Abusing Collectors

Collectors seem to be able to dish it out but can't take it. Take a look at this article. The district attorney for Araphoe County in Colorado seems to have mistreated a collector. The story is that a debt collection attorney for Central Credit Corp. Jonathan Steiner alleges that he was threatened by Chambers with a grand jury investigation when he tried to recoup some bad check funds from Englewood City Councilwoman Laurett Barrentine, a member of Arapahoe County's Republican Party. Barrentine claims that the bad checks were a result of identity theft, and that she is not responsible for the $320 dispute. Central Credit Corp. dropped the collection account against Barrentine – primarily from threats of the aforementioned grand jury investigation. After filing a complaint, now the district attorney faces possible discipline ranging from a reprimand to disbarment. Its nice to know there is still justice, isn't it?

Another Reason Open Creditcard Accounts Can Ruin You

Consumer Report’s reveals things you might want to know about your financial privacy:

• Data brokers are willing to sell even your most sensitive information to paying customers, some of them crooks.
  
• When credit bureau employees asked to see their own files, they received scant information. One report contained 31 errors.
  
• The federal government is a steady customer of the data collectors, but there’s no way to know what it collects or exactly how much it pays.
  
• Pretexters, who lie to get information about you and sell it to anybody, operate largely free of regulation.

Congress Giving Collectors More Power

Patrick Lunsford of collectionindustry.com is reporting, "Changes in the FDCPA have been approved by the U.S. Congress and sent to the President to sign into law. The amendments were part of the Financial Services Regulatory Relief bill which was passed this weekend.
Some of the key changes include clarification around “mini-Miranda” disclosures and legal codification that allows agencies to collect during the 30-day validation period. " The industry already practices collection during this period, but this change in the law makes it legal. Yet another reason to stop borrowing money, and avoid medical catastrophes at all costs. Soon those who rack up so many medical bills that they must file for bankruptcy, will have no relief and will be hounded by collectors for a lifetime unless they are fortunate enough to find someone else to bail them out. Creditcards no longer carry risk for the lender with the collection power congress is granting.

Creditcards are more important than religious freedom?

"Thou shalt have no gods before me ... except for MasterCard, Visa and American Express.
That's the way the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York is reluctantly interpreting the controversial U.S. bankruptcy reform law that went into effect last October. The court says those going through bankruptcy may not tithe to their church or make other charitable donations ... until after they have paid off credit card companies and other creditors. Before the new law went into effect, bankruptcy court judges were required to permit debtors to tithe a portion of their income on a regular basis. The 2005 law could have a major impact on the large number of Christians and members of other faiths that are called upon to tithe a portion of their income on a regular basis. More than two million Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005, and hundreds of thousands will do so during 2006. " says a report on collectionindustry.com.

This is an infringement on religious freedom. They are rewriting the laws of the Old Testament. Seperation of church and state is being used to build the profits of creditcard companies.