Were You Contacted by Pentagroup Financial?*

Is Pentagroup Financial, LLC calling you? Here’s what you need to know.

Debt can go from manageable to overwhelming without advance warning. Unless you have substantial savings, all it can take is a job layoff, debilitating illness or financial crisis like a divorce to send your accounts into arrears. When debt collectors begin to call, you could be tempted to declare bankruptcy to stop the calls and letters.

Your Rights Under the FDCPA

Before you take that step, be aware that harassing indebted consumers is against the law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, was passed in 1977 after abusive debt collectors resulted in a flood of consumer complaints. The FDCPA, which is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, regulates what third-party collectors can say and do while collecting or attempting to collect a debt, and prohibits tactics like those below.

• Calling at inconvenient times, such as before 8:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m. in your time zone
• Using profane and abusive language
• Calling you at work after being informed that your boss does not permit such calls
• Contacting you for payment after you have formally disputed the debt
• Threatening legal action they cannot take or have no intention of taking, such as having you arrested
• Discussing the debt with anyone except the you, your attorney, spouse, or co-signer

Unfortunately, consumer harassment remains a problem nearly 40 years after the FDCPA became law.

Pentagroup Financial, LLC is a collection agency located in Houston, Texas. It was established in 2002, has over a hundred employees, and has call centers in both Houston and Buffalo, New York. According to records archived at the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) website, Pentagroup Financial, LLC has been accused of disregarding the FDCPA when trying to collect certain consumer debts.

Alleged FDCPA Violations

In July 2013 a Colorado resident found that Pentagroup Financial, LLC had reported a debt he did not believe he owed to ADT. When he called to discuss and dispute the account, he was allegedly told that the account would stay on the credit bureau reports until it was paid. He continued to dispute the account, saying, “I don’t agree that I owe that much, that’s too much.”

When Pentagroup Financial, LLC failed to report the account as disputed to the credit agencies, he hired a consumer attorney and sued the collection agency for allegedly violating the FDCPA in the following ways:

• Using unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt
• Communicating credit information that it should have known to be false
• Using false and deceptive means to collect a debt

The matter was later dismissed.

The phone numbers for Pentagroup Financial, LLC are 1-800-385-9060 and 1-832-615-2100. If your phone rings and either number appears on your caller ID, it means that a collector from the agency is trying to contact you. If you dispute the debt and Pentagroup Financial, LLC fails to report it as disputed, contact a consumer attorney.

Such an omission violates the FDCPA, and if you decide to take the matter to court, you could potentially win $1,000 per FDCPA violation plus attorney’s fees, court costs, and any actual damages. No matter how much the agency claims you owe, they have to obey the law when trying to collect it, or risk an expensive penalty.

*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is 1:13-cv-02123-RPM from United States District Court, District of Colorado

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