Is Cedar Financial Calling You?*

Is Cedar Financial Calling You?* Here’s what you need to know.

You’ve been trying to make the minimum payments on all your debts, but since you lost your job due to mass layoffs at your company, it’s been impossible. Now debt collectors are calling every day, talking to your family and friends about the debt, and threatening to send the sheriff over to seize your home. What can you do?

Your Rights Under the FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which was passed in 1977 as a consumer protection measure, makes it illegal for debt collectors to use abusive and harassing collection techniques such as:

• Calling you outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. in your time zone
• Contacting you if the debt collector is aware that you are being represented by an attorney
• Swearing and calling you names, asking you why you don’t pay your bills
• Threatening legal actions they have no intention of carrying out
• Failing to report to the credit bureaus that a debt is in dispute
• Refusing to prove that a debt is valid and they are authorized to collect it

Company Profile: Cedar Financial

Cedar Financial is an international debt collection company with an American office in Calabasas, California. It was established in 1991, has 10 to 19 staff in California, and is managed by owner Amir Erez. Records archived at the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) website indicate DNS Equity Group has been sued in the past for allegedly employing debt collection tactics that violate the FDCPA.

Alleged Violations against Cedar Financial

Philip Bergstresser vs. Cedar Financial*

According to PACER, Cedar Financial allegedly started to make repeated harassing phone calls to Pennsylvania resident Philip Bergstresser in January 2015. These calls, which allegedly persisted until the following March, were attempts to collect a parking ticket debt Mr. Bergstresser had allegedly incurred in Italy.

During the first conversion, he told the caller that he disputed the debt and demanded proof of its existence before he was willing to discuss the matter. The Cedar Financial collectors, specifically an individual who identified himself as “Matt”, allegedly ignored the dispute and continued to call him demanding payment of the alleged debt.

When the calls allegedly continued without the debt ever being validated, Mr. Bergstresser hired a consumer attorney and sued Cedar Financial for allegedly violating the FDCPA in the following ways:

• Trying to collect a debt barred by statute
• Using harassing and abusive means to collect a debt
• Causing his phone to ring repeatedly and engaging him in annoying conversations
• Using unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt
• Failing to provide a debt validation notice

The matter was later dismissed.

Hire an Attorney

The phone numbers for Cedar Financial are:

• 1-818-224-3800
• 1-818-936-6253
• 1-800-804-3353

If you see any of these numbers on your caller ID when the phone rings, it means that a debt collector is looking for you. If Cedar Financial persists in calling after you dispute a debt and refuses to send you a debt validation notice, hire a consumer attorney. This type of collection behavior violates the FDCPA, and if you sue the company, you could potentially be awarded $1,000 per FDCPA violation as well as attorney’s fees, court costs, and any actual damages. When your rights are disregarded, your attorney can help you make Cedar Financial pay.

*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is Case 1:15-cv-02304-YK from the United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania

Disclaimer: The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be constructed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Cedar Financial or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.