Michael Hale runs this company and will be operating under a new name in a matter of months. His scheme with Statewide Investigations is the same as it was under the Texas Check Processors (LOOK UP THE COMPLAINTS ON THIS COMPANY). The concept is simple. Hale and his cohorts present themselves as ex-law enforcement officers and as current private investigators. They hold no licensing to legally conduct investigations through the Texas DPS. Section 392.101 of the Texas Finance Code prohibits a third-party debt collector or credit bureau from engaging in debt collection in Texas unless the third-party debt collector or credit bureau has obtained a surety bond and filed a copy of the bond with the Office of the Secretary of State. Hale has no surety bond and is not permitted to operate as a debt collector.
None of this really matters though. Once they receive your business' bad checks they go and recover your money and they will keep every last cent. Because they don't legitimately collect your debts, they don't need a surety bond. They'll blow up your phone and beat on your door and threaten to have the warrant filed for your arrest if full restitution is not made immediately.
Guess what? Neither Michael Hale or anyone on behalf of The Texas Check Processors or Statewide Investigations has ever even filed a criminal complaint against ANY check writer... EVER.
Because they have stolen thousands and thousands of dollars that belonged to merchants across Houston, they've been forced to move their offices, change their name and move into other parts of the state.
If you are ever called by anyone representing this company, call the police. Even if you wrote a bad check and want to make good on it, giving it to these guys will not do you one bit of good. They will keep anything you pay and the merchant will inevitably turn it over to someone else for collection and/or prosecution.
NEVER, EVER, EVER take money to a collector on a bad check. Go and pay the store where the check was written or cashed. Police officers serving in their official capacity DO NOT show up to collect money on bad checks. So if these guys are demanding you to bring payment to their offices, or show up at your door, or meet you at your bank (all tactics used by these crooks), CALL YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES, file a complaint and you will never hear from these guys again!
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