Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC: bottom-feeder debt buyer is piling up complaints

We are investigating Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC.  Jefferson bills itself as

 "an industry-leading provider of traditional and unique recovery services for consumer charged-off accounts."  

When a bottom-feeder debt buyer touts its "unique" recovery services, you need to be very worried, because the "unique"recovery services were probably thought up by the same guy who came up with water-boarding.  More than 600 complaints have been logged against Jefferson Capital Systems with the Better Business Bureau.  There is a whole page of complaints with the CFPB since April 2015, and Ripoffereport.com has a bunch of info as well.

When a debt collector collects on old, charged-off debts, you should be very suspicious of the collector's right to collect.  As is documented in Jake Halpern's book, Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld, the seedy middlemen in the debt industry have been known to sell the same debt to more than one collector. Payments have been known to get lost in the shuffle of assignees, and phantom (false) payments have been known to be posted in order to renew statutes of limitations that would otherwise have expired.  I'm not saying that Jefferson Capital has done these things but such things happen in the industry.  That's why it is important for you to dispute the collector's authority to collect a debt, and it is especially true when the debt is large.

If you receive a 30 day notice to dispute a debt from Jefferson Capital Systems, or any debt buyer, you should send them a letter disputing the debt and demanding proof of when the last payment was received and how the balance was accrued,and you should demand proof of every assignment in the chain of title.  If you don't receive the documentation and they continue to collect, you should file a complaint with the CFPB and contact a lawyer through NACA.  (www.naca.net)  If the debt is large, you should consider hiring an attorney to send the letter disputing the debt for you.  A couple hundred dollars on the front end may save you thousands if it keeps you from being sued.  Often collectors will not sue a consumer when a lawyer sends the dispute letter.

FTC Shuts Down National Check Registry

The FTC announced in a press release that it shut down a group of abusive debt collectors from Buffalo, New York including National Check Registry.  These companies were outlaw "strong arm" collectors who called people all over the country threatening criminal prosecution and worse for those who didn't pay them.  The principals in the company agreed to never work in the debt collection industry again.  Let's see if this sticks.

Are you being hounded by National Credit Adjusters, LLC?

To be candid, I had the impression that National Credit Adjusters was an all talk no action bottom-feeder debt collector.  Recently though, I have become aware that they have filed a few lawsuits against consumers in Indiana, so I am paying attention to them more.  Now, that doesn't mean that their lawsuits are any good, but it does mean that they might follow up on the threat of a suit.  I suggest that if you live in Indiana and you are getting contacted by this company at all, that you call us at 317-662-4529.  It would probably be better to run this company off before they file a suit.

Were you sued by IMC Credit Services LLC?

If you have been sued by IMC Credit Services, LLC, generally over a medical debt, please call my office at 317-662-4529.  There are several practices that we are looking into relating to these cases. We will review your documents at no charge.  One of the practices involves suing both spouses on the medical debt of one spouse without satisfying all the criteria of the doctrine of necessities in Indiana.  Without getting too technical, it generally means that the creditor would have to determine who is the economically superior spouse, and would first have tried to get the money from the spouse who received the treatment.

Were you sued by Driver Solutions LLC in Allen County, Indiana?

We are continuing to look into the collection practices of Driver Solutions LLC.  It appears that they have shifted the venue for suing their customers from Marion County (Indianapolis) Indiana to Allen County (Fort Wayne) Indiana.  You can do a web search and find out in a few minutes why.  They got into a lot of trouble in Marion County.  If you are sued by this company, please call my office at 317-662-4529.