NCO Can be Sued for Harassing You

NCO Financial Systems popularly known as NCO does not have any qualms whatsoever when it comes to collecting on debts form debtors – or, more frequently, innocent people who do not even owe a debt. For some time, NCO has been at the top of list of complaints concerning debt collection. Indeed, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by the NCO are very common.

The FDCPA was passed by Congress in 1978 and is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) and private litigants to ensure fair debt collection methods. The FDCPA has strict guidelines to be followed by third party debt collectors while attempting to collect on debts.

Third-party collection agencies often violate the FDCPA. NCO is one such third-party collection agency that violates the FDCPA frequently and has many cases piled up against it. One of the most intimidating features about NCO is that the debt collectors employed by it are trained to scare innocent victims into paying money that they do not even owe. These NCO debt collectors violate the FDCPA by calling victims repeatedly and harassing them over the phone.

For example, Section 1692c of the FDCPA, among other sections, has a clear explanation about debt collection using telephone calls. It states “Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt— (1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o’clock ante meridian and before 9 o’clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer’s location[.]” Other sections of the FDCPA prohibit repeated and harassing phone calls, and prohibit collectors from threatening to sue when they cannot or do not intend to actually do so.

Despite the above guidelines from the FDCPA, NCO debt collectors often call victims repeatedly and use abusive language. They threaten the debtors to pay immediately lest they face consequences. Cell phones and Internet usage has made harassment even more simple for the NCO collectors. 

If NCO collectors call on your cell phone or home phone with prerecorded messages or automated dialers you may claim as much as $1500 per call per the law. According to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), debt collectors cannot make calls with pre-recorded messages or artificial voice messages and auto dialers. It is also illegal to make such calls because the recipient of the call may be charged for such calls, leaving a dent in his pocket. Should NCO collectors violate the TCPA, you are eligible for damages of $500 to $1,500 for each violation, or your actual monetary loss, whichever is higher. An experienced debt collection attorney can help you to determine if you are eligible for these damages, and can help you to stop the unwanted calls.