FMA Alliance collects on delinquent and charged-off accounts for many credit card companies, hospitals and medical offices, and retail stores. The Houston-based company has been in operation since 1984, and is apparently doing well enough to open a new state-of-the-art collections facility with capacity for 800 collectors. FMA Alliance notes on its website that officers of the company have served in leadership positions in national collector associations, and further note that they provide all of their collectors with training in FDCPA and HIPAA provisions.
Nonetheless, two dozen consumers have filed lawsuits against FMA Alliance for alleged violations of the FDCPA during 2010 and 2011. The complaints in those cases allege behaviors that range from neglecting to identify the call as being an attempt to collect a debt to threatening to call friends, neighbors, relatives and employers regarding the debt in question. In more than one case, the consumer alleged that the FMA Alliance collection agent read from their credit report line by line and stated, “If you can pay them, you can pay us.”
From those complaints and from other accounts posted on online consumer discussion boards, it appears that FMA Alliance plays hardball. Consumers report online that the company’s collectors refused to send out debt validation, referred to requests for debt validation and debt disputes as “stalling tactics,” and told consumers that if they insisted on disputing the debt, the company would file suit within two days. A distraught consumer alleged that a collector for FMA Alliance falsely claimed that a consumer’s mother was listed as a cosigner on a credit card account, demanded that the consumer file fraud charges against her stepdaughter to prove that it was done without her knowledge and threatened to garnish her husband’s wages if she didn’t pay off the account in full immediately.
The Better Business Bureau has received and closed 65 consumer complaints against the agency in the past three years, and has given them a B+ rating.
Stop FMA Alliance Harassment
If you are dealing with a debt collector, you should be aware of the following facts about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If debt collectors have violated any of the following, you have the right to sue them in civil court, where a judge may order them to pay up to $1,000 in statutory damages, as well as legal costs and actual damages.
Debt collectors must tell you in their initial contact and each subsequent contact that they are attempting to collect a debt and any information you provide will be used to help them collect that debt.
They may contact third parties only if they cannot contact you directly. When they contact a third party, they must identify themselves, but must not inform the third party that you owe a debt.
They must provide you written verification of your debt within five days of their initial contact. That verification must include the amount of the debt, the name of the company to whom you owe the debt, a statement that they are attempting to collect a debt and contact information, including mailing address, so that you can communicate with them.
A debt collector may not contact you between the hours of 9 PM and 8 AM in your time zone.
They may not contact you at work if you tell them that your employer doesn’t allow you to receive personal calls at work.
They must stop contacting you if you request in writing that they cease contacting you. After that, they may only contact you to either tell you they are ceasing collection activities, or that they are taking legal action against you.
A debt collector may not repeatedly and continuously cause your phone to ring or engage you in phone conversation “with the intent to annoy, abuse or harass” you or any other person at that number. They may not use a fake name and they must identify themselves.
They may not use threats to coerce you or intimidate you into making payments, including threats to call people that you know, to report you to the police or to file lawsuits against you unless they actually intend to file a lawsuit against you.
When people stand up to debt collectors who use these illegal and abusive collection practices, they often just fade away rather than deal with legal ramifications. Learn your rights with regards to debt collection so that you can protect yourself.
FMA Alliance Contact Information
FMA Alliance
11811 North Freeway, Suite 900
Houston, TX 77060
281-444-1004
How to Stop the Harassment Now
Complete the form to the right for a FREE evaluation, or call Toll-Free . The legal team at Lemberg & Associates is committed to holding debt collectors accountable, and will fight for your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Note to Readers
The Information on this website is assembled using many public online and offline sources, such as debt collection agency websites, BBB data, regulatory agency reports and websites, and data available through Pacer. It neither is nor is intended to be the full or complete description of any company's business. To the extent any portion of the website is non-factual in nature, it constitutes our opinion only. We ask that you not rely on any information here in deciding whether or not to do business with any company mentioned on this website. Nothing here constitutes or is intended to constitute legal advice. If any reader or user of this website has a question about specific sources for any information used here, click here to submit an inquiry.
If you have been the victim of harassment or illegal or unfair debt collection practices, contact the Fair Debt Attorneys at Lemberg & Associates immediately to discuss your options and protect your rights. When you owe creditors money, you are protected by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as well as other federal and state laws. If a debt collector has violated your rights, you may be entitled to up to $1000 in damages, and they may even have to pay your attorney fees. Sergei Lemberg, and the attorneys at Lemberg & Associates have helped countless people to assert their legal rights with debt collectors. Don't be intimidated by illegal debt collection practices. For more information, contact
Lemberg & Associates
today at .
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