Collection Agency Reminds Consumers of Rights when Dealing with Collectors

Taking a proactive stance, and reminding the industry that collection agencies are more effective at collecting when everyone follows the rules, Gila Corporation, through its two business units, Municipal Services Bureau (MSB) and Gila Group, is reminding consumers of the professional code of conduct for the collections industry. A collector is not just unethical when using the following tactics, but is in fact, breaking the law. Here are the "Top Five":

1. Misrepresenting his or her identity.
2. Making repetitive or excessively frequent phone calls to annoy or harass you.
3. Using threats of violence or profane, obscene or abusive language.
4. Calling you at work after informing the debt collector that your employer prohibits such calls.
5. Contacting you by telephone before 8 AM or after 9 PM, local time.

"Collectors who use harassment techniques give other collection agencies a bad name," says Patrick J. Swanick, Gila Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer. "The reality is that professional collectors who follow good business practices and abide by the law are actually much more successful in collecting unpaid debts. All Gila Corporation employees agree to and sign a professional collector’s pledge; it is our way of ensuring that our collectors are committed to respecting the rights of a debtor. A copy of the pledge can be viewed on our website at http://www.gilacorp.com/pledge.aspx . For consumers, the benefit of third-party debt collection agencies can be seen in reduced retail prices and greater purchasing power, since higher prices would be necessary if businesses were unable to recoup their losses resulting from bad debts."

Gila Corporation, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading provider of outsourced revenue recovery products and services in the country. The Company provides specialized collections services for governmental entities and financial institutions nationwide.

"It makes our job much easier when consumers know their rights, since one bad experience with a collection agency creates ill will towards all collection companies, making it more difficult to establish a positive relationship with the consumer," says Swanick.

"Harassment of a consumer is both ineffective and illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act," says Dwain James, Executive Director of the American Collectors Association of Texas. "Consumers need to know that any type of harassment is not acceptable."

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was enacted in 1977, with the support of ACA International (ACA), the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, to protect consumers from unfair and abusive collection practices. The law regulates professional third party collection businesses, agents and attorneys, but not "in-house" collectors, or creditors who collect their own debts.