FTC announces $3 Million Settlement & Bans Atlanta-based Collector

The FTC announced a settlement with a debt collection company and its principals for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). According to the FTC’s complaint, the company’s collectors (i) regularly posed as law enforcement officers, attorneys, mediators or process servers and threatened consumers with arrest and imprisonment during the course of collecting debts; and (ii) attempted to collect “phantom” debt – debt that either was never owed or is no longer owed by the consumer. As part of the FTC’s settlement, the company and its owners will be permanently banned from the debt collection industry and will pay more than $266,000 to the FTC, as well as over $3 million in damages. To read more click here