Are You Being Called By Halsted Financial Services?*

When you’re experiencing financial challenges, calls from debt collectors can make it worse. When they threaten to garnish your wages and take you to court, it’s even more unbearable. Before filing for bankruptcy to deal with the situation, understand your rights as a consumer.

What Your Rights Are As Told By the FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) prohibits collection agencies from deceiving or intimidating you into paying. If the collector you’re dealing with uses methods like the following, they’re breaking the law.

• Swearing and calling you names
• Talking to uninvolved parties such as your friends, family, and co-workers about the debt
• Contacting you after you have sent a cease and desist letter
• Calling you outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. your time
• Threatening legal action they cannot take or have no intention of taking

Company Profile: Halsted Financial Services

If Halsted Financial Services is calling you, here is a general company background.

Halsted Financial Services, which also does business as Halsted Financial Services, LLC, is a collection agency located in Skokie, Illinois. It was founded in 2008, has 47 employees, and is managed by owner and COO, Syed Ali. The company has a B+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Litigation files maintained by the PACER website indicates that consumers who believed that they were being harassed By Halsted Financial Services sued for damages.

Alleged Violations against Halsted Financial Services

According to PACER, on or around January 13, 2015, Halsted Financial Services allegedly began calling an Illinois consumer to collect a debt. He claimed that whenever he answered the calls, he would be told to “press 0” to be connected to a representative.

When the consumer repeatedly asked for validation of the debt, the company representatives allegedly refused to do so.

On March 2, 2015, he received a letter from Halsted Financial Services offering a settlement on the debt. This letter was allegedly the first written communication he had ever received from the company.

It stated, in part, “Due to a lack of response we have no alternative, but to execute an investigation into your income and employment.” It also failed to advise him of his rights to dispute the debt in writing within 30 days of receipt of the letter.

On March 9, 2015, the consumer received a voicemail message from Halsted Financial Services stating his file number in the office and notifying him that his file had been forwarded to the “final review department.”

Feeling harassed by Halsted Financial Services, the consumer hired a lawyer and sued the company for using false, deceptive, and misleading means to collect a debt.

A judge awarded the consumer $26,740 in damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, plus post-judgment interest.

Hire a Consumer Lawyer

The phone numbers for this debt collection agency are:

• 1-800-284-6066
• 1-855-472-6628

If you see either number on your caller ID, it means that you are being called by Halsted Financial Services. If they use an autodialer to call your cell phone and imply that legal action is imminent when they have no intention of suing you, protect yourself by hiring a consumer lawyer and filing a claim against Halsted Financial Services

You could be awarded $1,000 in statutory damages plus your attorney fees, so take a stand when you know you’re in the right.

Additional Resources

• What Are Damages in an FDCPA Claim?
• How Do I Pay an FDCPA Attorney?

Case taken from PACER (pacer.gov). File number is Case: 1:15-cv-04195 from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

*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 Halsted Financial Services or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.