Called By Central Select Group*? Here’s What You Need to Know

Called By Central Select Group*? Here’s What You Need to Know

The average household in the U.S. contributes nearly 9% of their income towards paying down interest on credit cards. This is difficult enough to accomplish when you are employed, but if you lose your job and can’t maintain the payments, debt collectors will soon be calling and, very likely, making things worse for you. If you let them.

Your Rights Under the FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, prohibits third-party debt collectors from employing tactics like those below while collecting or attempting to collect a debt. Any collection agency that uses them faces significant sanctions.

• Calling you outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. in your time zone
• Using profane or obscene language
• Failing to identify themselves as debt collectors in each communication
• Telling uninvolved third parties that you owe a debt
• Pretending to be police officers, government officials, or any other law enforcement figure
• Ignoring a cease communications notice

Company Profile: Central Select Group

If you are being called by Central Select Group, an agency overview is below.

Central Select Group, which also does business as CSG Consulting, is a debt collection agency located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened for business in 2004, has fewer than 10 employees, and is managed by owner Linda Hardy-Scott. Digitized records at the PACER website suggest that consumers who believed that they were being harassed by Central Select Group chose to fight instead of pay.

Alleged Violations against Central Select Group*

According to information on the PACER website, on or around August 2009, Central Select Group allegedly started calling a Pennsylvania consumer to collect a debt. He alleged that an employee named “Dave” kept demanding his bank account number and even tried to trick his wife into providing it. He also claimed that Dave left voice messages stating that it was in his “best interests to answer the phone,” and that he would “send someone” to the consumer’s home or show up there personally to “handle the problem.”

When the consumer asked for verification of the debt, Dave allegedly ignored him and kept calling continuously.

Feeling harassed by Central Select Group, the consumer sued the agency for allegedly violating his rights by:

• Using harassing and abusive means to collect a debt
• Threatening to harm him or his property
• Using profane and obscene language
• Using unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt
• Using false, deceptive, and misleading means to collect a debt
• Threatening legal action it had no intention of taking
• Misrepresenting the character, amount, or legal status of the debt

The matter was later settled.

Hire a Consumer Lawyer

The phone numbers for this debt collection agency are:

• 1-215-224-1199
• 1-215-844-8873

Seeing them on your caller ID is confirmed that Central Select Group is trying to contact you. If they imply that a damaging lawsuit and even personal harm could occur if you don’t pay immediately, hire a consumer lawyer and file a claim against Central Select Group. You could be awarded $1,000 per FDCPA violation in addition to court costs and attorney fees. You have rights that you should always be prepared to act upon.

*Case taken from PACER (pacer.gov). File number is Case 5:10-cv-03206-JKG from the United States District Court for the Eastern 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 Central Select Group or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.