Got a call from Dominic at Nationwide regarding my Amex account, on which I missed ONE payment and Amex sent it into collections because I closed the account. Dominic demanded the full $10 balance, and when I told him I couldn't make that, he demanded 1/3 and a payment plan where they would debit my checking account each month. He wanted $1000 a month, when the actual payments are more like $250. I told him no, I couldn't do it, and he told me I had to get the money somehow or collections would "proceed further".
I also told him I had just made a payment, which included the past due amount to Amex and he said he need to have a payment in his office (so he gets paid by Amex!)
He called my CPA, who he found in my company's listing on the state DBPR website, and called our emergency services number and bugged my tech about how to get in touch with me.
He told me I needed to go out and get a loan to pay the balance or the 1/3 down and actually gave me the name and number of company. I called them out of curiosity and their interest rate is outrageous, plus they want you to secure it with your house.
Dominic also violated FTC reg's by calling more than once a day - they can only talk to you once, so if they call, say hello - got no more info for you and goodbye. You can also write to the company ad tell them to stop calling you, and if they don't report them to the FTC on www.ftc. Gov. If they get enough complaints about the same company, they investigate, and Nationwide Credit had a fine of over $1m in 1998!
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