CONSUMER ALERT: If you are currently in debt -- or if you ever have been in debt -- you may be  targeted for repeated assaults by notorious "Junk Debt" Buyers.  Do not take this battle laying down, especially when the debt may have already been paid!

• Prominent Junk Debt Buyers - we name names!
• Typical Junk Debt Buyer Violations
• What to do when contacted by a Junk Debt Buyer

"Junk debt" buyers are collection agencies that routinely purchase bad debts that have been charged off by the original creditors.  Furthermore, it is common for junk debt buyers to resell their non-performing debt to other collection agents.  Old collections and charge-offs, some of which may have already been settled with the original creditor, are their bread-and-butter!  These collectors are working strictly for themselves because they now OWN the old debt (at pennies on the dollar).  It makes no difference to them whether it is a valid debt or a billing error that has gone unattended. They simply do not care, and routinely break numerous State and Federal laws in their pursuit of collecting the debt (be it a valid debt or otherwise).

Contingency collection agencies work as agents for another company to collect a debt.  The ordinary junk debt buyer may also be in the contingency collection business, or they may contract with a contingency agent.  Junk debt buyers comprise a multi-billion dollar industry, and are responsible for a sizable percentage of violations of both consumer credit reporting laws and debt collection laws (e.g., FACTA/FCRA, FCBA, FDCPA). Check with your State's Attorney General for applicable State consumer protection statutes which these opportunists routinely violate.  Then file a complaint.

1. MULTIPLE LISTINGS OF THE SAME DEBT
   Junk debt buyers are responsible for the vast majority of multiple entries of the same debt in a person's credit report.  It is common to see the original debt (possibly indicated as a charge-off) and a subsequent collection on the same account.  It is increasingly common to see multiple subsequent collections placed by different offices of the same collector, indicating deliberate variations in or truncations of the account number.  Multiple collections will also occur when the debt is re-sold from one junk debt buyer to another -- and, if unpaid, the debt WILL be re-sold and re-sold!  These tactics are a deliberate attempt by collectors to maximize damage to the debtor's credit profile in an attempt to collect the debt.  Dispute all duplicate listings in your credit profile, and file suit against the collector whenever they are in violation of consumer protection laws.
   Duplicate listings are NEVER honest mistakes!
    

2. RE-AGING ACCOUNTS
   Junk debt buyers routinely re-age accounts in an attempt to force settlement on "time barred" or "expired Statute of Limitations" accounts.  This causes the debtor's credit scores to fall precipitously, since the various credit scoring models (Equifax' Beacon 5.0,  Experian's FICO 2, and TransUnion's Empirica 950) interpret a re-aged tradeline as a current derogatory entry!  Under FCRA / FACTA the actual date that a debt first became delinquent is supposed to be reported to credit reporting agencies (within 90 days of the actual delinquency). However, junk debt buyers press a debtor for payment of any amount, in order to bring the debt back under the statute of limitations.  Once the debt is re-aged in this manner the collector can sue the debtor, and may stand a chance of winning a judgment!
   It is important to understand that your State's statute of limitations (SoL) for collections may differ from FCRA / FACTA statutes of limitations for reporting the debt.  New York and California are two States in which statutes of limitations will differ.  We shall soon add a detailed listing of SoLs from all States.
   Re-aging an account is NEVER an honest mistake!
    

3. MISREPORTING AN ACCOUNT'S LEGAL STATUS
   Virtually all junk debt buyers enjoy misrepresenting the status of an account.  Junk debt buyers often purchase debts that may fall outside the statue of limitations for lawful enforcement of the debt (filing a suit), but NOT outside the statute of limitations for reporting the debt!  Junk debt buyers may report an old charge-off as an "open" account when it may have been discharged in a prior bankruptcy.  Misreporting the "open date" and "date of last activity" on a tradeline is also commonplace.  Another common practice for many junk debt buyers is to misreport debts as "revolving accounts".  These and other gross misrepresentations are in direct violation of the law!
   Misreporting an account's status is NEVER an honest mistake!
    

4. COLLECTORS PASSING THEMSELVES OFF AS LAWYERS
   Some "collection attorneys" are nothing of the sort.  Yet some collectors often use this ploy to illegally extort payments from unsuspecting debtors.  Challenge the credentials of any "collection attorney" that contacts you.  Incidentally, if it turns out that the collector truly is a collection attorney -- and if they violate collection laws -- request their reprimand or disbarment by contacting the American Bar Association or these State and Local Bar Associations.  They ought to know better and certainly deserve having their careers in law terminated (with extreme prejudice) when they continue to break the laws they have sworn to preserve!
   Misrepresentation is NEVER an honest mistake!
    

5. OTHER CODE VIOLATIONS
   This includes consumers not being notified that their calls are being monitored or recorded.  Contact your State Attorney General to see whether these and other illegal or unfair debt collection practices violate your State's consumer protection statutes.
   Unlawful collection practices are NEVER an honest mistake.