Zwicker & Associates unwilling to follow collection laws, threatening and abusive Andover Massachusetts

Tatum:

You know that "you a WRONG" right?  How much are you being paid to work for Zwicker right now? Did you actually graduate high school in the USA (I doubt it)?

You also (should) know that it is illegal for Zwicker to sue people in the name of the OC when Zwicker has bought the debt right?  You know who you are and I honestly hope that you go home tonight and rethink your life please. 

1. A debt collector does not have to furnish anything until a written request from the consumer is received; a phone conversation does not suffice.

2. A debt collector can threaten legal action, just not criminal action.

To stop collection calls, send a FDCPA letter via certified mail to the collection agency and the original creditor.

Date:  January 30, 2011

Zwicker & Associates, P.C.
Three Oaks Office Park
965 Oakland Road, Ste. #3-D
Lawrenceville, GA  30044

Account number(s):  (See Enclosed)       
                       
RE:  Request for Validation of Debt, 15 U.S.C. § 1692g

Dear Sir or Madam:

This is my formal notice that I am disputing this debt, and requesting immediate validation under Section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692g, of the debt from your office.  I am requesting that your office immediately send me a copy of the following documents: (a) the name, address, and phone number of an employee of the original creditor that can validate the debt, (b) proof of who is the current legal owner of the debt, and that you represent the original creditor or debt buyer, and (c) the original signed note, contract, credit agreement, or instrument creating the debt.

I am disputing this debt for the following reasons:  this debt has not been validated.  I do not know whether your debt collection company is the legal owner of this debt or not, or if the amounts charged are valid.

This is also my formal notice under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c, to you to cease all further communications with me, my family members, and my associates and all third parties, unless I give you express permission to do so.  You have my express permission to mail me the requested validation documents to the address listed below, but I do not give you permission to contact me over the phone, or in any other way except as specifically addressed in this letter.
 
                    
This letter is not meant in any way to be an acknowledgment that I owe this money.


Sincerely,


John Doe
P.O. Box 0000
Atlanta, GA  30300

See below for info. on where to look for sample do-not-call letters vs. Zwicker, and how to fight Zwicker lawsuits and WIN (feel free to post on here too for more info.):Info. for fighting Zwicker lawsuits:http://www.beatdebtcollectors.com/Zwicker consumer complaints and blogs:http://nextlevelunlimited.net/http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Zwicker.aspxSubmit a Georgia (or search for your state bar site) bar complaint vs. Zwicker attorneys:http://gabar.org/contact_the_bar/

Well done Denis! It was most admirable of you to come forward and basically blow the whistle on these predators. I work for a debt settlement company and a darn good one. We are all licensed and professionally trained to assist clients with their debts. I also responded to this person and let them know of another case very similar to theirs. It is a shame that the lack of knowledge the american people suffer from has caused major damage to their well being as well as their trust. Consumers need to educate themselves regarding the Fair Debt Collection Act and other state laws designed to protect them from villians like Zwicker. If it were me, I would be all over their arse like a diaper. I also want to encourage Kim to get them and get them good! The only truth behind justice is justice itself. I feel the US Government needs to more completely investigate collection agencies like Zwicker and others like them. I once again applaude your efforts.

Hi Kim,

I worked in the collection industry, in the Boston area, for over six years during the late 1980s through the early 1990s. I worked my way up to middle management at three national collection agencies and three collection law firms, Zwicker included.

In 1994, I left the collection industry and joined the lending industry, where I was very happy through the end of 2008. Like thousands of others in the lending industry, I lost my career and my life savings, with the crash of the finance and lending industries. Subsequently, I reluctantly returned to the collection industry and Zwicker & Associates, in an attempt to supplement my income and put food on the table.

In any event, I left after just two short months as I came to realize that Zwicker had not evolved professionally, in any facet of their operation and their collection ethics were worse than I even remembered. to on a professional level and their business ethics or worse than I even remembered.

Zwicker &Associates breaks down into two basic sides of operations, which we will refer to as the front side and the backside.

The front side consists of attorneys, sales and administrative support staff, human resources and technical support. The primary function of the front side is to fabricate and maintain an appearance of integrity, professionalism, ethical standard and employee credibility. Maintaining this type of facade allows them to lure fresh collection placements from credit card companies, bank and retail clients, as well as the occasional debt purchasing company that runs around buying really old accounts, for pennies on the dollar and placing them with companies like Zwicker.

The backside consists of approximately 100 collectors who are all paid a base salary and monthly commissions. The monthly commissions are calculated according to how much money the collector recovers during the course of the calendar month. A recovery goal is established for the collector based on their hourly rate. Once the collector reaches the recovery goal, they are paid a percentage of anything they can collect beyond the goal.

The majority of the collectors at Zwicker, have no educational or professional background and have a marginal understanding of collection laws and practices, at best. They literally live from paycheck to paycheck and many have extremely poor credit. Zwicker has had to settle many lawsuits over the years stemming from complaints filed against them as a result of collection law violations.

Although they represent themselves to be a law firm, which is technically correct, they are nothing more than a collection agency and are regulated as such. I know firsthand that the experienced collectors at Zwicker & Associates have a talent for impersonating a legitimate legal professional for the sole purpose of intimidating, bullying and manipulating money out of people.

Here is the good part: as a resident of Texas, you are guaranteed consumer protection from the Texas Attorney General Office, as well as the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; FDCPA 95-109.

A common practice in the buying and reselling up of old collection accounts, is for collectors to accept settlements, leaving the consumer to believe that the account is paid in full, when in fact, they apply your settlement payment then close the account with a balance and resell it to another purchaser.

When the collector told you that you are subject to the laws of the state of Massachusetts, as opposed to your home state of Texas, he or she was not only wrong, but in direct violation of Texas and Federal law.

You should also know that it is also violation of law for a debt collector to insinuate,threaten legal action.

Let's recap, shall we?

1) Zwicker is in direct and deliberate violation of Federal and state consumer protection laws for failure to acknowledge your legitimate dispute and furnish documentation of the debt allegedly owed.

2) Zwicker is in direct violation of Federal and state laws for intentionally misrepresenting jurisdiction of collection laws, for the sole purpose of attempting to disarm you of your consumer rights under Texas law.

3) Zwicker is in violation of Federal and state law for threatening legal action and wage garnishment, when they clearly have no intention of taking such action, nor is it legal to do so under Texas law.

Were I in your shoes, I would file a complaint with the Federal trade commission, and the Texas Attorney General Office in writing and enclose any and all supporting documentation.

I would also send Zwicker a certified letter, instructing them to cease any and all communications immediately.

You never mentioned whether or not they reported this account to your credit report. If that is the case, then Zwicker is also in violation of the fair credit reporting act as well.

It is extremely important that you understand that you were speaking to a collector that could have cared less whether you all the money or not. His one main concern was to tell you what ever it took to get you to pay the money in order to force himself closer to commission.

See Below & Good Luck!

Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
(877)-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357) / (202) 326-2222
TTY: (866)-653-4261
www.ftc.com

Texas
Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Protection
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, TX 78711-2548
Consumer Protection Hotline 800-621-0508 / 512-463-2100
www.oag.state.tx.us

Zwicker and Associates is nothing more than a nationwide Collection Agency, who's principle offices are located in the State of Massachusetts. If you don't live in their immediate area, it would be foolish to think they would file a Law Suit against anyone unless the debt in question is more than $3000.00 only because of the sheer cost involved. Also if you live in a 'Consumer Friendly State' such as Texas, New Jersey, Florida and North Carolina to mention a few, with no salary attachment laws, a law suit isn't going to happen no matter how much you owe.

PRESIDENT
Paul W. Zwicker admitted to bar, 1979, Massachusetts. Education: American International College (B.A., 1975); New York Law School (J.D., 1979). Practice Areas: Civil Litigation.

There's more about him elsewhere, such as news for the California Bar Association:

KENNETH D. ZWICKER 46, of Chatsworth CA, a relative and former associate of Zwicker and Associates was summarily disbarred Aug. 21, 2005, and was ordered to comply with rule 955 of the FDCPA.. Zwicker was also convicted of one count of mail fraud in 2003 and placed on interim suspension in 2004. Because the offense was a felony that involved moral turpitude, he was summarily disbarred

Bottom line: these clowns are not going to do anything but call you. Ignore them in whatever way you fell appropriate and eventually, they will move on to greener pastures.

http://www.budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/zwicker_associates_pc.htm

This is a consumer advocate website that specializes in Debt Collections.
This company is listed as one to avoid

COLLECTION AGENCIES DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SITE!
It exposes all the ILLEGAL tricks they use.

Stop calls from 800-370-2251! 800-370-2251 is the phone number for Zwicker and Associates, an aggressive money oriented bill collector. Do not pay anything to Zwicker and Associates without talking to a lawyer first. Zwicker and Associates is being investigated by consumer attorneys who care about people like you. For more information about Zwicker and Associates you may contact Attorney Vicki Piontek, 877-737-8617 for a free consultation with no obligation. If you see 800-370-2251 on your caller ID, make a note of it and contact a consumer attorney.

Vicki Piontek, Esquire
Attorney at Law
951 Allentown Road
Lansdale, PA 19446
877-737-8617
Fax: 866-408-6735
palaw@justice.com

You have more rights than they tell you. Basically everything they tell you is a lie. You can sue any debt collector, all you have to do is show that they had broken the law. In my case they did. You can be awarded up to 1000 dollars if you win the case. Also report them to the FTC (www.FTC.com). That is not a big deal really they log the complaint is about all that happens in that case.

Keep records and logs of every phone call you get from these slimes, record the calls if it is legal to do so in your state. Keep any and all mailings they send. Use a script when talking with them, if you are allowed to record them in your state this is important. You should be able to find the one you need here (Scroll down the page for the script.) http://www.debt-n-credit-letters.com/Scripts/collector-call-script.html

Also contact a fair debt collection attorney in your state. They in many cases do not charge you a dime to handle your case because if you win the debt collector has to pay the fees for your attorney.

At any rate do not let them push you around and scare you, they are just a group of scums that get paid to harass people.

I have also had dealings with this outfit and for the most part they are very aggressive and seem to walk a very thin line regarding the law.

I recently asked for details regarding interest being charged as part of a collection. I was told that they do not have information of that sort and since the creditor will not talk to me I will have to find my orginal docs and review the fine print to determine what the interest rights are on the contract. They informed me that they have been hired to enforce the contract I signed with my creditor. I asked how they enforce a contract if they don't have it to review. I was told that they will get it, the contract, if they have to sue me.

I was given conflicting information by this outfit as well. The orginal collector told me that after 6 months of paying on the terms set out by this outfit, that the interest would no longer accrue and that it would be simply paying off the principle. Of course when I asked about that recently, as interest is still being charged, I was told that the employee who told me that no longer works for the outfit and that they cannot determine what he said, and if he did say it, they cannot change what the creditor does. Hence, too bad if our employee misled you.

How long are these outfits required to retain the conversations that they always record, and how available is the tape?

This outfit also required that I pay with post dated checks, no other manner of payment would be accepted, if I refused to pay with post dated checks I would be sued and my wages would be garnished.

I have been paying in accordance with the agreement I entered into with the employee no longer with this outfit. However now that interest is contiuing to run and at a rate that is criminal, I may have to consider other alternatives.

If anyone is going after these guys, let me know, I will gladly join any class action being pursued.

File a complaint with the FTC AND your State's Attorney Generals Office pronto. Ignore these calls and letters, especially DO NOT talk to these morons on the phone.

99.9% of collection agencies don't follow the FDCPA. The whole lot of them are flea bites; irritating and annoying.

these assclowns have violated about 5 federal laws that i can see. what phone # do these idiots call from in massachusetts?