, there are a lot of other wonderful, more humanistic jobs out there. Wake up. You're on the thin line between "work" & "criminal activity". Sure, there are people out there that should not have taken out the loans or credit card applications that they did - if you are so passionate about that, join an agency that helps people learn about proper credit/loan acquisition/use - don't get in the harrassment line.

There are many other ways to verify accounts without giving your SSN

Never, ever give your SS# to any collection agency over the phone to verify an account.....that is, unless you want to open yourself wide open to identity theft.

There are many other ways to verify accounts without giving your SSN

Never, ever give your SS# to any collection agency over the phone to verify an account.....that is, unless you want to open yourself wide open to identity theft.

There are many other ways to verify accounts without giving your SSN

Never, ever give your SS# to any collection agency over the phone to verify an account.....that is, unless you want to open yourself wide open to identity theft.

There are many other ways to verify accounts without giving your SSN

Never, ever give your SS# to any collection agency over the phone to verify an account.....that is, unless you want to open yourself wide open to identity theft.

Miss Ann-
As an AllianceOne employee, I must inform you that we don't do anything with your Social Security number. Can you imagine how many Joe Johnsons' and Mary Smith's there are?? We hate calling the wrong number daily thats why we need SS information to verify your information. We are a professional company and we are really trying to help people in debt out. We offer many of our debtors settlements and payment arrangements when the Client asks for the full balance at that time. What people don't realize is when they sign up for their credit card etc... they are signing off to pay those fees and interest, so we in turn are helping them out by offering those options. I've had plenty of happy people thank me for helping them get out of debt and resolve their problems. On the other hand there is people who don't understand we are just trying to identify them and set something up so they can start buliding themselves up from here. Our company, unlike most collection agencies, don't threaten to take your possessions or harm you in any way, it's just hard to get people to realize how much this is going to effect them in the long run when they try to go out and get a mortgage loan or an automobile loan. Each and every state in the US has specific state laws and we are not in any way willing to risk our liscenses to break those laws. I want to advise all of you if you are in collections to not go to a Credit Consolidation Company because we work with them and they often don't put forth anything towards your balance, and thats what you are paying them to do. As far as the people getting the wrong number,rif the number is still listed to the person we're looking for, you need to get that changed in your city and state directory. It's not that hard to say wrong number and we're dont calling that number when it's listed to the wrong person. I'm just trying to give advice so the people in this country can see what it's like from my side of the table. Hope this helps everyone and their questions.