Is PN Credit Services Inc Calling You?*

Is PN Credit Services Inc calling you?* You may need to learn what your rights are.

Creditors are usually understanding when we miss the occasionally monthly payment.

But if we lose our jobs and arrears start piling up, the understanding stops and the demands for payment begin.

Unless our financial circumstances improve and allow us to pay the outstanding balance, the accounts will eventually be assigned to third-party collection agencies or charged off and sold to junk debt buyers who will pursue us to recoup their investment.

Your Rights Under the FDCPA

Some debt collectors will agree to payment plans that benefit both sides, but many others are hostile and unpleasant to deal with.

Although a consumer protection law called the FDCPA prohibits unethical conduct on the part of third-party debt collectors, tactics like those below remain common:

• Swearing and using racist or sexist language
• Calling you several times a day
• Contacting you at work despite knowing that personal calls are not allowed there
• Telling your friends, family, and associates that they are trying to collect a debt from you
• Telling you that by failing to pay the debt, you have committed a crime and will be arrested
• Making threats they have no intention of following up on, such as seizing your assets, garnishing your wages or filing a lawsuit

These collection agencies ignore the fact that such methods are illegal. They gamble on the fact that you will be too stressed or intimidated to report them.

P.N Credit Services in a small collection agency located in Middleboro, Massachusetts.

It was established in 2005, has fewer than 10 employees, and collects different categories of consumer debt: medical, retail, student loans, etc.

Records retained at the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) website confirm that P.N Credit Services has been accused of using collection methods that violate the FDCPA.

Alleged FDCPA Violations

On or about August 25, 2009, Jim Maxwell, a collector with P.N Credit Services Inc, allegedly contacted the relative of a Wisconsin resident.

He had allegedly defaulted on a debt owed to Discover Card, and the account had been assigned to PN Credit Services Inc.

During this conversation, Mr. Maxwell allegedly told the relative that he was a debt collector seeking to collect a debt and that unless the outstanding balance was paid, the agency would initiate legal action against him.

The Wisconsin resident hired a consumer attorney and filed a lawsuit accusing P.N Credit Services Inc of violating the FDCPA in the following ways:

• Disclosing to an uninvolved third party that he owed a debt
• Threatening to take action that cannot legally or was not intended to be taken
• Attempting to collect a debt that had passed the statute of limitation

A judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $5419.50 in statutory and actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees.

The phone number for P.N Credit Services is 1-508-923-0736. If you see it appear on your caller ID, it may be that a debt you allegedly owe has been placed with them for collection.

If they attempt to collect a debt barred by statute and tell third parties that you owe money, see a consumer attorney.

Such actions violate the ethical standards mandated by the FDCPA, and if you sue P.N Credit Services, you could be awarded $1,000 per FDCPA violation plus attorney’s fees, court costs, and any actual damages.

When you owe a debt, collection agencies must follow certain rules to collect it, or face expensive sanctions.

*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is 3:09-cv-00557-bbc from United States District Court, Western District of Wisconsin

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 P.N Credit Services, or any other third-party collection agency, you may not be entitled to any compensation.