Complaint Review: ENCORE RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT INC. - Olathe Kansas

How to stop collection agency harassment for a debt that is not yours:

Send the collection agency a letter via Certified Mail + Return Receipt (do NOT use regular mail) stating:

Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, cease all communications with me about this alleged debt. This is not my debt. Receipt of this letter is officially being time stamped via Certified Mail. I will pursue each subsequent phone call from your office with a $1,000 per incident penalty for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violations
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To speed things up, fax this same letter to the collection agency.

Next time they call, read the following statement:

Pursuant to [your state] state law, this is to inform you that this phone call is being recorded. If you do not consent to being recorded, you need to terminate this call. Pursuant to [your state] state law, continuation of this phone call after officially being informed that it is being recorded implies consent to be recorded. This recording will be used to pursue Fair Debt Collection Practice Act violations in a court of law.

I have been continually called by this company and it is for something that is not even mine. I explained to a woman who called my home that she had the wrong number. I had to then  PROVE that I was not the person they asked for????? I was asked to verify/give the last 4 of my social..... I refused of course. I explained to read me what they had and I would then verify if it was mine or not. I mean, come on! The name did not match, why would the social, and I have to prove nothing to some disembodied voice on the phone. The lady then said, "So this is a wrong #......<name> doesnt live there, where are they, who are you etc......" and began probing rather hard for information I did not have. After all I explained this is a wrong number, why would I suddenly know where to find them. I asked this woman for her name & the name of the company, but she did not want to give it. After several requests she mumbled Encore.......I then asked if they were a third party collection agency....she refused to say so. I was not asking about the debt, or to have her disclose the debt, just the nature of business her company handles....Not against the law by the way...... As a matter of fact most states say you do have to disclose what your company does when someone asks during a phone call. You see, I am a Debt Collector, and I have been for 15 years. I have never had to break the law, treat third parties with disrespect, or hide what it is that my company did. I have never had an Attorney General Complaint, but I am considering filing one. This company needs to watch what they do. FDCPA laws are one thing, but states have their own individual laws which are often more strict than Federal laws, especially when it comes to debt collections. I read on here where a former employee stated that they can call everyday and talk to a consumer, not true...... Most states dictate that you have to call the residence first before attempting a work call, and also that they may only call and speak to consumers anywhere from 1 to 3 times per week, not daily...... Encore, you need to have better training classes, and monitoring of what your employees do on calls. I even hope to see one of your uneducated collectors respond to this. I need a good laugh.....

I have dealt with this company since about 2003. They started calling me for a debt I owed that I was managing through a debt management company. The harrassed me at home with 2-10 calls a day. Sometimes they would leave a message, but would not say the company name, they would just leave their name. If I called the number back and ask who the company was, they would snidely reply, "You know who this is." Most of the time I would hang up on them because that is what they do if they don't get what they want. They even called me at work on a government cell phone. I told them repeatedly not to call me at work, but they wouldn't stop. So we finally had to get the government lawyers involved, to tell them to stop calling me at work. I admitted I owed the money, that I was paying through a debt management company, but they said they did not have to work with the debt management company, etc. But they accepted the checks every week from the debt management company and would still call me to harass me. They would call to ask if I would settle for less than the balance. I kept telling them no. If you settle for less than what you owe, the balance will be what you have to pay taxes on. Believe me, I know, because I had to do it. They will call your parents to find out where you are if you change phone numbers, which is not illegal in itself, but if you find you have to deal with them, give your parents a heads up and give them some questions to ask the company. Since they are ruthless people, they will likely answer the questions, which then is against the FTC laws. Like for instance, have your parents ask them how much you owe? If they answer that is totally illegal. All they can ask is if they know how to get a hold of you, they are not suppose to tell your parents anything about the loan/debt, etc. I have recorded phone calls with them and have written letters for them to stop calling me and that they were receiving monthly checks from the debt management company, but they don't listen. Or they get someone new in the company to call you who is not familiar with your file or that letters you wrote asking them to stop calling you. One other way they violate FTC laws is threaten to take you to court if you don't pay. They can't do that either, but they do. I just threaten them right back with a law suit of my own. Finally, after about 3 years of paying on the debt, I came into some money and was able to pay them and a few other debts off. But when I sent them the money of over $5,000 through the debt management company, they wouldn't take the check even though it was in their hot little hands because the debt management company sent my payment with another of their client's payment in one check. Encore said they couldn't cash it because the debt management company did that, so I had the debt management company send the check back to me and I told Encore to basically shove it. That they were stupid not to have cashed the check that was in their hands and that I would continue to make monthly payments. That if they called me again for any reason, I would report them to the Attorney General's Office as well as the FTC. Maybe one or two would try to call at least once to two times every 3 months or so, but finally changed my phone number so they couldn't call and I finally got them paid off. Watch out for these people. They are ruthless, cold hearted, compassionless and will do anything to get their money. In my opinion, just hang up on them if you are making steady, monthly payments that you can afford and not what they want you to pay if they keep calling and harassing you.

Most credit card companies do not hire or sell the account to a collection agency until you are at least 180 days past due. One missed payment would not do this. If you have not called them - do it now and see what they say My guess is they will tell you it was never turned over to collections.