The following is to the best of my recollection.
(FDCPA: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)
I am scared of this Ed Smith and the President of Reliable Credit, but I refuse to allow him to bully my friends and family over a dispute over an auto loan between my friend and Reliable Credit. Apparently, Reliable was upset over the fact that my friend and the car relocated to California (they told us so and at first demanded he return the car to Oregon) and continually refused to post payments to his account and returned many of them with no reason as to why. Granted he may have been delinquent at times, but it does not warrant the following violations of FDCPA by both Ed Smith, a contractor, and the President of Reliable Credit himself.
On Tuesday morning, 10/26/04, I received word from a relative of my friend's in regards to a disturbing phone call the relative received. A man called threatening the relative to take my friend to jail.
Later that same morning, my sister told me a man called and proceeded to divulge all the details of the auto loan he was calling, telling her he owed $15,000.00, and details of my friend's credit rating and delinquency.
The man said his name was Ed Smith and that if she refused to cooperate with him, he would call on her relatives, and proceeded to tell her of his skip tracing results on her, my sister, her husband, and my friend's relatives even. (My family was still reeling from the loss of my dad while this was going on.)
She gave me the phone number and I called and left a message for Ed Smith.
Throughout all contact with Mr. Smith, he would not give me nor my sister the name of the company he worked for or his bosses name, and would only give us his home phone number.
Mr Smith returned my call that afternoon. He told me he was hired to find my friend, that he was in a lot of trouble and owed $15,000.00. I repeatedly asked Mr. Smith for the name of his company, contact info, who hired him. He continually refused my repeated requests. But he was eager to give me confidential information about Peter and his loan with Reliable Credit, that it was the worst he'd ever seen.
He then told me how he found my friend's brother and sister and that he could find out anything on me if I refused to cooperate. I informed Mr Smith that he had repeatedly grossly violated FDCPA, etal.
He then kept trying to rationalize with me saying he did not apply to those laws since he wasn't a collectorand when I asked him what his motivation for making all these calls to friends and relatives of my friend's all across the U.S., well, that's when he tried to get rough with me. He had the nerve to threaten me with physical violence, that he knew some people who would come take care of me, that after all, he knew where my mom and sister, nephews, and such were.
I told him he was a sick old man, and then he began cursing at me, telling me to f*k off and some inaudible threat then hung up.
I did a skip trace on the phone number he left with my sister:
SMITH, E
College Station, TX 77845-5911
(979) 764-9230
I called him back and told him that he needed to cease all collection efforts, that I was going to contact the District Attorney in his town and let them know that Ed Smith verbally threatened me. I told him that I would pursue all venues afforded me, and would also inform Reliable Credit that Ed Smith had grossly violated laws while acting as an agent on their behalf.
Later that evening, my sister called to let me know Ed Smith had called her again, as was even more abrasive with her.
I called and left a message with Mr. Smith and told him that he needed to stop his calls. I also told him to be prepared to change the title to his house in College Station to my name.
According to my telephone's caller ID, Mr. Smith called me back at 9:31 PM on 10/26/04 and used profanity throughout the conversation. I reminded Mr. Smith again that he had violated yet another law and he hung up.
On the morning of 10/27/04, I discussed this incident with the FTC; case #5184369.
I followed their recommendation and contacted:
Reliable Credit Association, Inc.
10690 S.E. McLoughlin Blvd.
P.O. Box 22829
Milwaukie, Oregon 97269-2829
Ph: (503) 462-3000 Fx: (503) 353-1800
I spoke with Jeremy at Reliable and let him know what Mr. Smith had said to me and my family. At first, Jeremy was very rude to me, saying that the name Ed Smith sounded made up. I informed Jeremy that Mr. Smith had violated FDCPA and that I already reported the man to the FTC.
I then requested and received the name of the company that Ed Smith works for; again a violation of FDCPA because he basically admitted that a third party is delinquent on a loan. The company that Reliable Credit hired is:
Investigative Information
P.O. Box 4252
Bryan, TX 77805
(979) 690-0304
I then called this number and the man who answered would not reply to a single question I asked. He hung up on me while I was in mid-sentence, informing him that he needed to stop calling.
Later that afternoon I received a call from a Mike at Reliable Credit who implied he was an attorney for the company (later found out he lied—yet another violation of FDCPA—and is not) and took a message for my friend to contact him. My sister also received two more calls from Mr. Smith. They are forced to get a new home phone number thanks to the harassment of Mr. Smith, Investigative Information and Reliable Credit.
Not too long ago, I received a message on my phone— listed in my name and in my voice message greetingfrom the President of Reliable Credit. I called their general number to confirm that this man was indeed the President. I then called his direct line number he left me.
The President himself violated FDCPA by telling me about the loan and the fact that it is delinquent. I reminded the President that I have always had to remind his staff that I am not related to PVR in any way, nor his spouse. I informed him that I had to remind his staff even while living in Portland whenever I hand-delivered his payment to their office and that I have had to repeatedly request that this should be well documented on his account.
I also told the President of Reliable Credit that he, too, has shamefully violated FDCPA. I informed him of all prior incidents and he had no reply. I also told him I did not appreciate that the contractor hired to repo the SUV left her business card on my screen door for my neighbors and landlord to see (yet another FDCPA violation). I ask him to have those people stop following me everywhere and to stop talking to my co-workers in the parking lot. The President stated that Reliable is not responsible for their actions. I reminded the President that this is false, that they in essence work for them and represent Reliable Credit, and are held under the scrutiny of FDCPA as well.
I advised the President that he and the entire company and their contractors needed retraining on FDCPA and that I would continue to see justice was done not only for my friend, but all others whose rights have been trampled upon because they habitually violated FDCPA and this surely could not be an isolated case.
It is my belief that Reliable Credit's own President and employees, Investigative Information, and Ed Smith and the California contractor all continue to violate FDCPA. They need to stop their guerilla, Mafioso collection tactics to any and all parties contacted as a result of their collection efforts against my friend.
Whatever I can do to right this gross disregard for the law and consumer rights, I proudly will assist. I was prompted to right this after seeing all the amazing results The consumer complaints has had with others, so thank you for this forum and I applaud your efforts. May some good come from this.
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