Is Financial Recovery Services Inc calling you? There are some things you may want to know.*
If you fall behind on your credit card, student loan, or medical debt payments, your creditors will eventually turn these accounts over to a third-party collection agency or attorney who specializes in debt collection.
They may also charge them off entirely and sell your portfolio to a ‘junk’ debt buyer. Either way, you will soon be receiving collection calls and letters.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits third-party debt collectors from being abusive and unethical when attempting to collect money from you. They may claim they have the legal ability to garnish your wages, they may claim they can tell your relatives, coworkers, or significant others about your debt.
They can’t, and if they do, they are violating the law. If they do, you may be able to take them to court.
Debt collectors may not do any of the following to harass you into paying:
- Raising their voice and making threats they have no intention of following up on
- Calling before 8:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m. in your time zone
- Using profane and obscene language
- Ignoring a cease communications request
- Calling your friends, neighbors, and co-workers and telling them that you owe a debt
- Charging excessive fees that inflate the amount of the original debt
Many debt collectors deliberately disregard the FDCPA because they believe that their bullying tactics achieve better results than the actions approved by the law.
![Is Financial Recovery Services Inc Calling You?]()
Alleged Violations against Financial Recovery Services Inc*
Financial Recovery Services Inc is a collection agency located in Edina, Minnesota. It was established in 1996, has a small staff, and is a member of American Collectors Association International (ACA).
Records archived at the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) website indicate that Financial Recovery Services Inc has been sued for allegedly violating the FDCPA while collecting consumer debts.
In or around October 2011, an Iowa resident received a call from Financial Recovery Services Inc about a debt she allegedly owed to Credit One Bank.
The collector allegedly told her that she had to make a payment arrangement or her wages would be garnished.
Alarmed, she set up a payment arrangement in which she agreed to make a monthly payment of $25.00. The payments were sent successfully for October to December, but in January the plaintiff learned that her bank had failed to send Financial Recovery Services Inc the monthly payment for January 2012.
When she called to advise the company, she was allegedly told she could pay within the next seven days, which she was unable to do.
In or around February 2012, Financial Recovery Services Inc allegedly called the plaintiff to collect the outstanding payment. When she replied that she did not have the money, the representative allegedly told her she should borrow it, and supplied the names of various people she could approach: her parents, two of her siblings, her ex-boyfriend, even the former business partner of her grandmother.
When she demanded to know how Financial Recovery Services Inc had gotten so much information about her, the agent allegedly responded that “research” had been done on her.
Alarmed, the plaintiff hired a consumer attorney and filed a complaint accusing Financial Recovery Services Inc of the following FDCPA violations:
- Engaging in oppressive, harassing, and abusive conduct
- Implying that her wages would be garnished if she did not pay
- Threatening legal action that it did not intend to take
- Using false and deceptive means to collect a debt
- Failure to identify itself as a debt collection agency in the initial communication
- Using unfair or unconscionable means to collect the debt
The matter was later dismissed.
The phone numbers for Financial Recovery Services Inc are 1-866-438-2860 and 1-952-831-4800.
If either number appears on your caller ID, a representative from the collection agency is trying to contact you. If they behave in an abusive manner and make wage garnishment threats (without having obtained a judgement against you first) contact a consumer attorney.
They can help you seek compensation of $1,000 per FDCPA violation, as well as court costs, attorney fees, and any actual damages. When your rights are violated by a debt collector, your attorney can help you make them pay.
*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is 6:12-cv-02032-LRR from United States District Court, Northern District of Iowa, Eastern Division.
Disclaimer: The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Financial Recovery Services Inc or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.