Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman announced that seven debt collection agencies signed consent orders and agreed to pay fines after being investigated by the state agency for business practices that violated state law. Charges were brought against an eighth debt collection agency, but that agency is fighting the charges.
The consent orders read like a Who’s Who of the debt collection industry. Here are excerpts of the charges, as enumerated in the Commissioner’s press release:
Allied Interstate: 1) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring individual collector applicants; 2) failing to properly screen debt collector registrations before submitting license renewal requests to the Commissioner; 3) employing debt collectors with prior felony convictions; and 4) failing to report when its registered debt collectors were fired for failing background checks, swearing at debtors, theft of debtor’s financial information, or falsifying debtor records.
Bureau of Collection Recovery: 1) directing employees to change the dates of scheduled payments; 2) changing the dates of deposit for postdated payments; 3) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring collector applicants; 4) failing to properly screen numerous debt collector registrations before submitting license renewal requests to the Commissioner; 5) employing collectors with felony criminal backgrounds; and 6).failing to notify the Commissioner of employee terminations for using profanity, third party disclosure violations, and harassing debtors.
AllianceOne: 1) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring individual collector applicants; and 2) employing debt collectors with prior felony convictions.
Van Ru Credit Corporation: 1) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring individual collector applicants; 2) failing to properly screen debt collector registrations before submitting license renewal requests to the Commissioner; 3) employing three collectors with felony criminal backgrounds; and 4) failing to notify the Commissioner of at least 15 employee terminations for verbally abusing debtors, using profanity, and third party disclosure violations.
IC System: 1) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring individual collector applicants; 2) failing to properly screen debt collector registrations before submitting license renewal requests to the Commissioner; 3) employing collectors with felony criminal backgrounds; 4) failing to notify the Commissioner of at least 10 employee terminations for using profanity, third party disclosure violations, and repeatedly calling debtors at their places of employment; and 5) allowing at least 23 debt collectors to work at locations that were not licensed.
General Revenue Corporation: 1) failing to establish adequate screening procedures when hiring individual collector applicants; 2) failing to properly screen numerous debt collector registrations before submitting license renewal requests to the Commissioner; 3) employing a collector with a felony criminal background; and 4) failing to notify the Commissioner of at least 40 employee terminations for using profanity, third party disclosure violations, and threatening an alleged debtor on MySpace.
Nationwide Recovery Systems: Commingling trust account funds collected for creditors with the agency’s operating fund, thereby engaging in an act or practice that demonstrated the firm was untrustworthy, financially irresponsible, or otherwise incompetent.
Commercial Recovery Corporation: 1) failing to pay vendors, including CP Office Products (Circle Pines, MN); 2) failing to collect thousands of dollars from alleged debtors and failing to remit those payments to clients, including Brown & Bigelow (St. Paul, MN) and ADvantage Tape (Edina, MN); 3) holding a negative balance on one or more of its trust accounts; 4) providing false information to the Commissioner; 5) failing to pay rent in the amount of $99,700; 6) failing to retrieve sensitive records from the company’s landlord following eviction; and 7) defaulting on a Promissory Note due to CRC’s bank in the amount of $278,809. Commercial Recovery did not sign a consent order.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it had reached a settlement with debt collection industry giant Allied Interstate, and that the debt collector will pay a $1.75 million fine – the second largest fine ever paid in a debt collection case. 
Many consumers who are on the receiving end of Allied Interstate debt collection calls experience harassment and other illegal tactics as defined under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that Allied Interstate has also racked up a lot of complaints by consumers who have opted in to the Do Not Call registry. 
Allied Interstate debt collection agency is like a dog with a bone – even when they’re barking up the wrong tree. As reported by 
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.