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Is California Business Bureau calling you?*
Here's what you need to know.
Due to the growing national debt crisis, it is very common for people to be sent to collections through no fault of their own. People lose their jobs, receive disability, forget to pay or experience an economic downturn. No matter the reason, debt collectors will call, text, and e-mail you in order to recover a debt, and they can be very threatening. If you are being harassed by a debt collector, read about your rights below.
Your Rights Under the FDCPA
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) was passed in 1977 to protect consumers from being intimidated and harassed by third-party debt collectors. It regulates what collection agents may or may not do during their communications with consumers and prohibits actions like the following:
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Using profane and obscene language
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Calling you at work when they know that your workplace won’t let you take such calls
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Discussing the debt with anyone except you, your spouse, or your attorney
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Trying to collect an amount not authorized by law or by the original creditor agreement
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Calling you at all hours of the day and night
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Keep calling you and sending letters after you dispute a debt
Company Profile: California Business Bureau
California Business Bureau, Inc., or CBB is a third party collection agency based in Monrovia, CA and San Diego, CA. It was established in 1973, specializes in collecting medical debt, and employs between 100 and 249 people. Court records on file at the PACER website contain a number of instances involving California Business Bureau and alleged violations of the FDCPA.
Hire an Attorney
The phone numbers for California Business Bureau are:
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1-626-303-1515
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1-800-755-1515
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1-858-492-1515
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1-800-905-2515
If you see either of these numbers on your caller ID when the phone rings, be warned that a debt collector looking for you. If they are vague regarding your rights and threaten legal action that never transpires, hire a consumer attorney. If you sue for these infringements on your rights as an indebted consumer, you could potentially win $1,000 per FDCPA violation as well as attorney's fees, court costs, and any actual damages. The fact that you owe money does not give a debt collector license to intimidate you, a fact they ignore at their own professional risk.
John and Kristen Windeer v. California Business Bureau, Inc.; and DOES 1-10, inclusive
According to PACER***, in or around 2010 California resident John Winder acquired a medical debt that allegedly became delinquent and was passed on to California Business Bureau, Inc for collection. In December Kristen Winder, spoke with agency representatives in an attempt to make payment arrangements.
During their conversations, she offered to begin making payments on the debt so long as California Business Bureau, Inc agreed to remove the debt from Mr. Winder’s credit report after it was fully paid. The agency allegedly agreed to the terms.
When Mrs. Winder requested that the agreement be confirmed in writing, California Business Bureau, Inc allegedly refused to provide anything in writing but assured her that they had a deal.
Based on that promise, the Winders began making monthly payments toward the debt, which was paid in full in January 2013. Rather than deleting the debt from the credit report, California Business Bureau, Inc instead changed its status to “paid collection.”
The Winders contacted the agency to request that the agreement to delete the debt be honored, but California Business Bureau, Inc allegedly refused to delete the entry. The Winders responded by hiring an attorney and suing California Business Bureau, Inc for FDCPA violations.
*Case taken from PACER (www.pacer.gov). File number is (Case 2:13-cv-01313-KJM-AC, from United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division)