Collection Agency Makes $4.3 Million Debt Cancellation Deal with State Enforcement Office

The Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) said Tuesday that it had entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with a debt collector that will see $4.3 million in purchased debt cancelled and impose fines of $50,000. The company is also barred from ARM work in Georgia for five years.

Nelson, Hirsch & Associates, Inc., a Georgia debt collection agency, and its owner, Tanya Santiago, entered into the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with OCP, resolving charges that the company committed multiple violations of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. OCP’s investigation stemmed from a series of reports from consumers that Nelson, Hirsch & Associates harassed and deceived them by:

• Failing to disclose that it was a debt collector attempting to collect a debt;
• Threatening consumers with arrest, imprisonment or charges of fraud if they did not pay the debt;
• Refusing to send consumers written proof of the debt owed;
• Collecting more than the amount owed or authorized;
• Threatening to call the consumer’s employer and have the consumer’s wages garnished;
• Continuing to contact consumers even after they told the company to stop calling them;
• Calling consumers at unusual hours (e.g. before 8:00am or after 9:00pm);
• Calling consumers at work when they knew their employers prohibited such contact;
• Speaking to consumers in a harassing and abusive manner;

Under the Assurance, Nelson, Hirsch & Associates and Ms. Santiago are required to cease business operations. Further, Ms. Santiago must refrain from engaging in any aspect of debt collection activities in Georgia or in connection with Georgia consumers for a period of at least five years. In addition, the company and Ms. Santiago will forego collection of 5,809 consumer accounts that they had purchased from creditors who had previously written off the debts. These accounts total $4,307,658. The company must also pay a $26,000 civil penalty and reimburse OCP for investigative and legal expenses in the amount of $24,000.

“We are sending a strong and clear message that this kind of abuse and harassment of consumers, and the egregious disregard for the law that these practices typify will not be tolerated,” says John Sours, Administrator of the Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection.